Boy not found after balloon lands
Balloon lands after 6 y/o boy seen getting in along.


Oh man I hope that kid is okay.

He might not be when they've done with him !

(for those who didn't read the story - he was playing with a large helium balloon that escaped. After a 50mile multi-agency, multi-helicopter S&R - he was discovered hiding in the attic in the box the balloon came in !)

1. Do not leave a giant balloon tethered to your house
2. When a kid goes missing; check the usual places
3. Repeat items 1 and 2.

Good advice. What a silly waste of news coverage.

I heard on the radio that he was hiding in a box in the attic of his garage the whole time.

Looks like the story's been updated.

Must have been a slow news day. I'm so glad there aren't important and complicated issues to discuss.

No doubt this kid is, uh, grounded for approximately the next ten years. Who just 'volunteered' to take out the trash until forever? Bet I know.

Father and son team to wash the Larimer and Weld county patrol cars, fire trucks and rescue vehicles by hand every week for a year.

But you have to admit it was more fun than the USUAL missing child calls.....

What's funny is I called this. I told my girlfriend and my co-workers that the kid wasn't even in the balloon, long before it landed.

They were taking the word of one of his brothers. The photo shown on TV showed three boys all about the same age. hmmmmm......

Parents smart enough to build a helium balloon in the shape of a flying saucer, but without sense enough to search the house/garage to make sure the kid wasn't there before calling authorities.

I wonder what that search cost?

Sue

From what I've read over the years, "missing kid discovered hiding at home" is a recurrent theme, and law enforcement is well aware of it. A cursory check doesn't find them; you have to go over the whole place with a flashlight and tweezers. I think it was right for the parents to call the authorities although the circumstances were quite odd/weird/embarrassing.

To add to it, there is also a sad history of children hiding in places like car trunks and dying within steps of home while searches went on for days all around their bodies.

Children can be sneaky to their own detriment.

Why every child should have a dog which will come to the parents when called and then go find the kid again.

Looks like the whole thing was a fake by the parents. These folks have been on ABC's "Wife Swap" twice, and were looking for more TV time.

Last night on CNN's "Larry King Live" the little kid dropped the dime on the parents and the whole scheme.


I wonder how much all this SAR cost.

If the parents spoke to any government official then they'll have more than the SAR bill to worry about. "False reports", etc.

Ya, I think those parents need to pay for the SAR costs. I heard on the news last night that Child Protective Services has been called.. not sure what's going to come of it.

I finally saw a clip of this, were some men on the ground are grabbing the balloon as it neared the ground. The balloon looked like it was 15-20 ft across.

How much does a 6-yr-old boy weigh, 40-50 lbs?

Did it occur to anyone that the amount of helium in that balloon wouldn't lift 40 or 50 lbs?

Intelligence and sense are not the same thing.

I hope the bill is in the mail.

Sue

Don't know about the bill but the local Sheriff just announced that charges are going to be filed in the case after interviewing the parents again. I like this Sheriff, he seems to be very empathetic yet he obviously doesn't worry about doing what he considers the right thing. Refreshing.

The father claimed that the balloon had a payload capacity of 80 pounds, kid weighs about 40 from what I've read.

Anyone seen the file footage of the Dad when the family appeared on "Wife Swap"?, lets just say he's an interesting fellow...

I was gonna toss in the fact that the parents allegedly home school their kids but it seemed like a cheap shot...;^)

P.S. forgot to add that the kids were in the custody of the Sheriff's Dept. while their parents were being interviewed. A precursor of what's to come?

Art in Fl gave us a link to one of this Cuttlefish guy's blogs and I looked .
The blog has another poem that fits here too.

http://digitalcuttlefish.blogspot.com/2009/10/flight-of-falcon.html

He sums things up pretty well, but a just little bit cynical.

The radio mentioned something about the sheriff checking with the feds to see if federal charges could be filed.

I get the feeling that most people don't like this guy.

"I was gonna toss in the fact that the parents allegedly home school their kids but it seemed like a cheap shot...;^)"

Whacko parents, abusive parents and religious fanatics have been known to home school. Whacko parents, abusive parents and religious fanatics have also been known to send their kids to public schools. One does not guarantee the other.

Sue

Even assuming the worst, that this was some sort of publicity stunt, there's still no evidence that the kids are in any actual danger. The authorities are often too quick to seize people's kids these days. That's an extremely serious step, not to be taken lightly or for petty causes.

Apparently, DaddyDearest is in the habit of putting the kids in danger, and other people are stepping forward to say so. I think that's the reason the Child Protective Services is involved.

Sue

The guy looks like a loser and a really crummy dad, alright. But what has he been doing to put the kids in actual, physical danger? I hadn't heard anything on what else he'd done to endanger the kids.

His former business partner: "...part of the reason my co-host Scott and I split from him is because we felt Heene put his kids in the line of fire a bit too much"... "The last straw for us was when Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike were heading toward the Texas coastline and Heene wanted to go back there and take the kids," she said. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNew...tory?id=8839052

He takes the kids tornado-chasing on motorcycles: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Balloon+family+courted+danger+lived+edge/2107555/story.html

The woman who replaced Heene's wife in the Wife Swap show that the family is 'chaotic': http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/reality_bites/

I don't believe in overprotecting kids, but the other extreme doesn't seem very desirable, either.

Sue