The Company should have to pay

**Pedro56** · 02-01-07, 03:14 PM

TV hoax gives Boston jitters
Man charged with planting electronic marketing devices

February 1, 2007
BY KEN MAGUIRE

BOSTON -- Several illuminated electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a publicity campaign for a cable cartoon.

Peter Berdovsky, 29, of Arlington, was arrested on charges of placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said. He was hired to place the devices, she said.

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.

Turner Broadcasting, parent of Cartoon Network, later said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force.''

Authorities are investigating whether Turner and any other companies should be criminally charged, Coakley said. It wasn't immediately clear who hired Berdovsky.

AP

**Willowdared** · 02-01-07, 03:43 PM

Did you catch they placed them in a couple cities, but only Boston noticed?

**Andrewtx** · 02-01-07, 03:53 PM

Notwithstanding that they probably exercised really poor judgment, it just seems like a knee-jerk reaction to charge the guy with a felony when he probably didn't intend to create a panic..Stupid, sure. But a felony? I don't think that's gonna stick.

**BEB** · 02-01-07, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by PDawg

Did you catch they placed them in a couple cities, but only Boston noticed?

They were up for a couple weeks too?

Best pics I could find. If someone told me it was suspected of being a bomb then the battery compartment looks like a bomb. Still, you'd think someone would have figured it out sooner.

Really I'm surprised people didn't take them home within the first few days. They practically scream "put me up on your dorm room wall right above the keg".

**Pedro56** · 02-02-07, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by Andrewtx

Notwithstanding that they probably exercised really poor judgment, it just seems like a knee-jerk reaction to charge the guy with a felony when he probably didn't intend to create a panic..Stupid, sure. But a felony? I don't think that's gonna stick.

It will stick I had one stick on 2 counts for something similar.

**Norm357** · 02-02-07, 12:55 PM

Felony planting of a light bright? What a bunch of pussies.

**E-man** · 02-02-07, 01:13 PM

I saw a pic of them in my local newspaper and the 2 fuktards were 'skiing' down a stairway after the hearing. Its pricks like that that make L.E. job difficult. They are taking this soooo not serious.
Every day i live I hate people more and more...

**countybear** · 02-02-07, 02:06 PM

What part of this "Super Secret Squirrel" advertising campaign (of course led by some brainiac in the Ted Turner organization) made it totally impossible or deemed it unnecessary to simply notify city officials that these objects were going to be placed? Any reasonable human being with half an ounce of common sense could have had the simple foresight to realize that these devices had the potential to cause some type of at least mild alarm when they started popping out all over a densely populated area completely unannounced.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to take into account that the Homeland Security Terror Alert level is still "elevated", and they were dropping these things all over the town where the primary thrust of the September 11th hijackings originated. If Ted Turner's people would just turn the channel from the Cartoon Network to their own former venture, CNN's news reports, political commentary, (and liberal delicatessen), they would see that *suprise*, there is a war going on, and the U.S. is *slightly* involved in it.

I sympathize with the city officials who were forced to deal with the "WTF" syndrome, all because some cubicle-flying Southpark graduate had this 'neat' idea of a publicity stunt. Those responsible for dropping these toys around town caused alarm and threatened public peace and order, period. That being said, I'll grant its a stretch statutorily to find a felony crime in it, but hell, they should at least be made to pay littering fines (maximum per unit placed in a public area), then be subjected to very heavy civil penalties for their mischief. I think two-times the gross cost and profit of the venture, paid directly to the emergency operations budget of the cities affected would be a good place to start.

I suggest that these nutcases with Turner's ad agency got exactly the response and the attention they planned for in this stunt. We should put one of these blinking toys in the trophy case, right next to Janet Jackson's nipple rings.

**Jenna** · 02-02-07, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by BugEyedBeast

Of course it's terrorism! I'd certainly be terrified if I saw these Aqua Teen Hunger Force critters making rude gestures at me!

**BigDawg** · 02-02-07, 02:31 PM

I think they got just the publicity they were looking for out of this. I also think they should pay the cities bills for having to take them back down.

In hind sight what do you expect from Ted and the bitch he is married to anyway?