07:59 PM EDT 10/20/2009
Real People Stories
VIDEO: Ex-Colleague Says Heene Planned Balloon Hoax
Originally posted 10/20/2009 08:00AM
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While Colorado's Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said Monday that it may take a week for charges to be filed against Richard Heene for his role in the alleged balloon hoax of last Thursday, a former business associate of Heene's is making the interview rounds to provide further background on the purported wannabe reality TV superstar.
Robert Thomas appeared on Tuesday's Today, where he described Heene, 48, as "a very creative individual. Hyperactive … driven by fame and promoting himself." When he saw the news footage of the Mylar balloon floating over Colorado skies last Thursday, Thomas says he thought to himself, "Who would possibly do something like this? It has to be Richard Heene."
What Thomas did not touch upon, but has been reported elsewhere, is that Thomas, a 25-year-old college student, shares some of Heene's offbeat ideas on weather. Also, according to the New York Post, Heene is convinced that he was once abducted by extraterrestrials and that Armageddon will arrive in 2012.
Permalink | Filed Under: Real People Stories, Falcon Heene, Mayumi Heene, Richard Heene
Lawyer: Balloon Boy Parents to Surrender to Authorities
Originally posted 10/18/2009 03:00PM
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Three days after the nation watched the televised image of a silver flying saucer-shaped balloon traveling across the Colorado sky, it turns out the saga of the balloon boy may have been all hot air.
"It has been determined this was a hoax. It was a publicity stunt," Larimer County, Colo., Sheriff Jim Alderden told reporters Sunday. He said no arrests will be made until the investigation is complete.
Alderden said the hoax was hatched more than two weeks ago by either one or both of 6-year-old Falcon Heene's parents as a means of landing their own reality TV show. Authorities are investigating whether others are involved.
Permalink | Filed Under: Real People Stories, Falcon Heene, Richard Heene
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Sheriff: Charges Will 'Likely Be Filed' Against Balloon Boy's Parents
Originally posted 10/17/2009 11:20PM
Was it a hoax after all?
After a second interview late Saturday with Richard and Mayumi Heene – the parents of the now-infamous balloon boy – Larimer County, Colo., Sheriff Jim Alderden says that misdemeanor charges will now "likely be filed" against one or both the parents.
Alderden would not elaborate on what changed his mind from Friday, when he told reporters during a nationally televised press conference that he was "convinced" the family was telling the truth.
Permalink | Filed Under: Real People Stories, Falcon Heene, Richard Heene
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Sheriff Doubts Balloon Escapade Was a Hoax
Originally posted 10/16/2009 03:45PM
Six-year-old balloon boy Falcon Heene and his family haven't landed on their feet – yet.
Larimer County, Colo., Sheriff Jim Alderden says his investigators will re-interview the family on Saturday after media reports raised questions about whether the balloon incident was a hoax perpetrated by the Heenes, who live in Fort Collins.
Alderden says he was convinced after talking and being with the parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, on Thursday that they "were being honest with us," but "based on the level of skepticism, it's incumbent on us to go back to the family."
Permalink | Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Real People Stories, Falcon Heene, Richard Heene
Truth or Hot Air: Balloon Boy's Father Speaks Out
Originally posted 10/16/2009 07:50AM
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Richard Heene faced his own wild ride on Friday, battling rumors that Thursday's frantic rescue effort to save his 6-year-old-son Falcon – who was believed to be aboard a homemade helium-filled balloon that floated high over Colorado for more than two hours with National Guard and sheriff's helicopters in its pursuit – was the result of a publicity stunt.
Appearing on Friday's Today show, Heene said such accusations were making him angry. As he spoke to the NBC morning program's Meredith Vieira, Falcon, who had safely hidden in the rafters of the family garage while the balloon adventure played out on national TV, got sick to his stomach on camera.
Permalink | Filed Under: Real People Stories, Falcon Heene, Richard Heene
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Balloon Family: Reality Stars, Thrill Seekers
Originally posted 10/15/2009 06:35PM
They're an unusual family at the center of a bizarre story: Their UFO-looking helium balloon soared from their home at the same time their 6-year-old son disappeared – with the boy later found safely at home after a nationally televised air-and-ground search.
