For 2 hours this afternoon, the world stood still as the US Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) dispatched two helicopters to chase an air balloon, believed to be carrying 6-year-old Falcon Heene.

The balloon’s 40-mile flight was followed so closely by emergency services that they were on the scene within seconds when it finally touched down. A sheriff’s deputy sprinted across a ploughed field and grabbed a tether to prevent it becoming airborne again. Rescue workers were dreading what they would find inside.

They soon had their answer: nothing. For Falcon Heene had been safe at home all along, hiding in a box in the attic over his father’s garage.

Just before sunset, with hundreds of rescue workers combing about 150 square miles of fields across Colorado, police made their discovery. Sheriff Jim Alderman burst into a live press conference: “He’s at the house,” he said. Mr Alderman said there was “no indication” that the event had been a hoax, adding: “This is not the first time when we have been involved in searching for some child and they hide because they’re afraid they’re going to get in trouble.”

That is what everyone thought until the family was interviewed by Wolfe Blitzer. When asked why he didn’t come out when he heard everyone calling his name, Falcon said, “It was for the show.” (huh?)

Taken a back, the boys parents stuttered and then attempted to change the subject.

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VIA MOMLOGIC

A Cincinnati woman was arrested on Tuesday after she allegedly put a stranger’s toddler son over her knee and spanked him three times inside a store.

In a court appearance yesterday, the accused, Gloria Ballard, asked for a public defender and plead not guilty to her assault charge. She was also ordered to stay away from 2-year-old Sean Goode and his mother, Donnay Jones.

Outside court, the boys mom and the accused each told two different stories. Ms. Ballard denied any wrongdoing and said she gave the boy a hug and gently patted his backside because he was upset, while Donnay Jones claimed her son got spanked after Ballard told her she should make him behave.

“She was basically trying to tell me what to do with my son,” Jones told WLWT-TV. She told Ballard she would handle her own business and son. Then, she said, Ballard took Sean from her and spanked him, causing him to cry.

“I was shocked,” Jones told WCPO-TV on Wednesday.

Ballard, 43, faces a charge that carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. She said she is a mother and grandmother who was just trying to help.

“And I got this,” Ballard said, while holding a paper that described the charge.

I guess a judge will have to pick through both of these claims. This is the second time in just a couple weeks a stranger has been accused of punishing a stranger’s child.

Seriously people! Just walk away!

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An adventurous pre-schooler found himself in a bit of a spot after he crawled into a mailbox and it locked behind him.

When Firefighters were called to the scene, they needed to use boltcutters to free the youngster before handing him back to his mom.

“He was shouting for help but lots of people ignored him because they thought it was some sort of TV candid camera stunt,” said one rescuer.

“It was just a game that went wrong but the boy must have been scared stiff when he was stuck in there. He was screaming a shouting and by the time we got him out he was shaking all over,” said a spokesman.

“He told his mum he would not be going anywhere near any postboxes any more and he never wants to see a letter again for the rest of his life after being stuck in there with so many of them.”

Knowing my luck, something like this would happen to one of my boys.

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Mauren Lee has a lot to be thankful for today after she successfully wrestled a cougar off of her 3-year-old daughter.

Maya Lee is still recovering after being attacked by a cougar near her home Squamish, B.C.

Her mom was picking berries in the woods at about 7 p.m. Tuesday when she heard a sound and saw the big cat pounce on her little girl.

“He rolled her a couple of times and had her underneath him in kind of a fetal position on her back,” Lee said. “I knew I had to act fast and I just dove in between them and put my body on her and then I kind of stood up and used my body weight to push him off of me and just grabbed her and ran as fast and loud as I possibly could.”

After a neighbour heard her screams they drove her and Maya to hospital, where the young girl was treated for puncture wounds to her head and arms.

Mauren recalls the intense moment,

“I had a real weird sort of connection with the cougar, too, because there was a moment of eye contact and there was a long moment of physical contact because it was on my back and shoulders and arms and I had to pry him off and push him off.”

“During that time I had the sense that this creature was not a bad cat. It was just hunting. We were just unfortunately the prey it was hunting.”

Conservation officers tracked a male cougar and shot it late Tuesday night. DNA samples will be taken to confirm it was the cat involved, and also to help determine why the attack occurred.

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A 4-year-old boy’s brief joyride in his family’s minivan came to an abrupt end when he crashed into a ditch Friday afternoon.

The boy’s mother told police that the clever pre-schooler used a stool to retrieve the keys off a key rack in their apartment. He then unlocked the van, started the vehicle and put the vehicle into drive.

According to a witness, the boy accelerated the van and drove 100 feet before turning left into a ditch. The witness called 911 and helped the boy out of the van, fire officials said.When firefighters arrived, they found the back of the minivan sticking into the air with the rear wheel off the ground, said Capt. Mike Zainfeld in a press release.

