"Thank you...Mr. Higgins"
Posted on 10/16/2009 10:24:42 AM PDT by GoldStandard
A sheriff’s office that helped chase down a saucer-shaped balloon that officials feared was carrying a six-year-old boy over Colorado is now considering billing the child’s family hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for a rescue effort that turned out to be needless, Canwest News Service reports:
A spokeswoman for the Weld County Sheriff’s Office said all of the county’s on-duty resources were expended in the balloon chase Thursday, which ended when the sliver, UFO-likecontraption floated to the ground without a child aboard. It was later discovered the child was hiding in the attic of his family’s garage.
Deputy Margie Martinez said officers were called in early to help in the rescue effort, forcing the county to put all other service calls on hold.
“We might send them a bill,” said Martinez. “We had all these resources taken away from doing the workload that would normally be done and redirected toward this one incident.”
She told Canwest News Servicez the bill could range into the “hundreds of thousands” of dollars.
(Excerpt) Read more at network.nationalpost.com ...
What a diaper-load! "Sorry, chief, can't make that donut run. Gotta go chase ballons."
What crimes got unresponded to? I'd say there were some CO drivers that were happy they got through the county unmolested.
Shep wasn' the only FOX-head who insisted the story go, I came in to it just as Neil Cavuto was sanctimoniously criticizing viewers who had sent in emails because they wanted to know about the financial situation in the country, "Hey, I'm a father too ...."
Grammar
Not “got”. “were”
Actually the networks should send them a bill too. They covered it commercial free and probably lost alot of revenue.
Of course they should pay - every PR campaign costs somebody something - why should the public pay for their stunt?
And how will rescue personnel be compensated for driving around for 2 hours with their hearts in a vise as the balloon floated near power lines and the ‘gondola’ portion of it was reported to be too fragile to support the boy’s weight. What about the man that ran flat out for the dragging tether lines (running for the life of a child), the fear he must of felt -would he be able stop the balloon or would it drag out of reach or out of his hands. Ambulance staff awaiting their moment to help but not wanting to face a dead or maimed child? They scrambled teams, forgot all else as they drove off the roads in pursuit - pushed themselves to do anything they had to.
And what about all the people who may have needed the rescue personnel during that time (over 2 hours) for ACTUAL emergencies? THe military base was notified and was said to be mustering support.
All the productivity and prayers of those of us who were so horrified awaiting rescue of the boy, praying?
And what about the national security issue - I think these publicity hounds gave terrorists a new idea. Launch a conspicuous balloon - claim it holds hazardous materials (bio or nuclear) and set it loose. Our rescue people would have no choice but to chase it - only to find there was nothing in it. The costs are unfathomable.
I love it that FReepers are so kind hearted as to pray for someone who might be in danger. Don’t you?
"Yes....I can see the Bronco. I see OJ. He be scared.
And Babbabooey to y'all."
"Thank you...Mr. Higgins"
I’m listening to the press conference right now and the sheriff department did not look in the attic because they didn’t think a 6 year old boy could climb up there. Had they done a thorough search of the house then there wouldn’t have been a need for the massive rescue efforts.
“I love it that FReepers are so kind hearted as to pray for someone who might be in danger. Don’t you?”
_____________
Yes. It’s one of the reasons I started lurking on FR. (Never saw that on Democratic Underground or Daily Kos, although I looked.)
They even ran ads during the Kennedy assassination broadcasts.
“Colorado is one of a few states that does not charge for rescue.”
Yes, we do.
And you won’t get bashed or made fun of for doing it either.
Gotta appreciate that.
The actual title of the article was: “No reason to believe balloon incident was a hoax: Police”
Seems to me that there are plenty of reasons to believe the incident was fabricated. If this is the state of modern police work today, then it is no wonder so many criminals get away with their crimes.
I want to know one thing, why would they fill it up with helium if they weren’t going to launch it? I mean the math is simple, X cubic feet will lift X lbs X high to determine if it will have lift or not.
Have you priced pure helium lately?? It would cost a good amount of money to fill that many cubic feet, why would they pay that kind of money to then have to release it? IT still smells fishy to me.
What did this rescue really require? A few cops coordinating the chase until touch down.
I'm sure the rescue was all great fun but bill the family for it?
Bill the networks, too. They fueled it.
You bet. Not one media animal thought to question the family about what happened. They went with the sensationalism to keep from getting scooped. Now they want to penalize the family because a 6 year old and his brothers snookered the media.
“If this is the state of modern police work today”
Didn’t part of this search and rescue take place in Adams County, the location of Columbine H.S.? I will never forget the video of Adams Cty. law enforcement standing around outside of Columbine while victims bled to death inside.
They changed the title.
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