Nude dude ranch didn't get county approval

BROOKSVILLE, Fla., April 19 (UPI) -- A "clothing optional" dude ranch offered by a Florida lottery winner is out of compliance with an anti-nudity county ordinance, officials say.

Tim Clement, 50, a one-time hairdresser from Ormond Beach, Fla., who won a $3.3 million lottery prize, set up a 10-acre dude ranch in Brooksville, Fla., without getting proper Hernando County approval, including his offer to allow nudity, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Sunday.

After winning the lottery, he closed his day spa and found the remote parcel. He says his friends started asking him when they could come to visit, and the idea for the dude ranch was born.

"I grew up on a farm," Clements told the newspaper, adding that its privacy is so complete he didn't think he'd run into any trouble opening a ranch where the dudes were nude. But the clothing-optional declaration on the ranch's Web site drew the interest of county officials, who say public nudity is banned by a 2002 ordinance.

He said if he can't work out the proper licenses with county officials, "I might just shut it down" and go back to simply inviting friends to stay at the ranch, the Sun-Sentinel said.