Lazy Bonz takes the stage in Algonquin

About a week after Jerry Kautz heard his clown persona, Klutzo, had the same name as another clown busted for child pornography, he got a call from his friend Scott Levy.

Kautz, Algonquin's village clerk, was thinking about hanging up his floppy shoes and oversized pants -- shaken by the experience of being mistaken for the other Klutzo.

But Levy and other friends talked him out of it.

Levy and Kautz, who has been a clown for 25 years, decided to hold a contest in which local kids would try to create a new clown persona.

Rosen Hyundai, where Levy is general manager, and the Lions Club of Algonquin sponsored the February contest for youngsters in kindergarten through third grade.

The winning name, submitted by Westfield Community School third-grader Conrad Beech, was Lazy Bonz.

Saturday morning, Algonquin got to meet Lazy Bonz for the first time at a reception at Rosen Hyundai.

Lazy Bonz is a work-in-progress for Kautz, who turns 67 today, but he views his new character as a farmer or cowboy.

"I'm going to do the same things that I did," said Kautz, now sporting a straw hat. "I'll just have a little bit different personality."

At Saturday's reception, Levy presented Beech with a $1,000 savings bond for college, while runners-up Drew Lehman, Maddie Dobson and Kailey McNally received gift certificates to area restaurants.

Opinions varied as to whether the new name was a good fit.

"I thought it suited my personality," Kautz said. "My wife said it was the perfect name for me," he added, as she nodded in agreement.

Levy said Lazy Bones was a good but not apt name.

"It's almost the polar opposite of his personality," Levy said. "He's always there on the spot, always willing to go the extra mile."