the mayor of Panama City Beach sounds kind of funny and likeable
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (April 25, 2001 4:14 p.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - When the mayor said - on camera - that his city offers spring break visitors opportunities for sex and underage drinking, the two pranksters thought they pulled off the ultimate hoax.
But Mayor Lee Sullivan said the joke was on Alltrue Networks Inc., which sent two staffers to interview him. The interviewers posed as representatives of Britain's Prince William and claimed he was interested in visiting Florida's spring break capital to "let loose."
The mayor, known for his sense of humor and flamboyant style, said he learned his visitors were not on the up-and-up when his wife called Buckingham Palace to check them out.
"Even someone as dull-witted as I might have anticipated that the Bonnie Prince was not on the Greyhound bus headed here," Sullivan said. So, he said, he played along.
A tourism official and City Manager Richard Jackson sat in on parts of the meeting, but Sullivan did not let them in on the joke.
"They could have fooled me," Jackson said. "Well, they did fool me."
New York City-based Alltrue, which produces video programming for various media outlets, issued a news release Monday bragging that it had put one over on Sullivan.
"It was really fun," said Dewey Thompson, editor in chief of Alltrue's Web site, Alltrue.com. "I don't think there are many politicians in the country who are so candid."
Thompson said the mayor talked about "wonderful nubile youths" and their exploits.
"He was even telling us that not only are waffles good to eat, but it's really good to puke up because it's soft and chewy," Thompson said.