Balloon Boy's Father 'Wanted TV fame Before World Ends In 2012'

Telegraph(UK) ^ | October 20th 2009

[Steelfish]

Balloon Boy's Father 'Wanted TV fame Before World Ends In 2012' Richard Heene, the man suspected of the alleged "balloon boy" hoax, was driven by a conviction that the world will come to a cataclysmic end in 2012, according to a friend.

Nick Allen in Los Angeles 20 Oct 2009

Robert Thomas, who claims to have been a confidante and researcher for Mr Heene, has been interviewed by police. Mr Thomas's lawyer, Linda Lee, claimed: "Heene believes the world is going to end in 2012. Because of that he wanted to make money quickly, become rich enough to build a bunker or something underground, where he can be safe from the sun exploding."

It was the latest disclosure about Mr Heene's bizarre world view, which also allegedly includes a belief in aliens and UFOs. The suggestion that the world will come to an end in 2012 is based on an interpretation of the ancient Mayan calendar. It is also the subject of a soon to be released Hollywood blockbuster called "2012".

However, scientists and Mayans themselves have debunked the theory. Police believe Mr Heene and his wife Mayumi planned a hoax in which an experimental helium balloon was "accidentally" released from their back garden in Fort Collins, Colorado.

They then claimed the youngest child, six-year-old Falcon, was on board. However, authorities suspect it was a publicity stunt to gain attention for a proposed reality television show about the Heene family.

Mr Thomas said he had nothing to do with the hoax and didn't know about the balloon being launched until he saw it on television. Police have been poring over e-mails, phone records and financial documents from the Heene home as they consider charges. Mr Heene emerged briefly from the house on Tuesday morning but said nothing.

[spodefly]

Before the world ends in 2012 I hope to become famous as the guy who lives in a tiny condo with 2 cats and only goes outside to shop for groceries once a week.

[tlb]

>>>The suggestion that the world will come to an end in 2012 is based on an interpretation of the ancient Mayan calendar. However, scientists and Mayans themselves have debunked the theory.

What happened is the museum cleaning lady noticed some faint marks on the stone calendar that when translated said “Continued on Next Stone”.

[Revolting cat!]

Me thinks, he’s no-fat milk foam short of a cafe latte!

[scoobysnak71]

Lets pray the genes dont continue on....

[6SJ7]

Mr Heene emerged briefly from the house on Tuesday morning but said nothing.

Thus ensuring another 6 weeks of Winter.

[BulletBobCo]

This guy is Hale-Bopp material.

[mware]

He thinks he can protect himself from the sun exploding???

[TXnMA]

His cheese done slipped off’n his cracker...

[brushcop]

Lordy, at last, some humor!! But CPS should still take the kids...

[Renderofveils]

I’m sure he thought you could just slather on some SPF 10^43 and be fine. Oh, and be sure to bring along a couple O2 tanks, since it’s gonna be a bit difficult to breathe with that whole “All the oxygen in the atmosphere being consumed in flame” thing.

[JoeMac]

‘’To be safe when the Sun explodes’’ Man, this guy makes Mensa look like the braidead tin-foil hat crowd! Those kids of his ought to be taken away from him

[Sherman Logan]

An exploding sun causes the earth to become an ice ball?

How’s that work?

[cricket]

A guilty Liberal here? You would think 'peace' might be his concern if world is jeopardy - which it is; really. He IS right there.

That said. . .am left, basically speechless, to explain such shallow narcissism when 'deep' is the Liberal norm.

[thecodont]

A real "balloon boy" story mentioned in the SF Chronicle.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/20/MNHK1A7P5F.DTL

When the balloon boy story broke last week - about the 6-year-old who was supposed to be helplessly soaring through Colorado in a balloon - there were lots of reactions.

But Marin contractor Dan Nowell had the most unusual.

Been there. Done that.

In 1964, Nowell was a skinny 11-year-old who volunteered to help launch a hot air balloon in Mill Valley. But when the balloon abruptly lifted off, his fingers became entangled in the rope. As a horrified crowd of 200 spectators watched, the sixth-grader from Tamalpais Valley Elementary School was hoisted 3,000 feet into the air.

"People still refer to me as the Balloon Boy," Nowell said. "My kids got pretty tired of it over the years. I did get some interesting phone calls and e-mails last week. I said, 'Somebody is trying to steal my thunder.' "

Unlike the kid from Colorado, whose parents face fines and charges for manufacturing the story, Nowell's experience was real and captured the nation's attention before news helicopters, Twitter, and cable news networks came to be.

"The most extraordinary thing was the power of the press," Nowell said. "I got letters from all over the world addressed to 'Balloon Boy.' "

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/20/MNHK1A7P5F.DTL#ixzz0UXIIaxQa

[GeronL]

I wrote that even if they survive the sun exploding in this underground bunker they wanted to build, with a dead sun the world would become an ice ball.

I know this might happen over eons, I’m just saying

[Sherman Logan]

Ahh. You mean 2M years later. Their air tanks might not last that long.

[GeronL]

But they might evolve into a species that could adapt. *cough*

[Uncle George]

Or, “never let a good hoax go to waste”.

[Dysart]

Thus I saw falsehood and truth compounded fly abroad as one piece of news.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Thank you, George Noory. With his almost constant 2012 hysteria, some nitwits are bound to believe it. Just like Art Bell’s Y2K hysteria. Or Art Bell’s Hale-Bopp comet hysteria (which proved fatal to the Heaven’s Gate cult that believed him). Or Art Bell’s “the quickening”, which was the forerunner of Al Gore’s global warming. They pound away at this stuff, night after night — they’ve got to realize that some people are going to “bleeve” it.