Hindus in Punjab state have a unique way of appeasing their favorite deity - piercing their cheeks and dancing to the beat of drums.

The ritualistic show of gratefulness to the Almighty was carried out here today by devotees affiliated to two religious bodies - the South Indian Sewak Sabha and the Madrasi Rajput Society.

Commonly known as "Agni Puja", the ritual is an expression of devotion and gratitude to the Goddess Mahamai Marriaaman.

Devotees pierce themselves with arrows, chant hymns and beat drums during the ceremony.

"Nothing is possible unless one has faith. It is faith that gives one the strength. I am amazed to see this kind of absolute faith in these people. They are followers of Sheetala. She will give her blessings to all," claimed Shyam Sunder, a devotee.

Before the ceremony, devotees undergo a fast for three days and spend most of their time worshipping the deity.

www.newkerala.com

Dear Amy: I have a very close girlfriend with whom I graduated from school. She is invited to and attends all of our family functions. She is married, and I am married. We often go out together as couples.

Recently, we attended a celebration for one of my male family members. My friend and I were going to get some air, and the birthday celebrant came with us. I had to go to the ladies room, so I left the two of them outside alone. When I came out of the restroom, I saw them kissing! It did not last long, but I saw it happen.

I was really upset. First of all, both of their spouses were there, and I really like their spouses. Secondly I felt partially responsible because my friend's only connection to this family member is through me. I confronted both of them. He tells me it was mutual and will never happen again. She tells me it was not mutual and is offended by the fact that I believed she would do that.

I told them I did not care what happened but that I do not want to be in the middle of this mess.

I have since decided not to extend an invitation to my friend to family functions. I am having a hard time getting past this, and it has definitely put a strain upon my relationship with my friend.

What should I do? I really miss the closeness I shared with my friend.

-- Witness to a Kiss

Dear Witness: First of all, let me applaud you for handling this well so far.

I want to think that this incident was just one of those foolish and regrettable John Cheever-esque one-time encounters brought on by alcohol, moonlight and mutual attraction. If it was just that, could you let it go? That's the first decision you need to make.

Second, I'm wondering what your friend meant when she said that the kiss wasn't mutual. Does she mean that your male relative forced this kiss on her? If so, that's a fairly serious matter, and she's not going to want to attend your family functions, no matter if she is invited.

You need to have a heart-to-heart with her, where you can express your reaction to this in an open-ended way that leaves room for resuming your friendship, if that is what you both want. In my book, your friend has some work to do to help you move beyond this, and you should give her the opportunity to get started.

Dear Amy: My father and I have never been close. So last August I asked him if I could get to know him, starting with the two of us going to lunch. He said he and I could not go alone, so his new wife and other two daughters would have to go along too. He said he could never go out with just one daughter and that everyone would have to go.

I get along with my stepmother and one of my younger sisters. I would love to spend some time alone with my father and get to know him, which is something I've never been able to do.

-- Confused from Chicago

Dear Confused: The burden shouldn't be on you to get to know your father better, but since it is, I think it might help if you involve your stepmother in trying to get the two of you together. I hope she understands how tough this is for you and offers to help. Sensitive and caring stepparents are often an important linchpin in bringing kids and parents together.

You are learning the hard way that parents don't always know how to make things right for their own children. Getting close can be hard work. Staying close takes effort too. Your dad might respond best if he doesn't feel pressured, so you might have to put up with group outings for a while. He also might continue to disappoint you in the relationship department. But that's no reason to give up. I wish you luck.

Dear Amy: Recently you ran a letter from "Conservative and Cautious in California," who wanted to get her nose pierced but couldn't get her parents to agree to it.

I hope this girl thoroughly investigates the health risks involved with body piercings.

My daughter had her nipple pierced when she was 17. After eight surgeries to try to get rid of the chronic infection in her nipple, at age 21 she needed a mastectomy.

Fortunately that eliminated the infection.

She no longer thinks body piercings are a "cute" fad.

-- Concerned

Dear Concerned: I've heard from other readers eager to share their piercing horror stories. There is no question that a puncture wound creates a risk of infection and I hope every person considering a piercing takes this into account. This is one reason that states and reputable piercing parlors place age restrictions and require parental permission for piercings.

www.chicagotribune.com

Father of victim still searching for closure over son’s alleged 2003 killing.

