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 todays 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.
If that's what went down, throw them under the jail.
Has CNN been reporting on this story at all, anyone know?
And to clarify, "they" = the local guys who called 911.
I don't see Turner as being at fault on this. Again, we have the example of a number of other cities.
When you consider the intelligence level of the "authorities" combined with their jackboot mindset then you begin to understand. When you see that pompous arrogant ass menino posturing on TV to hide the fact the the government was too stupid to realise the flashing lights were signs and not bombs it becomes clearer.
Wrong.
Authorities took appropriate measures during an unknown situation. This comes after 9 were arrested for a terrorist plot in UK. It was the correct response from callers who stated that devices with circuit boards and wires protruding were placed on bridges/highways/hospitals...
Yeah, I'm fine with that.
Trying to inflate this to "IT LOOKED LIKE A BOMB! THEY INTENDED THAT!", as many, especially officials in Boston, seem to be doing, is just absurd.
I hope the Mooninites visit the city of Boston on a future episode. Their appearance would probably cause a mass panic that cripples the city and local economy.
If the men who placed the devices called 911 claiming that it looked like a bomb, they are toast. And the marketing company and Turner can also be on the hook if they directed them to do it as part of a marketing campaign.
I'd post the cartoon character here, but it looks like it's flipping the bird? Was that thing giving the finger to folks all over Boston?
I suggest you go look at the video on post #33.
Not threatening at all.
Not big enough to hold enough explosives to do any real damage to a structure (they are thin with nothing hidden and clearly an electronic sign).
If someone were trying to bomb the public they'd just drop the bombs in public trash cans and not raise suspicions.
This whole episode is dumb, dumb, dumb.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!"
Turkeys can fly.
Les Nessman reports otherwise
The latter seems pretty unlikely. Agree on the former, and rightfully so.
We have wild turkeys all over the place around here.
They can fly. They normally hang out on the ground but if they feel threatened they can fly to get away.
Regardless of the facts of turkeys and their ability to become airborne, the reference (if you are too young or weren't a fan) was regarding a WKRP episode, to which I posted an extremely cumbersome URL to.
A more abbreviated link is here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZByndN_ffyw
That helped...
Never saw much of that show. We only got one channel where I grew up and that wasn't on it...
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