Blaine County has a gun problem.
No doubt nearly every Blaine County motorist has seen Wood River Valley sculptor Bob Kantor's highly visible art piece off of state Highway 75 south of Ketchum. Titled "Line of Hope 2," the sculpture features twin 20-foot-tall steel, gun-metal-black assault rifles connected at the sights by a rope clothesline.
Hanging from the drooping line are various military uniforms representing national and non-state fighting forces from the around the globe. Clinging to the each of the sights are large white butterflies.
The piece is just the latest public expression of Kantor's ongoing "Hope Series."
Erected earlier this year, the piece has surely caught the attention of many a passerby. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that it is has also caught the attention of Blaine County's Code Compliance officer, Megan Stelma, who, last summer, determined the sculpture was violating the county's 100-foot setback from Highway 75.
Stelma promptly sent out a short letter notifying Kantor of the violation and asking him to remedy the situation.
"In order to rectify this violation, Blaine County requires the sculpture and the footings be removed out of the 100-foot setback of Highway 75 on or before Oct. 29, 2008," she wrote in the Sept. 2 letter.
In the nearly three months since the letter was sent, the date the county specified for the installation's removal has come and gone, and yet, the sculpture still stands.
So, why the delay?
In a Sept. 29 letter responding to Stelma's request, Ketchum attorney Ed Lawson, speaking on behalf of Kantor, took issue with the county's zeroing in on the gun art installation. He asked why his client's sculpture was targeted for removal, while at the same time, other violations of the 100-foot setback rule were being ignored. He didn't elaborate as to which violations he was referencing.
As one possible solution to the problem, Lawson suggested an amendment to the county's zoning ordinance allowing the installation of art within the setback.
"My client does not wish to make this into a controversial proceeding," he wrote. "Rather, he is simply concerned with the lack of definition in the ordinance and its application to stifle speech on his own property."
In a response to Lawson's letter earlier this month, Stelma noted that there are other structures along Highway 75 that are either pre-existing or non-conforming. However, that's where her agreement seems to end.
"I am not clear on how to answer your questions as I do not know which 'other encroachments' you are specifically referring to," she wrote. "If you would like to make a written complaint to these encroachments, please do so."
Kantor said a county official told Lawson that the county would not require the sculpture's removal before spring. Kantor told the Express that would consider moving the piece to satisfy the setback rule once warmer weather arrives.
"I have no problem making a decision in the spring," he said.
Calls to Planning Director Tom Bergin to ask whether the county has agreed to let the sculpture stand until spring were not returned by press time Tuesday. However, he said Monday that the two sides are still talking.
"It does remain unresolved," he said.
The most likely solution would be to rotate the sculpture 180 degrees to the east, which would pull it out of the 100-foot setback zone, Kantor said.
Kantor acknowledged that the county first objected to the placement of the installation as the concrete footings were being poured and prior to the sculpture's arrival. Bergin noted that the footings make moving the piece back to satisfy the setback standard more difficult.
Blaine County officials have asked local artist Bob Kantor to pull his sculpture titled "Line of Hope 2" farther away from state Highway 75. They claim the sculpture is violating county rules that require a 100-foot setback from the highway.