An escaped Colorado convict was sentenced Monday to 17 years in prison on federal theft charges filed after the suspected killing in Louisiana of an Israeli tourist last year.

The FBI believes Ran Mesika was beaten to death with a tire iron in his van in Louisiana, and Jonathan Lee Vernier disposed of the body, discarded a mattress and hosed down the interior to cover it up. Mesika has been missing since Vernier was arrested in Mesika’s bloody van in Key West.

But no charges have been filed alleging that a murder was committed.

Meantime, Shimon Mesika has spent most of the last year trying to find a son he believes is dead. The coach of the Maccabi Herzliya professional soccer team in suburban Tel Aviv alerted the FBI as soon as he realized his son’s daily phone calls had stopped but his credit card was still active.

Vernier received the unusually long sentence Monday on a guilty plea based on circumstantial evidence tying him to the suspected murder without a body.

Ran Mesika, 22, was last seen with Vernier on a Wal-Mart surveillance tape in Lake Charles, La., on May 2, 2003. Mesika told a San Diego friend by phone that Vernier had just finished a drunken-driving sentence. Vernier was arrested May 13 about 800 miles away in Key West, Fla.

Vernier normally would have faced about five years for interstate transportation of stolen goods — an estimated $119,000 worth of body-piercing jewelry in Mesika’s van — and unauthorized ATM withdrawals on Mesika’s credit card. Prosecutors asked for the maximum 20 years.

U.S. District Judge Shelby Highsmith said that Vernier used the van and credit card “knowing full well that he didn’t have to worry about someone reporting the loss.” The judge considers it “the most powerful” case based on circumstantial evidence that he has ever handled.

He repeatedly said that he was “both intellectually and professionally convinced” that Mesika is dead “and this defendant is aware of it because of his deeds.”

FBI agent Richard Lunn testified that blood was detected in the van from the front window to the back door, on a ceiling light, in the carpet and its padding. Mesika’s tissue could be seen on the tire iron handed to the judge.

“You have an escaped prisoner trying to flee who comes upon a young trusting foreigner,” Lunn testified. “I believe Ran Mesika died a violent death through a struggle in the back of the van.”

Assistant Federal Defender Stewart Abrams objected to a sentence that was more than triple what federal sentencing guidelines call for. After Vernier was gone, Abrams apologized to the father.

Shimon Mesika has offered a $50,000 reward and hopes for a state murder trial but is willing to pay Vernier to tell him where to find his son’s body.

“I will not give up. Whatever it will take, I will hunt him,” he said of his son.

Why?

“You have children?” he asks. “You have the answer.”

www.theadvertiser.com

Colerain Township health officials continue to warn area students about an illegal tattoo and piercing operation.

Police said Tony Pippin gave as many as 150 tattoos to Cincinnati-area high school students.

The Hamilton County Health Department said any student who got a tattoo or body piercing at Pippin's apartment on Banning Road in Groesbeck should be tested for HIV and hepatitis B and C.

The health department has set up a phone line for parents and students to call for more information, and officials said they have been getting a lot of calls.

www.wcpo.com

Note to my Parents, or How Body Modification Saved Me

I Am Dead.
Every day I force myself up to go to school. But not for me. For my parents. I do the work there for my parents. I put up with the people and jump through all these hoops just for them. I force myself to stay alive. Not for me, but for the people that say they care about me. I could never cause the pain that comes with a death. Not to anyone that has taken the time to care about me. The more a succeed, the harder I must be working. Stressing and tiring myself out for the benefit of others. This is what makes me feel dead. I don't do anything for me, it seems.

I got my piercing. Though it is a tiny 14ga, pretty mainstream (not that that's a bad thing) tongue stud, it meant, and still means practically the world to me. (A more recent perk was that it was a huge factor in me getting my first kiss..)

After I acquired this piercing, for the first time, I looked in the mirror and didn't feel like nothing. I didn't feel like I wasn't important anymore. For once, I could live for me, not for others. And I had a genuine longing to go on living that, before, I didn't really have.

