Ernest Hemingway's last home is the only one of his three that isn't open to the public - and it might never be if the resort town of Ketchum, Idaho, continues its opposition to making it more accessible.

　　Residents are fresh off their second victory in keeping the property's owner, The Nature Conservancy, from giving tours of the two-story house overlooking the Big Wood River.

　　Hemingway, a Nobel laureate, bought the house in 1959 and made it his permanent residence for two years, until he committed suicide at the age of 61.

　　His homes in Key West, Florida, and Cuba are open to the public as is his birthplace in Oak Park, Illinois.

　　"There's always two sides to everything," says Joan Anderson, a neighbor to Hemingway's widow, Mary, who turned the 13-acre estate over to the conservancy in 1986.

　　"But I recall her saying she looked hard to figure out what she was going to do with the property," Anderson said. "I really know she didn't want to make it public."

　　The conservancy first proposed the tours in the year of 1996, but was so roundly criticized that it dropped the idea almost immediately. The plan was revived last fall by the Idaho Hemingway House Foundation, which now manages the home for the conservancy.

　　Led by board vice chair Mariel Hemingway, the author's granddaughter, the foundation also wanted to restore the home, develop a scholarly library, conduct workshops and create a writer- or artist-in-residence program.

　　"I looked at the Hemingway house as something we have that is a connection to our heritage in the Wood River Valley and that connection to Ernest Hemingway and what he represented to the Ketchum community and the literary community would overshadow any objections the neighbors had," foundation board member Terry Ring said.

　　But objections persisted, this time coming not only from residents of the quiet neighborhood but others concerned about commercialism and traffic.

　　Late last month, Geoff Pampush, the Idaho director for The Nature Conservancy stepped in and pulled the zoning application in favor of more negotiations with neighbors.

　　Hemingway's only surviving son is conflicted about opening up the house.

　　"Ernest Hemingway loved Idaho, and he had many good times there and many good friends," said Patrick Hemingway, who lives in Bozeman, Montana. "But whether that house is a symbol of that I don't know."

　　Anderson, the neighbor, acknowledged the value others place on the home.

　　(The Associated Press)