Naples Throws Down The Gauntlet For Oddball News Story; Will Sarasota Respond?

Sarasota's sometime quixotic quest to be just like its rich cousin to the south when it grows up has been dealt another blow by an incident that shows just why Sarasota still has a way to go to achieve parity with Naples. Sure, we've got our financial scandals, our political comedies, our economic tragedies and more than our fair share of cultural foibles, but here's one that got away.

The story could just as easily have happened here, what with Sarasota's propensity for building up celebrities, then watching them faceplant on the unforgiving concrete sidewalk of reality. I think we're all more than a little miffed that it happened in Naples and not here.

Here's a guy, Ingmar "Iggy" Sprude, a local entrepreneur who owns a pool service company, who was chosen to grace the cover of the October issue of Gulfshore Life magazine for being one of nine "coolest bachelors around." Must be Gulfshore Life's version of the Madden curse......


Then, just before his 15 minutes of fame were about to expire, our boy Iggy, attending a Halloween party at Collier County nightclub called the Sway Lounge while dressed (or undressed, as the case may be) as blonde Baywatch bombshell, Pamela Anderson, replete in a red bathing suit with swim shorts, flip-flops, and blonde wig, but obviously sans her silicone 'enhancements.'

OK, other than looking just a little too comfortable running around in a red one-piece and blonde wig, no harm no foul, right? It is, after all, Halloween.

Apparently the evening's festivities were a little too tame for the waning celebrity, so he thought it would be oh, so much fun to pull the fire alarm and evacuate the 150 or so revelers in the club.

Twice.

Surveillance video shows Sprude laughing when he yanked the alarm. When deputies arrived to rain on this guy's parade, security guards pointed them to a trolley that they had witnessed our hero board. Sure enough, there was Iggy, still proudly sporting his Baywatch get-up, including a whistle around his neck and a tattoo on his left arm, which was visible on the security footage.

In the Gulfshore Life cover story, Sprude tells the magazine that he considers himself to be “fun, spontaneous and caring.” He also thinks 'sexy' is "a short dress and high heels." We're assuming he means on a female, but have no confirmation of that assumption. He also hates "playing hard to get and not returning phone calls."

I suspect he's getting lots of phone calls these days. If he's out on bail.

And another thing while we're still in Collier County; why do their Sheriff's Dept. mugshots look like this:

while Sarasota County's look like this:

Just askin'..........