We investigate the bomb threats round here.
Posted on 02/01/2007 12:45:38 AM PST by raccoonradio
Menino Wants Turner To Reimburse Cities
Boston police say they have made in arrest in connection to the suspicious device scare that turned out to be a marketing ploy for a television cartoon. The Peter Berdvosky was arrested in Arlington Wednesday night and charged under a recently enacted statute making it a crime to place a hoax device that results in panic.
The scare forced bomb units to scramble across Boston all day. The "devices" were actually magnetic lights which resemble a character on the show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", on Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network.
WBZ spoke with the Berdvosky's lawyer and legal guardian Michael Rich, who said the Mass. College of Art student did cooperate with police. Rich also tells us the suspect is an exchange student from Belarus.
"It's very disturbing," said Rich, "that what was just (an) employment for a struggling artist turned into some major misunderstanding."
Berdvosky was apparently working for InterferenceInc.com, which was the company hired by Cartoon Network to carry out the ad campaign. He will be arraigned at Charlestown District Court on Thursday morning.
The suspicious device reports forced the temporary shutdowns of Interstate 93 out of the city, a key inbound roadway, a bridge between Boston and Cambridge, and a portion of the Charles River but were quickly determined not to be explosive.
"It's a hoax -- and it's not funny," Gov. Deval Patrick said.
"We apologize to the citizens of Boston that part of a marketing campaign was mistaken for a public danger....We deeply regret the hardships experienced as a result of this incident," said Turner Broadcasting Chair and CEO Phil Kent in a writen statement.
More Than ten devices were found in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville. Attorney General Martha Coakley believes 38 of the light up boards were planted throughout the city.
The first device was found at an MBTA subway and bus station located under Interstate 93 on Wednesday morning. The device was detonated and determined to be harmless, but as a precaution the station and the interstate shut down temporarily.
Then, around 1 p.m., four calls came into Boston Police reporting suspicious devices at the Boston University Bridge and the Longfellow Bridge, which both span the Charles River, and the corner of Stuart and Columbus Streets and at the Tufts-New England Medical Center.
Another device was found in Somerville under the McGrath Highway Bridge. The latest package was found outside Fenway Park around 5:30 p.m.
Mayor Menino said the hoax cost the state and cities about $750,000. He wants Turner Broadcasting to pay for it all.
“It is outrageous, in a post 9/11 world, that a company would use this type of marketing scheme. I am prepared to take any and all legal action against Turner Broadcasting and its affiliates for any and all expenses incurred during the response to today’s incidents. Boston will look to coordinate our efforts going forward with Cambridge, Somerville and any other affected agencies.”
"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" is a cartoon with a cultish following that airs as part of the Adult Swim late-night block of programs for adults on the Cartoon Network. A feature length film based on the show is slated for release March 23.
The surreal series centers on a talking milkshake (Master Shake), fries (Frylock) and a meatball (Meatwad).
The cartoon also includes two trouble-making, 1980s-graphic-like characters called "mooninites," named Ignignokt and Err -- who were pictured on the suspicious devices. They are known for making the obscene hand gesture depicted on the devices.
It said the devices have been in place for two to three weeks in 10 cities: Boston; New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Atlanta; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and Philadelphia.
Pricele$$ publicity on all the networks, newspapers and even a conservative web forum.
BUMP
Indeed, it isn't. Another way of describing it is:
It's fear -- and it's not funny. The meaning of the phrase changes significantly, once you change just one word, doesn't it?
When are going to stop running around like a bunch of headless chickens and pull ourselves together? What sort of image is projected by this constant running for cover?
Then we have some large portion of population pressing for pulling out of Iraq. Bright idea, that one; could it be that UBL was right when he was referring to a 'bad horse'? We've become arrogant, weak and petulant. This is no time for persecuting one of our own for a thoughtless prank when there are real enemies around. Or have we become so timid that we'd rather fight a defenseless bunch of retards back home, then a real and deadly enemy on our doorstep?
then a real and deadly enemy on our doorstep = when there is a real and deadly enemy...
The toy in question was a softball-sized glass jar containing a black substance and covered by a white substance, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said.
Authorities said about 15 people, mostly employees, evacuated the facility around 11 a.m. while the sheriff's bomb squad investigated, The Key West Citizen reported.
So? The authorities panicked and now they want to 'do something' to cover themselves. There's no criminal intent here and probably no crime.
Thing about this was that they were tucked up under bridge supports. Trying to Monday morning quarterback this absurd.
You need permits or permission to attach electronic devices for this kind of prank to be legal.
Scary thing is how easy this was for them, and they were not stopped at all while doing it.
This link shows them placing the devices. It is all so easy.
http://www.zebbler.com/friends/ATHF/Ignignokt_and_Err_Boston.html
"It's a hoax -- and it's not funny," Gov. Deval Patrick said.
I guess that's one way to describe it when your bumbling reaction to a glorified Lite-Brite shuts down the city of Boston. Another reaction might be to laugh at glowing images of the Mooninites, but as they might say, "These ads are too complex for you to compute with 100% of your primitive earth brains."
Can someone post a picture of these things that caused such a stir? I agree - it wasn't a "hoax", if no intent to cause terror was involved.
you got it right.
I do think that the marketing firm should have been intelligent enough to put a label on the lite-brites saying "this is a promotional tool for a TV cartoon" just in case someone wondered what it was. But still, I can't believe the authorities were actually detonating these things!
Who again, is winning the war on terror. Every time we react to something this patently silly, we fairly scream, "LOSERS". The people have paid a lot and will continue paying a lot, while not solving the problem.
I am afraid Bush and company have squandered much of the impetus (righteous anger) of the American people and will come away with little more than the degradation of the GOP and the American reputation.
Since the end of WWII, we have been plagued with an intelligence service that is anything but (yes, even before Clinton/Gorelick) and a determination to do everything possible to not win a war that we so readily enter into.
>>Calling it a "hoax" is getting old. It wasn't hoax. No one made any threats, there were no devices made to look like a bomb. It wasn't hard to tell what it was and that it wasn't dangerous.
Bingo.
The fact that they were up for 2-3 weeks in several other cities, with no official overreaction, says something. What is says, does not reflect well upon Boston's crack police and overall "homeland security".
I'm glad to see a few people on this thread "get" it.
The calls to "prosecute Turner!" are absurd.
Hang em------High.
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