Legoman ranks No. 2 in Time's 'Odd-ball News Stories'

Siesta Key’s Legoman has made Time magazine’s list for Top 10 Oddball-News Stories of 2011.

The 8-foot-tall, 100-pound fiberglass creature, also known as Ego Leonard, ranked No. 2 on the list — one of 54 lists Time has compiled by surveying “the highs and lows, the good and the bad, of the past 12 months,” according to its website, www.time.com.

The item notes that Legoman “washed ashore on Florida’s Siesta Key in October,” with the words, “No Real Than You Are,” printed on its front.

The article also notes that Legoman was linked to a Dutch artist, but it does not mention the Sarasota Chalk Festival connection discovered by Tim Jaeger of Sarasota Visual Art. An artist from The Netherlands who participated in that event created a design involving Legomen.

The man who reported the discovery of Legoman, Jeff Hindman, paid the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office $25 Dec. 1, so he can take custody of the creature in January if no one else comes forward to produce legal documentation of rightful ownership, Wendy Rose, the Sheriff’s Office public information office, told the Pelican Press.

Hindman has not been reachable by phone or email since early Oct. 25, when he sent the news media photos of Legoman in the Siesta surf.

By law, Rose has explained, the Sheriff’s Office is obligated to keep Legoman in custody for 90 days from Oct. 25, unless the rightful owner appears.