Harmilda, the fiberglass Holstein that has silently stood watch over this community for 25 years, is now at the center of a tug-of-war between the town and state transportation officials.

Sacred cow, the town says. Hazard, transportation officials say.The Department of Transportation wants to move the cow from the intersection of Illinois 173 and U.S. 14 to make way for downtown road improvements. It wants to widen the intersection and add turn lanes.

The idea has irked some of the community's 6,000 residents, who insist Harmilda represents all of what is good about their northern Illinois town.

Such sentimentality doesn't impress Transportation Department officials.

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"This is sitting right in the intersection, which is already complicated," said Cesar Nepomuceno, a department program manager. "It's a hazard. Whenever we go through an improvement of an intersection, we have to remove hazards."

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