Posted on 02/01/2007 5:02:47 AM PST by Puppage
BOSTON -- Nine blinking electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a marketing campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. At least one of the devices depicts a character giving the finger.
Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless.
"It's a hoax -- and it's not funny," said Gov. Deval Patrick.
Turner Broadcasting, parent company of Cartoon Network, said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."
"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," Turner said in a statement. 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.
"We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger," the company said.
Police said only that they were investigating where the device came from. The Department of Homeland Security said there are no credible reports of other devices being found elsewhere in the country.
An angry Mayor Thomas Menino said a stiff penalty will be pursued against whoever was responsible for the devices.
"It's about keeping a city on edge. It's about public safety," he said.
Authorities said some of the objects looked like circuit boards or had wires hanging from them.
The first device was found at a subway and bus station underneath Interstate 93, forcing the shutdown of the station and the highway.
Later, police said four calls, all around 1 p.m., reported devices at the Boston University Bridge and the Longfellow Bridge, both of which span the Charles River, at a Boston street corner and at the Tufts-New England Medical Center.
The package near the Boston University bridge was found attached to a structure beneath the span, authorities said.
Subway service across the Longfellow Bridge between Boston and Cambridge was briefly suspended, and Storrow Drive was closed as well.
Wanda Higgins, a 47-year-old Weymouth resident and a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, heard about the threat as she watched television news coverage while preparing to leave work at 4 p.m.
"I saw the bomb squad guys carrying a paper bag with their bare hands," Higgins said. "I knew it couldn't be too serious."
Messages seeking additional comment from the Atlanta-based Cartoon Network were left with several publicists.
"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.
Did you see it suspended under a bridge? Maybe it looked differently to someone who observed it there. And what does a bomb look like anyway? Is there one specific shape people should be concerned with? Of course not. I'm not familiar with bombs of any kind, so had I seen a strange gadget with wires and batteries, hanging from a bridge, which by the way tend to be targets of terrorists, I probably would have called it in myself.
There's indications that the signs were legally placed..
It was mentioned yesterday on FOX that space was rented for the signs.. Money was paid, agreements were signed..
I'm sure if that is true, the defense council will have access to those records..
That said, if any signs were put up illegally, the standard fines and penalties should apply, not some revenge based vendetta for making public officials look stupid..
While initial public reaction will be favorable, you can bet that a week from now the public will be on the side of those 2 art students..
Boston is going to make martyrs out of them, and everyone from the police to the governor will end up paying if they do..
In my view these electronic devices are no more than a 20th century version of a Burma shave road sign. They will get really embarrassed if they try to prosecute these guys, as they have been in 10 other cities for weeks with no issues. They should look inward to find the one to blame, instead of going for revenge for embarrassing them.
Great advertising though you cant buy this much coverage, and they are spelling Aqua teen hunger force correctly.
How do you know they reported a bomb? Maybe they called and reported something suspicious hanging under a bridge.
These things were in 10 cities for the past three weeks...yet Boston is the only city to freak out over them.
It wasn't that the signs "made" them look stupid. They are stupid. The incident of the signs just showed them for what they are.
And a married friend of my son's put his trash into one of those trash cans and was stuck with a syringe. He ended up having to go for preventive AIDS treatment and was in mental anguish for months until cleared of any disease.
I'm surprised at the hostility of the remarks on this thread aimed at Bostonians.
People who live in small towns in middle America have little understanding of life in NYC, DC, or Boston since 9/11.
The liberals in Boston will tell you that terrorism isn't a threat, it's a White house lie, but deep down they know that during the last scare Boston was one of the first two cities to have jets scrambled over them.
Whoever thought up this idea should be fired. What a moronic stunt.
...like an unattended backpack at the olympics or a few airline passengers with utility knives...nah. /sarc
It looks like a litebrite
But it calls into a bigger question that if we have spent billions and billions on these major cities for homeland security and they cannot tell the difference between a litebite and a bomb, wheres the money really going? One portable bomb sniffing device or a bomb sniffing dog should have enlightened him. Also these were up and inplace for days and they just now notice them?
Well, seeing them in daylight when they were not lit(so that the character design wasn't obvious) with an odd wire and stuck to a bridge, I don't think it could have been obvious to me.
Lots of people assume that what they know is common knowledge, when it isn't. I don't know what a bomb is supposed to look like; I am not trained in explosives and all I can go on is what I have seen in movies and television programs.
Also, there are a lot of people who, unfortunately, do not take terrorism seriously. After all this time, I don't understand it.
This seems to me to be an irresponsible action that isn't easily explained away. Turner is certainly doing heavy duty damage control, which indicates that THey believe there is something wrong with this PR stunt.
Also, we don't know that the other cities didn't have some concerns...just that they didn't broadcast it.
Well, I support the Boston Police actions. And I hope this costs Turner millions of dollars.
If your city gets shut down because your police department is too stupid to figure out the difference between a bomb and a Lite-Brite, it's time to move to another city.
Why should the marketers pay for the stupidity and irrational paranoia of the people of Bahhhston?
Live in fear if you want. I know I am not getting out of here alive, better to live one day laughing at the devil than a hundred years being afraid of every package in the street or stranger on the street.
Sounds like these people would want a cop who has a gun pointed at him to ask questions first before deciding to fire his weapon.
Nope, the State never looks stupid. It can be wrong and survive, it just can't be ridiculous. Government can stand criticism, it can stand wrong conduct, it can even stand outright criminality- the one thing it can't stand is laughter.
They will kill you for making them look stupid. And they will do their best to take it out on the poor rubes that put up these signs.
Oh, and as for the chances of these two advertisers getting convicted of anything - its a slim chance in hell. I have seen the signs and nothing about them looks dangerous to anyone but a complete moron. A Lite Brite with batteries.
Why? there's ample reason for it from Kennedy to Frank to Merino to the anti-gun sign that you see when coming in on the Mass Pike.
People who live in small towns in middle America have little understanding of life in NYC, DC, or Boston since 9/11.
What a pompous elitist attitude. I got news fer ya. The "inferiors" who live in the rest of the country probably have a better grip on reality than those who live is such completely self absorbed complacency in the big cities.
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