bserver O Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
SARAS TA
You. Your neighbors. Your neighborhood.
NEWS
DIVERSIONS
Computer whiz Nancy Markle paints with her left brain. INSIDE
Attorney General Bondi will speak Friday in Sarasota. PAGE 3A
OUR TOWN
Thursday, MARCH 15, 2012
inside
Runners lace up for the Sarasota Half-Marathon. PAGE 1B
investigation by Mark Gordon | Gulf Coast Business Review
Integrity issues at IntegraClick? Three top executives, including the co-founder, recently left fast-growing IntegraClick. A fourth alleges he was ordered to delete incriminating emails the FTC could seek.
Courtesy photos
+ Sons of American Revolution honor county veterans More than 200 people attended the annual George Washington Birthday luncheon, hosted Feb. 25 by the Saramana chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, with the assistance of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Thirty-two men and 24 women were honored, many of them dressed in military uniforms. They included members of American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars chapters who had served the United States in numerous conflicts.
The panic level spiked the night of Dec. 1 inside IntegraClick. Co-founder and CEO John Lemp assembled at least eight senior managers for a late-night meeting at the Sarasota-based Internet marketing firm. Some were called in from home. Moreover, the meeting and
what Lemp said there impugns the foundation on which IntegraClick is built. That is, that the company, which reported $120 million in 2009 revenues, might not be the superstar gazelle and jobs engine it has been portrayed. The adulation has run deep, coming everywhere from
the Gulf Coast Business Review to Sarasota County officials to former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to Inc. magazine. But on Dec. 1, according to allegations in a March 13 lawsuit filed in Sarasota Circuit Court, Lemp told senior executives to “delete incriminating data, emails
and instant messages” that could become evidence in a federal investigation. Lemp was concerned the Federal Trade Commission was probing the company for alleged fraudulent Internet mar-
SEE SCANDAL / PAGE 2A
clowning Around
+ Suncoast students attend conference Ten middle-school students from Suncoast School for Innovative Studies, a Sarasota County public charter school, attended the Walt Disney World Youth Leadership Conference in Orlando March 9. The program gives student leaders from throughout the United States the tools they need to improve student government organizations.
+ Students honored for academics St. Martha Catholic School students who received the Principal’s Certificate for academics in the fall were treated to lunch recently at Lazy Lobster on Longboat Key. The students were honored for earning a grade-point average of at least 90.
Rachel S. O’Hara
Fourth-graders played clown for a day and followed Circus Sarasota’s Robin Eurich during a sketch at Circus Day Friday, March 9, at Bay Haven School of Basics Plus. For more photos, see page 16A.
TAX CASE? By Kurt Schultheis | City Editor
Taxpayers’ bill in Marina Jack case: $240,000 A lawsuit over Marina Jack’s property-tax exemption in the city has cost both sides hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sarasota County had spent $240,161 through Feb. 29, in support of county Property Appraiser Bill Furst’s efforts to collect back taxes from Marina Jack complex owner Bob Soran.
Sarasota County Clerk of Court Judge Thomas Gallen ruled Feb. 22 that the restaurant and marina company did not have to pay property taxes, because of a years-old agreement that grand-
fathered in a decision affirming the property’s use for public benefit, leaving it ineligible to be assessed ad valorem taxes. The Sarasota Observer also has learned that a transcript of a de-
position in the case, videotaped May 4, revealed that J. Geoffrey Pflugner, Furst’s attorney, once acted as a special magistrate for the Sarasota County Value Adjustment Board. In that capacity, Pflugner signed a recommendation, in November 1992, that
SEE MARINA JACK / PAGE 2A
INDEX Briefs.................... 4A Classifieds..........12B
Cops Corner........12A Crossword...........11B
Opinion................. 8A Real Estate.........10B
Sports...................8B Vol. 8, No. 19 | Three sections Weather..............11B YourObserver.com