Posted on 02/01/2007 3:16:22 AM PST by billorites
A furious Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino vowed yesterday to throw the book at the masterminds behind a guerrilla marketing campaign gone amok that plunged the city into bomb-scare pandemonium and blew nearly $1 million in police overtime and other costs.
As city and state attorneys laid groundwork for criminal charges and lawsuits, cops seized 27-year-old Arlington multimedia artist Peter Berdovsky, who posted film on his Web site boasting that he and friends planted the battery-wired devices, and Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown. Both were jailed overnight on charges of placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct.
“This is outrageous activity to get publicity for a failing show,” said Menino, referring to the battery-operated light-up ads for the Cartoon Network’s “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” which sparked at least nine bomb scares in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville.
Menino promised to sue Turner Broadcasting Co., the Cartoon Network’s parent company, and criminally prosecute Berdovsky and anyone else responsible for the devices, and to petition the FCC to pull the network’s license.
Attorney General Martha Coakley was put in charge of the case and said the companies behind the promotion would be investigated. She said the felony charge of planting a hoax device could be broad enough to allow prosecution even if the stunt’s sponsors did not intend a panic.
“To do this kind of placement of devices the way it was, an individual had to know or should have that it was going to create the kind of panic it did,” Coakley said last night during a press conference.
Panic was the order of the day in Boston as city, state and federal investigators, police and bomb units raced through the city seeking 38 of the devices, in some cases destroying them as a precaution.
Shutdowns affected Storrow and Memorial drives, the Longfellow and Boston University bridges and Interstate 93, while extra Coast Guard patrols were seen at Rowes Wharf and at commuter ferries.
“I cannot state strongly enough the seriousness of this offense,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley. “Commerce was disrupted, transportation routes were paralyzed, residents were stranded, relatives across the nation were in fear for their loved ones here in the city of Boston.”
In a statement, Turner Broadcasting said the light-emitting devices pose no danger and are part of a 10-city outdoor marketing campaign for the cartoon program. A Boston police spokesman said the company did not have permits to place the signs in the city.
“We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger,” the Turner statment said.
All told, the cost of extra police and activating the city’s anti-terror command center will cost Boston $800,000 to $1 million in damages, an angry Menino estimated.
Gov. Deval Patrick said he was not impressed by the apology from Turner Broadcasting.“I am deeply dismayed to learn that the devices are a part of a marketing campaign. This stunt has caused considerable disruption and anxiety in our community,” he said.
The bomb scare reports began about 8 a.m. when a MBTA worker reported a package with wires and tubes protruding from it that was stuck on a steel girder under Interstate 93 at Sullivan Square Station in Charlestown. The devices, featuring characters with raised middle fingers, had magnetic backs and were affixed to metal.
The reports spread throughout the day to the Boston University and Longfellow bridges, Downtown Crossing, the intersection of Stuart Street and Columbus Avenue, the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Memorial Drive in Cambridge, the McCarthy Overpass on the McGrath O’Brien Highway in Somerville and at a comic book store in Brighton.
The discovery of two more devices last night at the Massachusetts College of Art prompted another brief evacuation. By the end of the day, investigators had recovered 14 of the 38 devices believed to be placed in the Boston area and urged the public to report the whereabouts of others.
Just after three p.m., two bomb-sniffing dogs swept through City Hall, spending 16 minutes in Menino’s office. “It is outrageous, in a post 9/11 world, that a company would use this irresponsible marketing scheme,” Menino said.
Here in my community, signs for realtors, garage sales, and any other type of portable signs were banned years ago. We have code enforcement people from the city whose job is to remove all the signs. Our city street corners look much better.
They've had more years to practice. They've had an espionage service of one sort of another ever since the Rus barricaded themselves inside the Kremlin.
:O)
You're simplifying things to the point of absurdity. In equally simple terms, in order to blow up, there has to be an explosive in addition to the wires and batteries. There wasn't any attached to the Lite Brites. There's no there, there.
And, note, that the problems happened during the day. These things were designed to be left out in the open 24/7. The designer is responsible for what they look like during the day and during the night.
Your contention was that the creators' intent was that the object look like a bomb. Mine is that the creators' intent encompasses what it would look like in the dark, not to an up-close examination during the day. If you want to talk about responsibility, that's another matter and we can take it up. But I was replying to your position on the creators' intent.
Also, if I were designing a sign, I would have a photosensor to shut off the LEDs during the day to conserve the batteries. Was this unit even on during the day?
Yeah, right. Build in a photosensor to conserve two dollars' worth of batteries. Why not put in a wireless access point and install Linux, too?
Everybody is below average except you. LOL
Well, I would expect the police to search cars left parked at the top of the steps of City Hall, or in the Basement of Tufts Hospital. Or stuck to a bridge support.
Reminds me of a picture I saw of a sign on the web that said in really large print "DANGER WARNING Do not touch the edges of this sign they are sharp and might cut you." and then in much smaller print it said "Oh and by the way the bridge ahead is closed"
Presumably they don't soil their underwear and go around shouting "the sky is falling, these are bombs" when they find one.
No one planted a fake bomb, the cops were stupid as usual.
You call this a failure? They are looking for publicity and you call this a failure? One wonders what a success would look like! Maybe if they managed to sneak into the White House and tattoo ATHF across President Bush's forehead, they might get a little bit more publicity!
First, I need one of those poles to help me put up my christmas lights.
Second, how did nobody notice those things for 3 weeks?
Third, how did the batteries last so long? Or were they all not blinking anymore by the time they were found? (Maybe they went around and replaced the batteries from time to time?)
It's pretty clever, if you are going to bomb someplace, rather than hiding the bombs, make the bombs look so obvious that nobody would ever think they were bombs.
The TSA searches my laptop, if my laptop could blow up a plane, these devices could certainly cause real damage, if they actually had explosives in them.
They were irresponsible for using such a guerrilla PR campaign, but it seems to have worked.
They can probably go after the schmos who planted the devises but the executives?
Under the current statutes:
What is the criminality?
Was there intent to create the situation?
I would find it hard believe any DA could convict (They could do the "ham-sandwich" indictment for sure)
The favorite Booby Trap used by the VC were Yogi Bear Dolls. It was a familiar child's toy, so the last thing you did before you died was smile.
You have got to be kidding me! Lite Brites brought the city of Boston to a halt?!?! Terrorists must be laughing their butts off about this. Forget suitcase bombs, flaming bags of dog poo is all they need!
Agreed
They weren't Lite Brites. They were custom made electronic devices that were meant to look like Lite Brites.
Bombs do not make these visable, they are placed in a box or bag. They are also not so small that it would be hard to put an M-80 in.
HAVE YOU LOOKED AT WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN! (Sorry to shout, but it's a little noisy in here.)
I have stated, all along, that they don't look like bombs. I have stated that they have features that are characteristic to what people look for in bombs, whether through training or conditioning. This is what makes them effective advertisements.
If I'm walking down the street, and see yet another stupid sign, I don't even notice it. If I'm walking down the street and see a device attached to a piece of public infrastructure that has exposed wiring and a battery pack with blinking lights, I notice it. So does everybody else.
Menino should be outraged at how stupid his police force is. 4-year olds would have recognized these as Lite-Brites
No, not quite :-) We have a coupkle of rather large-in-the-bottom ladies that wear guns and work for the local PD. Generally, they pick up the signs, take them to the person whose address is on the sign, and issue a citation. In the case of realtor signs, they keep and destroy them.
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