I figure it's because for as long as I've been around, I've been told what to be. That isn't a very fulfilling existence. Being shot around by nothing but the most times overwhelming demands of other people. I've tried to get around it in some ways, i.e. refusing to dress like a stereotypical female. I wear what I like, not what t.v. tells me to like.

A lot of people are telling me now that I can't have these piercings. They are telling me to live for others and by others' rules, like I did before, before when I felt the best thing to do was to shut up and lay down and curly up and die.

I wish they understood.

If they understood, they would let me have them.

It was really torture to have to go against something a parent wished so I could get my piercing.
She just doesn't understand how incredibly important to me it is, and how this is my body, not "god's" or her's.

My ears were pierced when I was a very small child. There was no significant meaning behind it. It was done because I was born a female. So, these piercings were put on me without my consent so I could better fit into a stereotype that was influenced by society's view of what a female has to look like. I don't want to be any part of that.

Since my first piercing had so much meaning behind it, I would very much like to make all my mods have this same kind of meaning. The only way to do this is to stretch my lobes.


I'm not exactly sure if any of these reasons for having such a liking for certain things seem stupid or callow, but they mean a lot to me...so because YOU don't agree with me in their greatness doesn't give you or anyone else the right to denounce them.


SO CAN I HAVE MY BODY BACK NOW???


I presume the answer will be no. I don't even know why I let you read this. You'll just think it's stupid and still not understand why I'm into piercings or just assume it's a 'phase'. You'll probably stick with that thought to make yourself feel better until I'm thirty-five.
Oh well. Your closed-minded, self-centered loss. Good luck with growing a mind outside the crap drilled into since childhood! :D

And, I do understand that I am considered too young to be getting pierced because apparently "I don't know what I want and am not ready to make permanent decisions." Whenever this comes out of someone's mouth, I hear, "you're a little teenager, and you don't know shit about you're own life or what makes you happy, because when I was your age, I ran around doing stupid stuff, and because I had a lack of common sense, you must also." *makes angsty iconoclast face*

One more comment, I don't intend to generalize or anything, but from my experience, modded people are the nicer, more accepting people, not at all the bad influence you've made them out to be. And now I have my piercing and other peoples' closed-mindedness to thank for my tendance to respond with "more power to ya!" when anyone confronts me with their political views, sexual orientation, religious preference, etc.

Thank you for actually taking the time to read, I would love to know what you think.

www.bmezine.com

Mention the words body piercing and the image of a tattooed misfit might come to mind, but 14-year-old Angelina Tambon is actually more of a typical customer for body-piercer Greg Montone.
"They’re mostly young girls with their moms," noted Montone at his piercing station in Studio One Tattoos in Norwood, moments before he gripped Tambon’s left nostril with forceps and pushed a piercing needle through her nose.

Tambon, who also has her belly button pierced and several earrings in each ear, got her parents’ permission to get another piercing when she made the honor roll at Strath Haven High School.


Although she felt faint and had to lay down after the piercing, she was on her cell phone chatting away to one of her friends just a few moments after it was done.

"It actually didn’t hurt as bad as I thought it would," she said. "I’m happy (I got it). I was just scared before."

Paul Palladino, owner of Studio One, began offering piercing 10 years ago and today it accounts for about 30 percent of his total business.

"We’re just getting hip to this stuff. They’ve been doing this stuff for thousands of years," he said, noting the media and celebrities have helped spark piercing’s popularity. "It’s just getting bigger because more people are getting exposed to it through advertising and MTV. You can’t pick up a magazine or turn on the TV without seeing it."

While piercing is not as strictly regulated by law as tattooing, Studio One won’t pierce anyone under 14 years of age and all minors must have their parents present to sign a consent form.

On a recent Saturday, Montone turned away a girl who was one month shy of her 14th birthday, even though she was with her mother and father.

Montone, 28, of Upper Darby, began piercing three years ago after completing an apprenticeship with an experienced piercer, but first got pierced himself about 14 years ago when he was in the ninth grade.

On a trip to Wildwood, N.J., with friends he went into an ear-piercing place on the boardwalk and asked to get his nose pierced.

"I just leaned across the counter and he pierced me," laughed Montone. "Which is bad."

