CNN news 2010-12-31 加文本

cnn news 2010-12-31

October 15th, 2009.

Look, we don't know what to do.

If you were awake.

Norad says it's just monitoring the situation.

And near a television set.

Maybe the boy had already fallen out of that craft.

You probably stopped whatever you were doing.

Figure out the altitude of this child or this balloon is.

And just watched, anxiously.

Do you know for sure that a 6-year-old boy is inside that balloon?

Authorities had a good reason to believe that an out-of-control mylar balloon had a passenger on board, a little boy.

The son is the one that came in and told them that his brother had climbed in the basket when it took off and watched it go up.

For two hours, covering three Colorado counties, that balloon spun and listed, rose and fell through the air. News networks around the world carried this image live. The phrase "Balloon Boy" was born.

All right, it's come down. We've all been holding our breath.

By now, you know how the flight ended. Balloon, yes. Boy? No. The subject of worldwide anxiety, 6-year-old Falcon Heene was never in danger. He was hiding in the attic of his family home the whole time.

Falcon's parents were accused of staging an emergency to get a little attention, maybe drum up a little reality show interest. No, they said, no hoax. But then this happened during a live interview on that night's "Larry King Live."

You said that we did this for a show.

Yes.

So?

It was a hoax, and it unraveled. Fast forward, prosecutors charged that the Heenes wasted public money and manpower for this publicity stunt, and the judge approves a plea deal.

I'm very, very sorry.

Falcon's father, Richard Heene, and his mom, Mayumi Heene, both get jail sentences, community service, a hefty fine, years of probation, and they're not allowed to make any money from the story for at least four years.

In August, the family moves from Colorado to Florida to get a fresh start, settling outside Tampa.

Hi, I'm inventor Richard Heene.

But it appears he is an eye-on-the money kind of guy.

The patent-pending Bear Scratch.

He is pitching, not phony, terrifying stories about kids in balloons, but a got-to-have-it product he invented.

Bear Scratch is fun for the whole family.

Bear Scratch!

And young Falcon Heene, now 7 years old, he and his brother still being home schooled by their parents and helping Dad move some of that product.

Now that's a Bear Scratch. That is a Bear Scratch. Rawr!