No hoax: Colorado balloon boy's father to auction saucer

(CNN) -- Richard Heene, who pulled a hoax in 2009 by saying his 6-year-old son was in peril as a stowaway in a balloon over Colorado, is now auctioning the saucer for charity.

Heene apparently believes he can get up to $1 million for the controversial saucer.

The man behind the "balloon boy hoax" is offering the saucer in an online auction to benefit relief efforts in Japan, according to the website balloonboyflyingsaucer.com.

The site, which claims to be the work of California lawyer Perry Rausher, assures potential bidders that Heene will not receive any money from the auction.

"The winning bidder's funds will go directly into the Trust Account of Attorney Perry H. Rausher of Calabasas, California. Mr. Rausher will then write a check to a selected charitable organization that is helping the Japanese cause. The Heene family will not receive anything from the sale," the site says.

Rausher did not immediately return calls for comment. The auction ends Monday.

Heene's claim that his son was in the balloon prompted a sensation and live coverage nationwide of authorities tracking the craft while they agonized over how to rescue the boy inside.

When the balloon came to rest in a field, however, Heene's son was not inside.

The boy later was found hiding in the family's house.

The auction website says visitors can buy the saucer outright for $1 million or submit a bid online.

Bidders are asked to respond to a few questions, including "Do you believe Flying Saucers have been around for many years?" and "Would you like to see people travel everyday in Flying Saucers?"

The online form also inquires of "your main interest" in the craft, how it will be used and whether a bidder has read Heene's paper, "Electromagnetic Fields Recorded in Mesocyclones."

The site contains a link to a YouTube video of Heene and his wife, standing outside in front of a deflated silver balloon while they explain their motives and the craft's functionality.

"We went on the internet and we saw that over 18,000 people have perished over in Japan because of that tsunami," Heene says in the video. "We thought, how can we help out? We can't with our hands but we have something that we think could help."

"Funds raised by the sale will go to charity to help Japanese in their recovery," his wife, Mayumi, says in subtitled Japanese.

In November 2009, Heene pleaded guilty to a felony count of attempting to influence a public servant, while his wife pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of making a false report.

Heene completed a 90-day sentence with home detention, and his wife served a 20-day sentence on weekends, according to a jail official. Her time was not spent in a jail cell, but on a Saturday and Sunday work detail, a probation official said.

The judge also sentenced the couple to four years' probation.

Heene was also ordered to pay $36,000 in restitution, a judge ruled last year.

Prosecutors said the couple staged their son's disappearance on October 15, 2009, to generate publicity for themselves because they wanted to star in a reality television show.

Heene has managed to remain in the public eye through business pursuits that included a rock band and back scratchers.

CNN

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Father of captured soldier seeks Pakistan's help

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The father of the only U.S. soldier held captive in the Afghan war appealed to the Pakistani military for help in freeing his son in a video posted on YouTube on Friday.

The parents of Spc. Bowe Bergdahl have declined to say much publicly since their son went missing from his base in southern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. While it's unclear where the 25-year-old soldier is being held, a video that surfaced earlier this week shows him standing next to a senior official in the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in Paktika province in Afghanistan.

In Friday's video, Idaho resident Bob Bergdahl urges members of the Pakistani military to help secure his son's release. He directly references Pakistani Army Chief of Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the head of the country's intelligence service.

"Our family is counting on your professional integrity and your honor to secure the safe return of our son," he said. "And we thank you. Our family knows the high price that has been paid by your men in the army and the frontier corps. We give our condolences and thanks to the families of those who have fallen for Pakistan."

Idaho National Guard spokesman Col. Tim Marsano, a liaison for the U.S. Army in Idaho, confirmed that Bob Bergdahl is the man in the video.

Wearing a long beard he began growing just after his son's capture, Bob Bergdahl speaks in both English and Arabic in the video, and he talks directly to members of the Haqqanis and their military commander, Mullah Sangeen.

"Strangely to some, we must also thank those who have cared for our son, for almost two years, Mullah Sangeen, the Haqqanis, and others who have played a role in sheltering the American prisoner," he said. "We know our son is a prisoner and at the same time a guest in your home."

The video comes after Osama Bin Laden's death in a U.S. raid on Sunday in Pakistan. Bergdahl doesn't allude to any relationship between that and the timing of this video.

The U.S. considers the Haqqani group to be its greatest enemy in Afghanistan. U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, complained last month that Pakistan's military-run intelligence service maintains links to the Haqqani network. The Haqqanis are Afghan Taliban who control parts of eastern Afghanistan and have bases in Pakistan's North Waziristan frontier tribal region.

Speaking to his son, Bob Bergdahl offered reassurances that the family has done all it can — and that they want him home safe.

"We have been quiet in public, but we have not been quiet behind the scenes," Bob Bergdahl said. "Continue to be patient and kind to those around you. You are not forgotten."

In the video, Bergdahl appears to reference the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the government founded by the Taliban in 1996 that was toppled from power in 2001.