A lot has changed in the industry since that time, including higher standards in sterilization and jewelry quality.

Montone has completed a course in Bloodbourne Pathogens at the First Aid Institute and is scrupulous about explaining to customers about caring for their piercing.

He points to his autoclave sterilizer and individual use needles also as proof of the high standards enforced in the meticulously clean shop.

While many of his customers get pierced because it’s popular right now, Montone believes there’s no excuse for not being an educated consumer. He warns of people who do backroom piercings in their basements, oftentimes using poor quality metals.

Unsterile conditions and improper after-care of a piercing can all add up to a recipe for disaster, say experts.

Dr. John Feehery, an ear, nose and throat, head and neck surgeon at Riddle Memorial Hospital, Taylor Hospital and Crozer-Chester Medical Center, has seen the effects of infected piercings first hand.

"The most severe complication I’ve seen is when someone had their tongue pierced and had an abscess of the tongue. I could barely find the tongue ring," said Feehery, who had to cut the ring out with wire cutters. "He could basically only breathe through his nose, he couldn’t eat and there was a potential airway emergency."

The patient, who had just gotten the tongue piercing the week before, was angry the ring had to be cut out and was now out $95 for the piercing, Feehery noted wryly.

"It was kind of funny that was what he was focusing on," he said. "If that had progressed, this guy could have possibly died because it obstructed his airway."

An article in the Jan. 8, 2002, issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a general internal medicine journal published in Rochester, Minn., reported on a body piercing survey of more than 450 undergraduate students at Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y.

The authors of the study found more than 50 percent of the students had some sort of piercing. Of that number, 17 percent reported some sort of medical complication from the piercing.

Bacterial infection was the most common complication reported, followed by bleeding and tearing of the piercing.

However, advocates say body piercing is safe, if done in a professional environment and most complications result from the person not taking care of the piercing.

No state standards

There is currently no statewide standard as to regulation of tattoo and body piercing shops, although many municipalities do inspect shops. For example, Studio One is licensed with the Norwood Health Department. One state lawmaker says that’s simply not enough.

State Rep. Anthony Deluca, (D-Allegheny County, recently sponsored a bill that would put the Health Department in charge of regulations and inspections of these shops.

"We have health departments inspecting our barber shops and hair salons and everything else," he said. "We’re not trying to tell people what to do with their bodies, but we believe they should be in a protected and sterile atmosphere."

Deluca said the issue was brought to his attention when several of his constituents complained of a tattoo shop improperly disposing of needles, manywhich would find their way into the public street.

The bill passed the Pennsylvania House last month, but still has to go through the Senate.

Richard McGarvey, spokesman for the state’s health department, said bills like this are nothing new, but if this one does get passed, his department will comply with all the stipulations.

However, the onus of responsibility should still be firmly on the consumer, he said.

"It does carry some risk of infection, so make sure you know what you need to do to prevent infection and you should be getting that from the place that’s doing (the piercing)," said McGarvey. "If they don’t provide that information, go somewhere else."

The state Health Department has never taken any sort of action against a tattoo or body-piercing parlor, said McGarvey, but because they don’t regulate the industry, the department often doesn’t hear of any complaints from consumers.

"They normally just end up suing a particular establishment," he noted.

The religious element

While many in the industry say most people get pierced for fashion reasons, there are those for whom piercing holds spiritual, if not religious, connotations.

Greg Warner is the editor of Faithworks magazine, a publication based in Jacksonville, Fla., that focuses on post-modern spirituality. He believes piercing is a way to increase faith in many religions.

"It’s based on the presumption that faith is not painless, a lot of faith doesn’t come without a cost," said 49-year old Warner. "In the sense that many post-moderns see their body as a tapestry of the religious experience, then piercing is a way of evidencing that faith is indeed pain and rather than some in past generations where the goal might be to alleviate suffering or make faith painless, that is not a goal of post-modern Christians."

If anyone doubts that faith can be painful, you only need to look to the self-flagellation practiced by some Christians in the Middle Ages as well as the hair shirts religious zealots sometimes wore underneath clothing.

There are other Christians who believe body modification is against God’s law and point to scripture to back up their claim.

