It doesn't have a name, doesn't make any noise and just sits quietly on the roof of a furniture store - but a statue of a bull has become the talk of Watertown and the city's Code Enforcement office.
Shawn Massey received a letter from code enforcement telling him that the total square footage of the signs at Massey’s Furniture Barn was over the city limit of 200 square feet. Massey wasn’t sure what the letter was talking about. All of his signs had been up since the early 1980's and were understood them to be grandfathered in.
"The only new item on my building is the bull,” said Massey. “So that was the only one I couldn't explain and I couldn't have it grandfathered in. So they told me I had to remove it.”
The bull is a four thousand pound statue Massey bought in 2006 from a closed restaurant on Arsenal Street. Massey said he wanted to keep the well known bull in Watertown - and never expected any drama
"I thought he would just sit on the roof and pasture and never hear from him again - but he keeps coming up," said Massey.
Watertown's codes office says Massey’s Furniture Barn was over the 200 square feet of signage limit before the bull went up - and only the older signs are grandfathered in. They count the bull as 34 feet of new signage that is in violation.
"They told me it was a sign, I couldn't believe it. I talked to my attorney, I talked to friends, nobody considered it a sign but according to the code - the way it's written it is a sign," said Massey.
Shawn Massey doesn't see why the city has a problem with his mascot and he is ready for a bull fight - or whatever it takes to leave him where he is.
"I'm going to fight until the very end to keep it up. I don't think it's fair. I don't want to think about it coming down and I don't want to take it down."
Jefferson County will review the bull's case and then the Watertown Zoning Board of Appeals will decide his fate. Massey says the bull doesn't have a name - but he's thinking about taking suggestions.
Online Petition to save the bull - http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savethebull/
