By GEORGE WHITEHURST
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors last night put down a couple's plans for a dog-breeding operation with as many as 250 Rottweilers.
With no discussion, the board voted unanimously to deny Curtis and Racine Moore's rezoning request for the massive breeding operation.
Supervisor Emmitt Marshall moved to deny the rezoning request. "I don't think it should be approved," he said.
The Planning Commission had recommended approval of the breeding operation on the condition that only 50 dogs be allowed in the kennel at any one time. The supervisors held a public hearing on the matter in May, but Marshall had asked that a vote be delayed for 30 days.
The Moores currently keep more than 90 Rottweilers in a five-acre kennel at their Astarita Avenue home. In October, Spotsylvania detectives searched their home and seized an AK-47 rifle and a fully automatic M-203 military rifle with an attached grenade launcher, according to court records. A total of 26 weapons were found.
The couple was arrested on a variety of state weapons charges, but those charges later were dropped to clear the way for federal prosecution of the case.
In 1980, Curtis Moore, now 45, was convicted of distribution of methamphetamine and cocaine in Arlington County, according to court records.
In 1994, Racine Moore, now 57, was convicted of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance in Missouri.
The Moores' rezoning request didn't come at an easy time for owners of Rottweilers and pit bulls.
On March 8, 82-year-old Dorothy Sullivan was killed outside her Partlow home by a roaming pack of pit bulls. Deanna Hilda Large, 36, is awaiting trial on an involuntary manslaughter charge and three misdemeanor counts of allowing a dangerous dog to run at large.
On March 15, a 31-year-old woman was bitten on the hand by a pit bull. A Spotsylvania sheriff's sergeant later shot and killed the dog.
Shortly afterward, an adult pit bull bit and punctured one of the tires on the truck of a county animal-control officer. The owner released the dog to the county to be euthanized and was charged with allowing his dog to run at large and with failing to license and vaccinate the dog.
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