Carlsbad

A move to spend $125,000 on a controversial veterans memorial died Tuesday night when City Council members became deadlocked on the proposal. A majority of three votes is needed to pass a measure.

Mayor Bud Lewis and Councilman Mark Pettine supported the purchase of one of four copies of a work by Denver artist A. Michael Schomberg, a bronze image of a fallen soldier wrapped in a shroud that would have stood outside City Hall.

Council Members John Mamaux and Eric Larson cited strong public sentiment against the 12-foot-high figure in casting their votes. Councilwoman Ann Kulchin was absent.

“The polls showed that people did not want the statue,” Mamaux said. “I’ve also talked with a lot of people about it. People who lost relatives in a war just didn’t like it.”

Half of the $250,000 cost of the statue would have come from public donations, so it was important the statue be accepted, he said.

A miniature model of the statue was displayed in two Carlsbad libraries over the summer. Of 274 people who took part in an opinion survey, 212 wrote that they disliked the work.

That, Mamaux said, puts city officials back at square one in deciding a proper way to memorialize its veterans.

“I guess now we’ll look for something functional and visible,” he said. “Something like a clock tower. I mean, Big Ben gets a lot of respect in England. Of course, anything we came up with would be on a much smaller scale.”