Commonly cited is I Corinthians 6:19-20. The King James Bible version reads, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s."

Pastor David Feddes, founder of the Back to God Hour, a program heard on almost 300 radio stations daily in North America, wrote a sermon on body modification a few years ago.

"Deep within each of us is a sense of sin and unworthiness. We feel that we deserve to bleed and suffer," said Feddes, in his Oct. 28, 2001, on-air sermon. "But the answer is not to mutilate ourselves or try to remake our bodies. That’s the pagan answer to our need for atonement, but God’s life-giving answer to our need for atonement is the blood of Jesus Christ. He was pierced for our sins."

www.zwire.com

Junior Lacey Puklich has 18 piercings adorning her body, with 15 on her ears alone. Even with all of those holes, Puklich has no urge to begin stretching any of them.

Gauging, or the correct term, stretching, is when the current piercing is slowly stretched over time. This causes tiny tears to form in the tissue around the hole and will allow the stretching to happen. After about a month, when these tears have healed, the next gauge can be put in and the process starts over again. It also is said to cause little pain.



"It's not too painful, very little discomfort and then it goes away," said Michael Jay's tattoo and body piercing artist Justin Marter. "These holes will still grow closed naturally again until gauge 0 to gauge 00, but there will always be a little mark where the hole was. If you are older, your (skin) elasticity goes buh-bye. But a plastic surgeon can snip the bottom of the ear lobe and sew (the hole) closed again."

Senior Jessica Rogers isn't worried about this; she is currently at gauge 3/4, or holes about the size of a penny.

"The holes will never grow back," Rogers said. "They will always look wrinkled, crinkled and really gross."

The reason Rogers decided to start gauging was so she would be able to stand out from the crowd.

"She has always been a strong individual," Rogers' mom, Beanie, said. "She is pretty self-confident. 'You like me for who I am and not what you see.'"

Puklich was the same way. She started her piercings for attention, but not anymore.

"Now it doesn't matter. I'm used to (the earrings). I went through the pain, I might as well keep them."

Sophomore Erin Barber also is stretching her ear lobe piercing, but unlike Rogers, Barber has just started. Right now she is at gauge 10 (about the size of a Capri Sun straw) and doesn't believe she will go much larger. She decided to start with the "real" stretching after she had been pushing bracelets, safety pins and even staples through the holes in her ears.

"They have been pierced since I was little and I was bored, so I decided to gauge," Barber said.

Rogers has had her ears pierced since she was 12. She then moved on to her belly button, lip and eventually got to the stretching. Even though her body is adorned with this jewelry, she isn't all that worried about her future career.

She plans to become an insurance adjustor and go to college for auto collision. Right now she is taking a college class in auto body and has encountered few problems with her jewelry. The only problem with her piercings she is having right now is her lip piercings are a safety issue in auto-body.

"It isn't dangerous, the only thing that could happen is (the lobe) could rip. I know of a couple of people in Bismarck that have two and a half inch diameter holes in their ears," Marter said.

Rogers still believes that she will eventually let many of the holes close up.

"I will take a lot out," Rogers said. "I'm getting over the hole stage. I plan to head towards the tattoos and brandings now."

Once, Rogers did have to take all of her piercings out. When she was visiting the courthouse, she set off the metal detectors and the security guards did not believe her when she told them it was just her piercings. It took her 20 minutes to take all 15 of them out.

Like Rogers, Puklich believes she will grow out of the phase and thinks she will become a criminal investigator -- something dealing with the law.

Barber, though, is already thinking of what she will do when she is older.

"I want to get my eyebrow or lip pierced, but then it is too hard to get a job. I won't do too much so people will freak out and think I am unprofessional. Right now, (my ears) can grow shut again," she said.

Beanie Rogers made sure that her daughter knew what she was doing when she wanted to start gauging. She and her husband, Bill, made Rogers list the pros and cons of each piercing she was going to get and then Rogers had to pay for the piercings herself.

"At least these (the gauged holes) aren't as permanent as tattoos. What happens when you are 65 and have a tattoo of a Hell's Angel on your arm? These girls go stand outside and you can hear the wind whistling through all of their holes," Bill Rogers said.

