Child-Free by Choice

If you're unfamiliar with this story:

A 6-year-old Colorado boy was believed to have been trapped inside a homemade balloon as it flew some 50 miles. When the balloon finally reached the ground, nobody was inside. The boy was later found to have been hiding the whole time in his family's attic. There are now allegations the whole thing was a hoax or publicity stunt orchestrated by the boy's parents, who have been featured on ABC's "Wife Swap" (I saw that episode, and these parents were crazy!). The parents are storm chasers and regularly take the boys out of school to go after storms. Looks like charges will be filed against the parents now...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/17/colorado.balloon.boy/index.html

---

---

---

Now an arrest for the parents-

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - The Larimer County sheriff now says a Colorado couple's report that their 6-year-old son was in a balloon that was hurtling away from their home was a publicity stunt.

Sheriff Jim Alderden announced during a press conference moments ago that Richard and Mayumi Heene "put on a very good show for us, and we bought it." The sheriff says no charges have been filed yet, and the parents aren't under arrest. But he says he expects to recommend charges of conspiracy and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Alderden says interviews with the parents Saturday resulted in enough information to get a warrant to search the house. He says they were looking for computers, e-mails, phone records and financial records.

Good! Even before the media announced that the family had previously been on "Wife Swap," I thought the family sounded familiar (Colorado family, storm chasers, etc.). I knew I had seen them before and that they were complete wack jobs.

In addition to charges for this stunt, I also think an investigation should take place into the fact that they take the boys out of school to go storm chasing.

---

---

---