Balloon Boy: People are pissed
October 23, 2009 by m.coonce · Leave a Comment
Paul Pozarnsky, 25, of Fort Collins holds a sign while standing near tripods during a news conference Saturday at the Heene family’s Fort Collins home. Pozarnsky and his brother, Jarrod, both held signs mocking the hoopla. Jarrod Pozarnsky’s sign read: ‘Put balloon boy on TV: America’s Most Wanted.’ (Rich Abrahamson/The Coloradoan)
Jordan Good, 13, front, chuckles Saturday after listening in on a news conference with Richard Heene at the Heene family’s Fort Collins home. Good is pictured with Jarrod Pozarnsky, 27, left, and brother Paul Pozarnsky, 25, right. Good and Paul Pozarnsky are from a nearby neighborhood. (Rich Abrahamson/The Coloradoan)
Falcon Heene made international news after his parents reported the boy, 6, had floated away from the backyard of their Fort Collins home in a UFO-shaped helium balloon Oct. 15. A massive search ensued along the balloon’s approximately 50-mile flight path after the balloon landed empty near Denver International Airport.
The boy eventually emerged from hiding at his parents’ home Thursday evening, and the family immediately began granting television interviews. Within hours, however, the public’s support turned to skepticism and eventually to outright hostility Sunday when Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden declared the whole thing a hoax concocted by the Heene family to get themselves on television.
It worked.
