Campaign to move 'demonic' 'Blue Mustang'

DENVER, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A real estate agent is pushing for removal of the giant blue mustang statue that was installed -- 12 years late -- at Denver International Airport.

Rachel Hultin told the Rocky Mountain News she would love to see the 32-foot high statue somewhere else in the city. She has launched a Web site, byebyebluemustang.com devoted to getting it moved.

"I mean the airport's about welcoming people -- not scaring them." Hultin said Wednesday. "And certainly at night with the glowing eyes, the word 'demonic' is hard to repress."

Some of the statue's history -- delays, disputes with the artist, cost overruns -- is common to government artwork. Events took a tragic turn in 2006 when Luis Jimenez, the sculptor, was killed by a section of the torso that fell from a hoist in his New Mexico studio.

Hultin wants those who agree with her to send haikus to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. She said she's had a mixed reaction, with some e-mail denouncing her as a philistine but plenty endorsing her stand.

One Denverite e-mailed KMGH-TV that moving the statue would be too expensive. He urged repainting it a normal horse color.