Update, August 11, 2009:
Toilet paper prank against West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel misfires
by Tony Doris
Palm Beach Post
August 06, 2009
West Palm Beach “” A radio DJ’s effort to toilet-paper Mayor Lois Frankel’s house wiped out Wednesday, when the host hit the wrong house.
After WILD 95.5 host Jason Pennington returned to his own home – to prepare for a television interview about his daring feat – the TV crew informed him that his plot had unraveled. Watch the video here.
Because the mayor’s mailbox is close to her neighbor’s house – and a hurried Pennington never checked the street number on the house -he managed to unfurl 28 roles of toilet paper on the house, car and trees of the wrong person.
The neighbor in the Presidential Estates gated community, Ian Brown, wasn’t particularly pleased. And the Democratic mayor, who wasn’t home, said later she wished they’d papered a neighbor across the street instead – a Republican.
Heather Nelson, producer of the Wild Morning Show, said the morning crew of Kevin Rolston, Virginia Lang and Pennington targeted the mayor because, they alleged, Frankel’s Dancing with the Stars charity dance contest victory – over Lang, who didn’t even place – was rigged.
They chose toilet-papering, Nelson said, because “it’s a lost art form.”
Frankel went live on the show this morning, in good humor.
And she’ll get the last laugh.
What Pennington did was “illegal,” according to city spokesman Chase Scott. “You can’t toilet-paper somebody’s house. It’s probably considered vandalism or something.”
As a result, the mayor is devising community service chores for the radio crew to do.
As for the toilet paper, producer Nelson and a couple of interns went and cleaned up. Pennington was too busy being interviewed on Channel 12.
“He was looking for his 15 minutes of fame,” Nelson said.
“They did misuse toilet paper, so I don’t think we should let it go without a response,” the mayor said today. “I’ve asked them to think over doing some community service. In meantime I’ve asked them not to leave the country. And to keep the toilet paper at home.”