The boy wasn’t injured and the van sustained minimal damage. Luckily, there was no property damaged during the boy’s drive.

The parents won’t be charged, the police said the embarrassment of the incident was punishment enough.

I agree!

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Knoxville residents are calling for the castration of a 29-year-old man who can’t pay child support for the 21 children he has fathered with 11 different women.

Desmond Hatchett’s brood came to light after authorities in Tennessee took him to court for non-payment of child support.

He has apparently set a U.S. record but said: ‘It just happened.’

He added that he would not have any more children. ‘I’m done. I’ll say I’m done,’ he said.

The busy dad, who earns a minimal wage, told TV reporters he knows the names and ages of all his offspring.

Their ages range from newborn to 11 years old.

He is believed to have fathered four children by different women in the same year.

Authorities in Knoxville said they plan to take half of his monthly salary to pay for the youngsters but officials said that would work out to just over $2 a week for each.

His lawyer Keith Pope said:

‘The children can’t all be supported by Desmond, so the state of Tennessee has had to step in.’

Now that he has appeared on TV, U.S. authorities are braced for more women to come forward claiming Desmond is the father of their children.

What a gem!!

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A prison work crew baby-sat a 21/2-year-old boy after he was found wandering on Route 550 not far from the Pennsylvania line shortly after 9 a.m yesterday morning.

The six minimum-security inmates shared their lunches with the toddler and played with him while authorities located the parents and investigated, said Correctional Officer Gary Kershner, who was overseeing the prisoners.

“Me and my inmate crew, we just kind of baby-sat for the next three hours,” Kershner said. “They were as much entertained by the child as he was by them.”

Troopers eventually found the boy’s home nearby. The adventurous boy was reunited with his family after Child Protective Services investigated and found no immediate cause to suspect abuse or neglect.

The boy’s father, who works at home, told police he had left the child in the care of an 18-year-old daughter, who then left without notice.

This dad is very lucky that the prison work crew was in the area. The road this little guy was found on is treacherous due to traffic from dump trucks going to and from a nearby quarry.

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The 11-month old mistakenly dialed 911 while typing away on a portable phone, which caused dispatchers to send police to the house when they couldn’t get in touch with the family.

Once at the residence, police found no emergency, but just the boy and his dad watching a late-morning television program.

The trouble happened when they picked up a distinctive odour and quickly discovered 500 marijuana plants growing in the floor below.

Child-welfare officials took the child and placed him with his mother, who was separated from the father.

The mother told police she had no idea that marijuana plants were being grown in the home. She had dropped off the boy at his father’s place earlier that morning on her way to work.

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Adolf Hitler Campbell and his sisters, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, were taken from their Holland Township, N.J., home on Friday by the state’s Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS).

Kate Bernyk, a spokeswoman for the DYFS, said confidentiality laws barred her from commenting on the case or even confirming that the Campbell children were involved.

“DYFS has their reasons and they normally don’t release any information, so we kind of have to go on faith with them,” Harris said. Police were not told what the agency was investigating.

The Campbells made national news last month when a ShopRite supermarket refused to sell them a birthday cake with Adolf Hitler’s name on it. They were probably looking for support, but the story generated a slew of angry Internet chatter.

Many believe that is a form of child abuse to name your child after a public figure who disliked so passionately.

Sgt. John Harris of the Holland Township Police Department told FOXNews.com, “Part of it is the infantile nature of the parents’ behavior. You can name your dog something weird, but they think they’re making some kind of bold statement with the children, not appreciating that the children will have separate lives and will be looked at in a negative light until they’re able to change their name. It is abuse.”

Last year, a New Zealand court removed a 9-year-old girl from her parents in order to change her birth name: Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. In that country, officials do not deem a name abusive unless it causes serious bullying.

Heath Campbell, the children’s father, told the Easton-Express Times last year that he named his son after Adolf Hitler because he liked it and “no one else in the world would have that name.”

New Jersey officials said Wednesday that it is not just a matter of names.

“DYFS would never remove a child simply based on that child’s name,” Bernyk said.

He made at least two 90-degree turns, passed several cars and ran off the rural two-lane road several times before hitting an embankment and utility pole about a mile and a half from school.

Luckily the determined boy only suffered minor injuries and authorities drove him to school after he was evaluated at a local hospital for a bump on the head.

The boy told police he learned to drive playing Grand Theft Auto and Monster Truck Jam video games.

“He was very intent on getting to school,” said Northumberland County Sheriff Chuck Wilkins. “When he got out of the car, he started walking to school. He did not want to miss breakfast and PE.”

His parents, Jacqulyn Deana Waltman, 26, and David Eugene Dodson, 40, are each charged with child endangerment and his mom is being held without bond. His dad was released on a $5,000 bond.

The boy and his 4-year-old brother were placed in protective custody.

“This really is a story of miracles,” Wilkins said. “The Lord was with him, along with everybody else on the highway.”

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*STOCK PHOTO*