Posted on 02/05/2007 2:00:55 PM PST by ninonitti
Turner Broadcasting Corp. will pay back Massachusetts $2 million for the Cartoon Network guerrilla marketing campaign that prompted a rash of bomb scares across the city last week.
Attorney General Martha Coakley announced the agreement this morning, which absolves the entertainment giant of any civil or criminal claims with the state and local agencies who were a part of the settlement.
The press conference was attended by Coakley, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone and Cambridge Mayor Ken Reeves. Each of the officials gave an opening statement in which they defended the response to the bomb scare.
Menino said the situation was aggravated by the discovery of two pipe bombs Wednesday that put emergency responders further on edge. One of the bombs was found on a bridge, the other outside New England Medical Center.
“With the one at New England Medical Center, the guy ran out of the hospital saying, ‘God will get you. This is going to be a bad day for you,’ ” Menino said. “We had evidence that something was going on out there. Our police and all the other public safety officials took the appropriate action.”
The subtext to all the questions and answers during the press conference was the sense that Boston had become the butt on national jokes as a result of the “cartoon” scare. But Coakley, Menino and other officials said there was nothing to laugh about.
“No matter what Boston does we’re going to get those comments,” Coakley said when asked about some of the late-night talk show jokes about the Hub. “We don’t measure what we do or what we’re going to do in the future by that. Our jobs is to look at the facts and the law, and I think we did the right thing.”
Half of the $2 million settlement will reimburse state and local agencies for expenses incurred in responding to the bomb scare; the remaining $1 million was described by Coakley as “goodwill” money from Turner and Interference to provide funding for homeland security programs and emergency training.
The bulk of the money was divided between State Police and the MBTA, with each receiving more than $600,000. The City of Boston was given only $484,600, with about $140,000 going to out-of-pocket expenses, far less than the $800,000 Menino said they city was forced to spend.
The controversy began last Wednesday morning, when an MBTA employee spotted a circuit board with wires stuck on a steel girder under Interstate 93 at Somerville Square station in Charlestown. Over the course of the day, 10 similar suspicious devices were found in sensitive locations across Boston, Somerville and Cambridge. Late in the afternoon, Turner Broadcasting contacted city officials to report that the devices were actually mini billboards featuring a cartoon character named “Err” from the Cartoon Network’s “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.”
By that time, local, state and federal authorities had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars investigating each device.
Meanwhile, Coakley said the case against two men arrested for installing the magnetic signs across Boston is being negotiated. Peter Berdovsky, 27, an Arlington art college graduate, and Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown, are charged with placing the Lite-Brite-esque devices under bridges and near MBTA stations in the Boston area.
Coakley said she hopes to reach some agreement with both soon.
Turner Broadcasting and Interference Inc. also submitted a formal apology today:
“We acknowledge our responsibility for the unconventional marketing tactic that we authorized, and apologize to the citizens foe the greater Boston area,” the companies said in a statement read by Coakley. “We understand now that in today’s post September 11 environment, it was reasonable and appropriate for citizens and lawn enforcement officials to take any perceived threat posed by our light boards very seriously.”
This thing continues to amuse me........who'd thunk: $2 Million windfall for local lawn enforcement!!
Good and now can we deport the smug little shi. wearing dreadlocks and moking the security measures? I understand he's from Belieze or somewhere so perhaps he'd like a one way trip back there so he can amuse the locals with bomb scares.
He's from Belarus and has claimed refugee status from the former USSR. However NOW that that country no longer exists he can be safely returned.
Send hios rastafarian looking butt back to where he came from.
How dare he moke security measures while wearing dreadlocks!
Dumb ass move to begin with, but I think Turner handled this pretty well from a PR perspective. Others should take note. They fully apologized; took responsibility; settled it quickly. This, in contrast to other firms, who deny, go quiet, or stonewall the whole thing.
hmmm... Exxon Valdez comes to mind...
Geez, if these numb-skull/fear mongers are getting $2m, they should give it to the commuters whose time was wasted--while these preening schmoes were patting themselves on their backs for their vigilance.
Wow. I wish they had put one of those things on my front porch so I could get some money too.
The fix is in. No way should this have been settled w/i a week.
And not only that mock them even too! ;)
I can't help but wonder if that 2 million dollar payoff was the price of keeping insolated, protected, top dollar, big shots out of court. I notice that the only charges filed in this case are against the two moronic gophers who did the bidding of their bosses.
Of course the fix is in-this is Massachusetts........remember Chappaquidick......you can get away with murder up here
Wow, this is one of the biggest shakedowns I ever saw. The local authorities over-react then to prove a point they spend even more time and money to make their over-reaction seem reasonable. It's the equivilancy of busting down the wrong door in a drug raid and demanding the owner pay the police for wasting their time.
Did he mean "mocking?" I thought he meant "moking."
I saw the TV clip of the two talking about hair styles of the 70's. No big surprise - these imbeciles still living in the 70's - or 60's. However, they did an outstanding job in avoiding admitting intent to terrorize - which would have been a crime, and relevant footage for a trial. They appeared so idiotic no one could reason that they had it in them to terrorize anyone.
Boston public services deserves every penny it can get from Turner for being on the ball for Boston commuters. Just think of the downside of not reporting a suspicious device - next thing you know, people will be ignoring that gas canister with the homeless vagrants lying around it.
On second thought, the act of commuting in metro Boston could be considered "terrorizing" to most reasonable people.
It's Hugh and Series
I don't believe this cost the city anywhere near as much as they claim anyways. Think about it. Most of these people responding were already on the payroll. Add some Gas money, and I just don't see how you get there.
I propose you do a bit more research on "Peter Berdovsky".
There is more to the story than an innocent dreadlocked leftist.
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