60-foot phallus etched into Simplot hill

BOISE – Vandals late Wednesday or early Thursday used a herbicide to etch a 60-foot phallus in the grassy slopes beneath the Idaho governor’s mansion, a popular site for people to ride ice blocks down the lawn.

The portion of the hillside marred by the image belongs to the J.R. Simplot Co., the agricultural conglomerate which in 2004 donated the hilltop mansion to the state. The mansion is currently unoccupied – Gov. Butch Otter lives on his ranch in Star – and awaiting renovations.

“We found out about it yesterday, went to see what it was all about, and saw that it’s on ground below what was donated to us,” Tim Mason, head of the state’s public works division, said Friday.

“They (Simplot) were going to take action to remove it.”

Officials with the Simplot company, which maintains the hillside, planned to treat the damaged grass with a material that’s ordinarily used to repair blemishes on golf courses.