Jim Collar and John Andrews, owners of Footprints Inc., say Grand County Administrator Judy Bane, during a conversation in a Moab market, told a Footprints employee that the county would not hire Footprints in the future.

"The inference was, it is because of our ads," Collar said.

The incident marked Footprints' second run-in with county officials over advertisements in the alternative newspaper. County officials admonished Collar and Andrews after an April ad named 10 things a wealthy conservationist should consider buying. Topping the list: "The current crop of Grand County [Council members] (while not listed 'for sale', it's pretty clear if the price is right . . .)."

The men wrote a letter of apology to each council member.

The recent confrontation concerns the company's June ad, an irreverent spoof on endangered species. The Footprints "Endangered List" includes "tattooed missionaries" and "A job in Grand County that pays enough to support a family."

But two so-called endangered items - "elected officials who actually serve the public," and "Grand County Economic Development Coordinator" - caught Bane's attention.

"It's really hard to do business when you're bashing your employer," Bane said Tuesday. "I was just disappointed more than angry that Footprints would go there."

She acknowledges discussing the June ad with the Footprints employee, but denies saying the county would no longer hire the company.

" I just basically was asking him why [Footprints] did that again," Bane said.

The county has no contract with Footprints, and has hired it in the past only for specific jobs, Bane said.

"You can't fire someone you haven't hired," she said. "They've done a good job, but we haven't needed them much at all this year. And they don't care whether we use them or not. I don't understand why this is a big deal."

Zephyr publisher and editor Jim Stiles accused the County Council of using scare tactics to silence citizens.

"It smacks of intimidation," he said. "Every time the county gets away with something like this, I think it empowers them to push further. Who knows where free speech in Grand County will end up?"

Stiles wrote the council requesting answers to a series of questions about the incident, and says he will publish its response.

Council member Joette Langianese says firing contractors or county employees because they express an opinion violates their constitutional right to free speech.

She also disputes Bane's version of the story. She said Bane acknowledged last week that she told the Footprints employee the county would no longer hire the company.

Collar and Andrews said their employee unequivocally asserts Bane made the statement.

"I was told by Judy [Bane] that this statement was in fact made," Langianese said. "This wouldn't have been a big deal if she hadn't said we weren't using them anymore."

Councilman Al McLeod likened the Footprints flap to an April directive in which Bane told county employees that only positive public comments about the county council are acceptable. Some council members suggested employees who did make negative statements were risking their jobs.

"The idea that you're going to muzzle all county employees, that's an abuse of power. What's been done to Footprints, that's an abuse of power also," McLeod said.

Council chairwoman Judy Carmichael says county officials should avoid "intimidating people."

"They have a right to say whatever they want. And [county officials] have to be thick-skinned enough to take it," she said. "I don't think it's good business to fire anybody who sasses you."

lchurch@citlink.net