"We understand the rationale the Islamic Emirate has made through their videos," Bergdahl said. "No family in the United States understands the detainee issue like ours. Our son's safe return will only heighten public awareness of this. That said, our son is being exploited. It is past time for Bowe and the others to come home."

Bergdahl does not indicate to whom he's referring to with the phrase "the others." There are no other U.S. soldiers in captivity in Afghanistan.

Marsano said he was uncertain about the passage.

"I'm not privy to all the information Mr. Bergdahl has, nor did he ask me to expand upon his remarks," Marsano said.

A phone call to U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, wasn't immediately returned.

The Bergdahls, who live in a home outside of Hailey near the tourist resort of Sun Valley, have largely shunned media attention following their son's capture. Last year, Bowe Bergdahl's mother, Jani Bergdahl, attended an elementary school ceremony after students wrote President Barack Obama urging him to help bring about the captive's release.

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For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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Father of captured soldier seeks Pakistan's help

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The father of the only U.S. soldier held captive in the Afghan war appealed to the Pakistani military for help in freeing his son in a video posted on YouTube on Friday.

The parents of Spc. Bowe Bergdahl have declined to say much publicly since their son went missing from his base in southern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. While it's unclear where the 25-year-old soldier is being held, a video that surfaced earlier this week shows him standing next to a senior official in the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in Paktika province in Afghanistan.

In Friday's video, Idaho resident Bob Bergdahl urges members of the Pakistani military to help secure his son's release. He directly references Pakistani Army Chief of Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the head of the country's intelligence service.

"Our family is counting on your professional integrity and your honor to secure the safe return of our son," he said. "And we thank you. Our family knows the high price that has been paid by your men in the army and the frontier corps. We give our condolences and thanks to the families of those who have fallen for Pakistan."

Idaho National Guard spokesman Col. Tim Marsano, a liaison for the U.S. Army in Idaho, confirmed that Bob Bergdahl is the man in the video.

Wearing a long beard he began growing just after his son's capture, Bob Bergdahl speaks in both English and Arabic in the video, and he talks directly to members of the Haqqanis and their military commander, Mullah Sangeen.

"Strangely to some, we must also thank those who have cared for our son, for almost two years, Mullah Sangeen, the Haqqanis, and others who have played a role in sheltering the American prisoner," he said. "We know our son is a prisoner and at the same time a guest in your home."

The video comes after Osama Bin Laden's death in a U.S. raid on Sunday in Pakistan. Bergdahl doesn't allude to any relationship between that and the timing of this video.

The U.S. considers the Haqqani group to be its greatest enemy in Afghanistan. U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, complained last month that Pakistan's military-run intelligence service maintains links to the Haqqani network. The Haqqanis are Afghan Taliban who control parts of eastern Afghanistan and have bases in Pakistan's North Waziristan frontier tribal region.

Speaking to his son, Bob Bergdahl offered reassurances that the family has done all it can — and that they want him home safe.

"We have been quiet in public, but we have not been quiet behind the scenes," Bob Bergdahl said. "Continue to be patient and kind to those around you. You are not forgotten."

In the video, Bergdahl appears to reference the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the government founded by the Taliban in 1996 that was toppled from power in 2001.

"We understand the rationale the Islamic Emirate has made through their videos," Bergdahl said. "No family in the United States understands the detainee issue like ours. Our son's safe return will only heighten public awareness of this. That said, our son is being exploited. It is past time for Bowe and the others to come home."

Bergdahl does not indicate to whom he's referring to with the phrase "the others." There are no other U.S. soldiers in captivity in Afghanistan.

Marsano said he was uncertain about the passage.

"I'm not privy to all the information Mr. Bergdahl has, nor did he ask me to expand upon his remarks," Marsano said.

A phone call to U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, wasn't immediately returned.

The Bergdahls, who live in a home outside of Hailey near the tourist resort of Sun Valley, have largely shunned media attention following their son's capture. Last year, Bowe Bergdahl's mother, Jani Bergdahl, attended an elementary school ceremony after students wrote President Barack Obama urging him to help bring about the captive's release.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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Obama's commencement speech: More dreams from his father

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S.C. teen dies in crash on highway named for his father

The Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal and the Associated Press bring us the sad story about an 18-year-old high school senior killed in a car wreck on a stretch of road named for his father, a National Guard sergeant killed in Afghanistan.

Aaron Shawn Hill died Thursday morning on the Sergeant Shawn F. Hill Memorial Highway (State Highway 129) in Wellford, S.C., as he drove three friends to Byrnes High School. His Honda was hit head-on when a westbound Chevrolet pickup crossed the center line of the two-lane road. His friends and the 27-year-old pickup driver were hospitalized; their conditions were not released.

No charges have been filed yet. Police said the pickup driver's license was revoked nearly a year ago for speeding.

Aaron Hill talked of joining the military like his father, who was killed in 2008 when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

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