Health Promo 03 (Getty) | Advocate.com
||  News  ||
 
April 06, 2007

Bikini-clad firefighter ends up in court

A volunteer firefighter from Waynesville, Ohio, faces charges after a parent complained about seeing him wearing a blond wig and a string bikini in a city park.

Steven Cole, 46, told police he was en route to a gay bar in Dayton "to perform as a woman for a $10,000 prize," the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

He pleaded not guilty Thursday in Mason municipal court on misdemeanor charges of drunken driving, having an open container, public indecency, and disorderly conduct, Mason police told Gay.com.

The court ordered Cole to undergo psychiatric evaluation and barred him from public parks in the area.

His attorney, Charlie Rittgers, said Cole is married with three children and has no criminal history.

"There are a lot of people who are cross-dressers that are not a danger to anybody in society," TV station WCPO quoted Rittgers as saying.

"What's strange and what's caught the attention of the media is that he was dressed the way he was dressed, which was a little bit strange for Heritage Park in Mason, Ohio."

Cole was arrested Tuesday after a local father enjoying the balmy weather at the park with his family spotted what he termed "this freak show" and called police.

"I was a little taken by surprise by what I'd seen there," Troy Harphant, 35, told the Enquirer. "It was out of place with what should have been going on over there, that's for sure."

Harphant claims he saw the bikini-clad person fondling or exposing himself. The person hopped into a parked pickup with red emergency lights on top; he followed the truck out of the park and called police on his cell phone. He realized the person's gender as he got closer.

"There's a man out here dressed up in a wig and women's two-piece bikini freaking people out in the park," he told a 911 dispatcher. "It's inappropriate and I'd like somebody to come check this guy out. The guy is actually trying to leave the park now."

Mason police officer Scott Miller pulled the truck over. His report states: "I observed Cole to be wearing a very skimpy woman's... bikini ...and a pair of pink Speedo flip-flop sandals."

A pair of tan water balloons provided the embonpoint.

Police said they found an open 40-ounce bottle of beer in Cole's truck and that his blood-alcohol test registered 0.174, more than twice Ohio's legal limit.

Officials in Wayne Township, where Cole has been a volunteer firefighter since August 2000, said he would be placed on administrative leave while the case continues. (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Be the first to comment on this story.

Back to top

Submit a comment for this story:

*Type your comment here (Required, 1000 characters max.):

*Name (Required): 

*Hometown (Required): 

*E-mail address: (Required, but will not be displayed)

Is this comment for publication? 
Yes   No

Daytime phone number: (Required for print publication only and will not be displayed)

Please enter the words you see in the box, in order and separated by a space. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this service.

  

If you would like to submit a comment for posting, please fill out the form above. 

All comments submitted via this form are subject to posting or publication. (To send a private letter to an Advocate editor or writer, please use the e-mail button at the top of the page, or use snail mail.) If you would like your comment considered for publication in The Advocate magazine, please include your full name, your city of residence, and a phone number where you can be reached during business hours so that we can confirm your identity. Your e-mail address and telephone number are strictly confidential and will not be shared or used for any purpose other than to contact you about your comment.

See the Contact page for sending comments for reasons other than responding to Advocate editorial and news stories.

Please note that comments sent by fax or snail mail are unlikely to be posted, although they will be considered for publication along with all letters received via e-mail or via this Web page. Comments that chiefly concern Advocate.com content will be considered for posting only on the Web site. The Advocate reserves the right to edit submitted comments for grammar, spelling, obscenities, or libel; we will, however, do our best to preserve the original comment's style and intent. Comments considered for publication in The Advocate magazine may also be edited for length.

More Exclusives
  • Letter From the Editor
    We’d like to unveil a big change: after nearly four decades as a biweekly magazine, we’re going monthly.
  • Parental Control
    San Francisco State researcher Caitlin Ryan explains the importance behind a study linking suicide and drug use among gay children to parental rejection.
  • Austerity Chic
    How novelist and performance artist Mike Albo gets by in lean times.
  • Hoping to "Wu" Michelle
    Dressing Michelle Obama in November was a game changer for designer Jason Wu. Now he has his sights set on the future first lady’s most high-profile event: Inauguration Day.
  • Boi From Troy Signs Off
    After five years of raising eyebrows on the Web, Boi From Troy blogger -- and gay Republican -- Scott Schmidt is signing off.
  • A Desert Journey
    The Mii Amo spa in Sedona, Ariz., is famous for packages designed to lead people through a spiritual as well as physical transformation. One writer relinquishes herself to the journey and recounts her days in one of the world's most beautiful destination resorts.
  • A List: Chris Evans
    Chris Evans is a serious actor but that doesn’t mean he wants you to stop objectifying him.
  • Great American Couple
    In an exclusive excerpt from his new book, Hollywood Bohemians: Transgressive Sexuality and the Selling of the Movieland Dream, Brett L. Abrams explores the relationship between Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, who led homosexual lives right under everyone's nose.
  • Mormons Gone Wild
    After one man undresses missionaries for his calendar, LDS Church–owned Brigham Young University strips him of his degree.
  • Constructive Impatience
    Stung by the Warren decision, GLAAD's former executive director Joan Garry offers the Obama transition team some sage advice.
  • Boxer Goes Trans for Eli Stone
    Often perceived as male by confused casting agents, boxer-body builder turned actor Dallas Malloy felt a deep connection to the trans minister she plays on Eli Stone.
  • Mamma Mia! Rises Again
    Meryl Streep and company managed to top Harry Potter and Titanic at the U.K. box office, and now Mamma Mia! is poised to break similar records on DVD. Director Phyllida Lloyd talked to Advocate.com about bringing one of the biggest musicals of all time to the big screen.
  • The Other White Meat
    As one of the subjects of the documentary about the drag pageant circuit, Pageant, opening in select theaters, and one of the contestants on RuPaul's Drag Race, premiering next month on Logo, Victoria "Porkchop" Parker may not look or act like your typical female impersonator, but make no mistake, she is one of the best.
  • The Religious Defense
    In an excerpt from her new book, Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians, author Candace Chellew-Hodge incorporates the wisdom of Xena: Warrior Princess to illustrate her theories as to how gay and lesbian people of faith can protect themselves from those who attack their views.
  • Photo Finish
    Did Prop. 8 backlash cause art censorship -- or its reversal -- at Brigham Young University? Could be, as BYU photography student J. Michael Wiltbank found when his contribution to a two-week-long art exhibition -- eight pairs of benign portraits, each depicting an LGBT-identified BYU student alongside a supportive friend -- had been removed.
  • The Divine Miss M.
    Since the death of performer Wayland Flowers in 1988, his over-the-top puppet creation Madame has been seen only sporadically. But with the launch of her new casino tour, Madame is back.
  • Whither NLGJA?
    The leading professional organization for LGBT journalists is facing a crisis that threatens its very survival. In a changing media landscape and a tough economy, how does a small nonprofit live up to its mission and retain members?
  • The Road to Equality
    Barbara Boxer, the U.S. senator from California, understands why her gay constituents are furious over Rick Warren's role in the inauguration -- it feels like Proposition 8 redux.