SHAPLEIGH, Maine [AP] – The Hot Dog Lady is in trouble – not for the franks, but perhaps her buns.

Bikini-clad Katharine Schultze sells hot dogs from a cart near a popular lake in York County, Maine.

Local officials say she’s creating a traffic hazard and have posted no-parking signs. But Schultze notes she’s been selling franks at the same spot for a decade.

The Hot Dog Lady’s supporters say the no-parking rule has more to due with Schultze’s bikini than any traffic concerns.

Schultze says she’s collected more than 500 signatures on a petition supporting her hog dog stand. Schultze adds she’s become an accidental landmark.

SHAPLEIGH [Maine Today] – It’s another balmy day on Mousam Lake, and bikini-clad Katharine Schultze, known about town as The Hot Dog Lady, is getting ready to open for business. Hitched behind her turquoise 1953 Ford pickup truck is a small red-and-white cart that holds a day’s supply of hot dogs and cold lemonade.

For the past decade, the truck and hot dog cart have sat at the foot of Mousam Lake, parked on the beach side of the road near the intersection of routes 11 and 109. By her own admission, Schultze has become “an accidental landmark,” and each year her presence announces summer in Shapleigh.

Now, as Schultze prepares to pack up for the season, she is working to ensure that her pickup and cart will be back next summer. An ordinance passed last spring prohibits parking on Schultze’s side of the street. Recently the town posted no-parking signs a few feet from where customers line up for hot dogs.

Town officials say they have received numerous complaints that Schultze’s set-up is a safety hazard at an already busy intersection. Her customers, they argue, add to the congestion by parking behind her when they stop to buy.

“This is not about her business,” said Michael Perro, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. “It’s about the parking issue and the safety.”

But Schultze and others question those reasons, with some suggesting that Schultze’s outfit may be the actual motive.

Why, asks Schultze, is parking an issue now after she’s been doing business the same way for 10 years?

“It seems a bit arbitrary,” she said. “Those bushes over there are more of an obstruction than I am.”

The truck and the cart, she says, are “a single entity.” All of her supplies are in the truck, and the truck is part of the package that has become The Hot Dog Lady.

Now Schultze is collecting signatures for a petition supporting her business. For their part, selectmen say they hope a traffic study performed by the state Department of Transportation will decide the matter.

“There is definitely going to be a DOT study requested,” Perro said. If that study shows that there are no safety problems at the intersection, he says, then Schultze can return and do business as she has for the past 10 years.

“As far as I’m concerned, her business has never been in jeopardy,” Perro said.

Bill Hayes, another member of the board, agrees, saying the selectmen have no ax to grind with Schultze.

Schultze says she is not taking any chances. Her petition effort has already garnered more than 500 signatures from people such as Randy Moreau of Acton.

“She’s an asset to the beach,” he said. “She keeps it clean.”

Patricia Pike, whose house overlooks the lake, says she does not understand what would be objectionable about Schultze’s business.

“She’s been here so long,” Pike said. “Nothing’s different. Traffic is a little heavier, but it’s heavier everywhere.”

Arlene Stroud works across the street at the Acton Trading Post. She also supports Schultze.

“It wouldn’t be right not to see her set-up on that corner,” Stroud said.

Stroud and others suggest that the real problem people may have with Schultze is her work attire.

Perro admits that some of the complaints about Schultze may have more to do with her swimsuit than issues of parking safety. But, he says, people complaining about traffic safety outnumber those concerned about her work clothes.

The town’s attorneys, Perro says, are drafting a letter to Schultze to inform her that action could be taken against her if she does not move her truck, although they are willing to let her keep the cart at its present location.

It is a compromise that Schultze says she is not inclined to accept. The truck and cart staying together, she says, is non-negotiable.

“I don’t think I’m being unreasonable,” she said. “I don’t want to pick a fight with the town. I’m just trying to keep my job.”