So who are the Heenes of Fort Collins, Colo.?
Reality TV fans may remember Richard and wife Mayumi from the ABC show Wife Swap. During their episode, which aired on the show's premiere in October 2008, they switched with the Martels, a Connecticut family with a childproofing business. The family's segment proved so popular that viewers voted them back onto a March 2009 episode – this time with a St. Augustine, Fla., couple whose wife earns a living as a psychic.
Even by the outrageous standards of reality television, the Heenes stand out for their thrill-seeking lifestyle that sometimes put their own children on the edge of danger. As Mayumi told the Coloradoan newspaper last year: "Wife Swap was just another adventure for us as a family."
Permalink | Filed Under: Real People Stories, Falcon Heene, Richard Heene
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Woman Regains Sight with Tooth-to-Eyeball Surgery
Originally posted 09/19/2009 04:10PM
It's a bizarre surgery and not for the squeamish: A tooth pulled from the mouth is fitted to hold an optical lens and implanted in the eye, leaving a bulging eyeball that can't blink. But for blind grandmother Sharron "Kay" Thornton, the procedure was nothing short of a miracle.
"I got to see all my grandbabies," Thornton tells PEOPLE after returning home from the hospital and taking in the sight of her three children and nine grandchildren. "They were beautiful and my children – they have not changed one bit."
Seven of those grandchildren had been born after Thornton went blind in 2000 and it was 6-year-old Castyn who surprised Thornton the most as the whole clan waited on the porch of her Smithdale, Miss., farmhouse Friday to welcome her home from Miami, where her surgery was performed.
Permalink | Filed Under: Real People Stories
High-School Football Hero Tackles Student with Gun
Originally posted 09/03/2009 09:00AM
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In a case of real-life heroics, a Mississippi high-school quarterback tackled and disarmed an irate 14-year-old student who boarded the school bus and threatened to shoot her loaded .380 semi-automatic handgun.
Yazoo County, Miss., Sheriff Tommy Vaughan told the local paper, the Clarion-Ledger, about 6'4", 225-lb. Kaleb Eulls, 18: "If it hadn't been for this star football player, things could have been different. He didn't go overboard, but he did exactly what it took to get her on the ground."
Both Eulls and Vaughan appeared on Thursday's Today show to discuss Tuesday's incident, which started, Eulls said, when his sister woke him up from dozing on the bus and pointed out the girl with the gun, who made an alleged threat to shoot the 22 other kids, many elementary-school age.
Eulls "made the statement to one of my deputies that if she was going to shoot anyone he would rather she shoot him," Vaughan said.
Permalink | Filed Under: Real People Stories
Wacky Wedding Wows the Web
Originally posted 07/24/2009 01:20PM
Talk about kicking up your heels. In a YouTube clip sweeping the Web, Minnesota couple Kevin Heinz and Jill Peterson, both 28, turned the traditional wedding processional into a Bollywood-esque dance sequence to Chris Brown's "Forever."
Bridesmaids and groomsmen donned sunglasses, the bride twirled and shook her hips and the brown-suited groom somersaulted his way to the altar.
Since the couple posted the video of their June 20 wedding, it has been watched more than 1.42 million times on YouTube.
Permalink | Filed Under: Real People StoriesWeddings
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Naked Cowboy Launches Full-Frontal Campaign
Originally posted 07/22/2009 01:25PM
No more beating around the bush. After a provocative whisper campaign, it's now official: The Naked Cowboy is a full-frontal candidate for mayor of New York City.
The uninhibited midtown Manhattan tourist fixture – who plucks his guitar and poses for photos while wearing only his jockey shorts, Western boots and a 10-gallon hat – is promising a platform "do more with less," he said noon Wednesday at a Times Square press conference to declare his candidacy.
With what he is calling his "Naked Stimulus Package," the Cowboy – real name: Robert Burck, 38 – hopes to goose the city's small businesses with micro loans, tax holidays and other incentives, he says on his election Web site. He adds that he's willing to tighten his belt, even though he never wears one.
Permalink | Filed Under: Real People Stories
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