Bully for the bulls?

October 3, 2006 12:50 am

NINE YEARS AGO, movie theaters in the Fredericksburg area decided that a new Morgan Freeman movie called "Kiss the Girls" hit too close to home. In the fall of 1997, it had been just a year since the abduction and slaying of 16-year-old Sofia Silva of Spotsylvania County, and just months since two other Spotsylvania girls, Kristin and Katie Lisk, 15 and 12, respectively, had been abducted and slain under similar circumstances. With the killer at large, local residents were at once in mourning and in fear.

In a decision that some called sensitive, and some sillily called "censorship," the theaters declined to run the movie, which told the story of a series of kidnap-killings. It was a rare instance of businesses putting community sensibilities ahead of the next buck. "Kiss the Girls" didn't claim any Oscars, but it did gross $60.5 million--none of which came from the Fredericksburg area.

This coming Saturday, the Fredericksburg Expo Center will host the "Back 2 the Bullies Convention," a celebration of the pit bull terrier, the controversial breed blamed in the March 2005 mauling death of Spotsylvania Countian Dorothy Sullivan, an 82-year-old great-grandmother. The Oct. 7 extravaganza at the Expo Center promises "a family-based fun event," states the Web site of the sponsoring American Bully Kennel Club. Certainly some families will find it just that. "Who would have ever thought that Fredericksburg, Virginia, would be the home of one of the hottest events in history?" the site barks. "Top Bullies and the hottest models on the planet, in the same place at the same time."

Will the show go on? It looks that way. Is it in good taste in this area, at this time, after the more dangerous side of the pit-bull breed has demonstrated itself in fatal fashion hereabouts? Many, surely, think not.

Dollar signs have a way of short-circuiting the memory banks. Maybe those who decided that the pit-bull show was a good idea weren't aware of the events of 19 months ago, and the subsequent trial and conviction of the dogs' owner on involuntary manslaughter charges. Or maybe they were, but thought that enough time had elapsed to fête the hackle-raising canine.

But in this community, a good time is not had by all when pit bulls are the stars of the show.