The Gasparilla Parade was a convenient hook for Town & Country magazine’s rehash of SocialiteGate. Tampa, it is noted, has its share of “characters,” charm, tacky touches and non-prudish quirks. It fares much better than the Khawam twins, who are referenced as “The Kartampians.”
Local, quoted sources include Norma Gene Lykes, Tampa Bay Times social chronicler Amy Scherzer, former Mayor Sandy Freedman and anonymous “matriarchs”–obviously far less enamored of the Kartampians than their husbands were. “Tampa needs to be more careful about vetting people,” underscored Freedman. “It cannot go on like before.”