People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are now complaining about the unethical treatment of people: namely, the way billboard companies recently treated PETA. Seattle billboard company AK Media refused to run the group's anti-meat billboard because it was "too controversial," according to PETA advertising coordinator Tracey McIntire.

AK Media, which controls most of the Seattle outdoor advertising market, says the message and the way the billboard was presented were unacceptable to company standards, which include the right to "refuse content that we believe is inflammatory or potentially damaging to our community."

The banned ad shows a woman in an American-flag bikini holding sausage links. The message reads, "I THREW A PARTY, BUT THE CATTLEMEN COULDN'T COME. EATING MEAT CAN CAUSE IMPOTENCE." (Current costs for billboard space in Seattle range from $1,000 to $7,000 per month.)

To date, PETA's current national campaign to convince meat-eaters to go vegetarian has been turned down in 13 states. However, Parker Outdoor Inc. in Monroe, Washington did rent PETA a billboard out in the woods somewhere. PAT KEARNEY

Back to the Drawing Board

Ready for another noise ordinance? Having failed last year to pass one, the city thinks it's time to try again.

The Seattle City Council, however, knows just how complicated and controversial this issue is. Instead of negotiating its own way through the minefield, it charged the Department of Construction and Land Use (DCLU) with leading the way.

Last Saturday, the DCLU learned just how complicated that task would be. The city agency held a public hearing to get input, but the 40 people who showed up at City Hall were hardly a coherent sounding board. Opinions were all over the place. Some people complained about obnoxiously loud commercial construction; others bitched about club noise. Still others whined that a vague, overly broad ordinance would give law enforcement free reign to trample on civil rights, and some thought the law should just target residential neighborhoods.

The DCLU is expected to have all these issues sorted out by July. PHIL CAMPBELL