“The famous weenie’s gone,” Barista’s Restaurant Owner Stephen Ward said Friday afternoon, “but the reason I did it is because I didn’t like it.” 
 
 Ward, who said he has spent a million dollars on signs for his 5,500-square-foot restaurant, said he purchased the $130,000 bull sculpture in Las Vegas. Ward said: 
 
 I saw that beautiful sculpture in Vegas and bought it and I was just thinking about it and, this morning, after it being up for a couple weeks – it has nothing to do with the city at all – I said ‘you know what, I’m gonna have that penis taken off so you can see more of the beautiful (bull). "It didn't even look (right), it was in the shape of a cone — but I don't know what a weenie on a bull is supposed to look like," Ward said. City Manager Clark Fawcett said the sign was approved by the planning department and Ward went through the proper channels, but: "the dimensions of certain parts of the animal don't seem to be built the same way as in the plan that came to us." Ward said he also started a lawsuit Friday against the man who allegedly initiated a petition in March, calling for the Hurricane City Council to refuse Barista’s Restaurant’s business license renewal. Ward acknowledged Saturday that he did feel like something was a bit off after he installed the bull. Customers have said the food is too expensive, alleged that Ward is hostile and has poor business practices.
– An oversized bull penis at the center of a dispute in the small Utah town of Hurricane has been cut off—but restaurant owner Stephen Ward says it was because he decided he didn't like the look of it on the statue, not because he cares what his neighbors think. The owner of Barista's Restaurant tells the Spectrum that he told the city: "I am not removing the penis for you or because of your complaints. I don't like you. I'm doing it for me. I just decided it would look better without the weenie. And oh my God! It's beautiful." He tells the St. George News that he decided the conical penis—which sparked weeks of complaints from local residents—was "stupid because it looks like a party hat." Ward says he paid $130,000 in Las Vegas for the bull sculpture, which he placed on a perch outside the restaurant. The outrage over the statue's "party hat," which led to a petition to revoke the restaurant's license, was just the latest in a series of disputes between Ward and local residents, who accuse him of charging too much for food and having poor business practices, according to the AP. Ward counters that his food is some of the best in southern Utah and the statue has helped his business. "I am having fun with all the attention and it's brought in more customers," he says.