A Tombstone councilman has a personal mission to stifle the language used during October’s Helldorado days.

Councilman Steve Troncale has asked Marshal Larry Talvy to enforce city code #8-2-1 paragraph J when the Blood Creek Cowboys come to perform for the 16th time in Tombstone.

Enforcement of this code would make words—such as damn, son of a bitch and hell—used in the Blood Creek Cowboy’s performance all illegal despite the group’s use of a disclaimer for language and violence.

“Today, this town plays to a G-rated audience. The language used in this skit may be period correct, but it was not acceptable even in the 1880’s and it is surely not acceptable to our family oriented visitors,” wrote Troncale in a letter to a local newspaper.

The harsh, dangerous spirit of the Old West has been celebrated for 80 years in Tombstone during Helldorado Days, which occurs every third weekend in October. The event draws thousands of people to town and The Blood Creek Cowboys have performed their gunfight there often.

“We’ve been there for over 10 years and we always do the same stuff,” said Star Bennett, the group’s founder. “We always have a disclaimer that there will be period language and 90 percent of the people don’t walk away. We’re trying to get the point across that it was a wilder time. We make it a little more realistic.”

In one of the most famous skits Bennett gets kicked to the ground during a drunken cowboy fight. As he lies in the dirt writhing in pain the attacker calls him a “sorry son of a bitch.”

In a final twist of fate at the end of the performance, right before Bennett is about to shoot his attacker, he exclaims, “Who’s the son of a bitch now?”

This language is the basis for the disclaimer and a primary reason Bennett formed the group—to make a point. He felt that other gunfighting teams were doing mostly comedy, which wasn’t an accurate representation of The Old West.

His group strives to present an accurate representation of the perilous time.

“We die and we die like cowboys,” said Robert Amato, a member of The Blood Creek Cowboys. “When little Johnny sees our shows he’s not going to want to touch a gun. When he sees someone get shot in a comedy movie he thinks it is funny.”

Despite the ambiguity of the moral issue, Councilman Troncale sees an apparent legal issue at hand.

In his letter he asked that Talvy enforce city code #8-2-1 paragraph J which states that “to use indecent language or engage in indecent, disorderly, or boisterous conduct” on public property is illegal.

Talvy has been with the department for more than five years and is very familiar with both the code and the performances of Helldorado.

“The code doesn’t pertain to skits being performed in the spirit of the west,” he said. “It’s been done for years and we’ve never had a complaint. As long as they give the opportunity for people to know there’s going to be foul language and walk away I’m fine with their performance and I don’t think any action will be taken.”

Other towns, including Calico, Calif., in San Bernardino County, have attempted to clean up the violence and language in their gunfights and have simultaneously lost the authenticity that attracted the visitors in the first place.

“There was a time when Calico was taken over by the county and they changed the rules,” said Bennett. “You couldn’t carry a gun in town, it got ridiculous. No one plays there anymore and they’ve done it to themselves. Now they have an old west ghost town.”

Knott’s Berry Farms once owned and operated Calico, a historic town with similar attractions as Tombstone, according to Bennett. It was then turned over to the city and has never been the same.

“They really went downhill and we don’t want to see that happen to Tombstone,” he said. “You start taking away First Amendment rights then what’s next? The gunfighters won’t want to come anymore. It’s bad for business.”

Troncale would not comment on his letter printed in the mayor’s newspaper.

Nonetheless, his concerns are understandable. There are certain people who should not view the skits performed at Helldorado.

To some, the idea that the skits need to start changing their content is not only a dangerously close infringement of the First Amendment right to free speech, it is also a very slippery slope to start walking down.

“I’m not aware of any state law that would prohibit their behavior,” said Dr. Kevin Kemper, an associate professor in the School of Journalism at University of Arizona who teaches and researches media law. “The city ordinance has to survive constitutional scrutiny. The government isn’t allowed to censor unless it has a compelling reason to do so and the censorship is narrowly tailored to accomplish that compelling reason.”

According to Kemper, under the First Amendment people have the right to say what they want with only a few exceptions. In this case the disclaimer protects the children, which is certainly something the courts would be concerned about.

Talvy said he would examine the issue, but he isn’t too inclined to act.

“We’re going to take a look at it, but the words they are worried about are words you would see on any TV show.”