(Berg, a sophomore, was recently named news editor of her school newspaper and won first place for editorial writing in the state. She also reads books and is a cashier at a local grocery store.)

Body piercing is one of the latest teenage fads. Now the city is trying to amend a ordinance to make piercing safer and give parents more control.

State law requires you to be 18 years old to get a tattoo or a body piercing...but many teens get around that...and that's causing the health department major concern about their safety.
The current city ordinance allows the health department to enforce illegal tattooing, but not body piercing. If an amended ordinance passes, that will change.
Individual tattoo and body piercing artists would have to be licensed, and also keep records on all clients, including a copy of an I.D. that verifies their age. Health department officials say this will help them enforce state law, and keep teens safe from unsanitary conditions. But one local tattoo shop owner says even though the ordinance sounds good, it may backfire.
"If they go to shops and because of the enforcement they're not piercing minors, they may just go underground," Tattoo shop owner Orlando Rodriguez said.
There will be a public hearing on the proposed changes to the ordinance on March 23rd at City Council.

www.ktsm.com

As an Arvada West High School graduate and former Oberon Middle School student, I was distraught, though unsurprised, by recent developments at Oberon involving two eighth-grade students who were evicted from their classrooms until each removed the small diamond nose stud she wore.

I recognize that in order to maintain an environment that is conducive to learning, schools must be granted wide latitude to regulate the behavior of their students. The action taken by the school administrators in the present case, however, goes far beyond what is necessary to protect the sanctity of the school and infringes upon the students' fundamental liberties.

The Jefferson County School Board and the school-level administrators are undoubtedly aware that in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503, the Supreme Court held, among other things, that public school students have a degree of First Amendment freedom so long as their speech or expressive conduct is not vulgar and so long as it does not interfere with the operation of the school or invade the rights of other students.

In that case, the court found that a prohibition on wearing black armbands to class was contrary to the First Amendment.

The present case is virtually identical to Tinker. The nose studs would almost certainly be unnoticed by most students and faculty but for the disciplinary brouhaha that ensued as a result of the school's policy.

While it is true that some types of visible body piercing may be disruptive, a blanket policy against all body piercing is overbroad and almost certainly unconstitutional.

In an interview with Denver's 7, district spokesman Rick Kaufman skillfully sidestepped the issue of constitutionality by noting that the courts have repeatedly upheld school dress codes. While Kaufman's remark may be true, it fails to address the essence of the present case, which is the breadth of such a code. Here, the mere fact Oberon has a dress code is not at issue. Rather, the question relates to whether the code, as applied to the two girls desiring to wear nose studs, is an unconstitutional restraint on their right to free speech.

I believe it is.

Absent a demonstration or good-faith belief that a particular body piercing will cause a disruption, the piercing ban of Oberon Middle School's dress code is not only unnecessary, it's unconstitutional. The code is merely the product of an overzealous administration's attempts at standardizing the student body pursuant to some preconceived notion of normalcy.

I urge the school board to initiate a review of individual school dress codes to ensure that they are compliant with various constitutional mandates. Moreover, I hope the school board will take this opportunity to educate its administrators and policy-makers about their constitutional obligations as public servants. Avoiding these blunders in the future will help ensure that students' rights are protected while simultaneously saving the school district legal fees and costly negative publicity and embarrassment.

www.rockymountainnews.com

There's art on display throughout the Holiday Inn in Davenport this weekend, according to Timmy "Ink" Watts.

But don't expect to see any canvas at the Heart of America Tattoo Festival, wrapping up this weekend.

"It's a living art gallery," Watts said. "You're going to be seeing some of the world's coolest art - and what's so unbelievable is it's on flesh."

The festival is in its sixth year, after the first five years in Burlington, Iowa, where Watts runs Heart of America Tattoo & Body Piercing.

“I wanted a bigger and better venue," Watts said. "The Holiday can provide more of what I need. I basically just outgrew Burlington."

The additional space gives more display space for the 28 tattoo studios and nine vendors at the festival. There are also booths offering clothing, Japanese art, handcrafted jewelry and a photography booth.

About 3,500 people attended last year’s festival, the only tattoo festival in Iowa.

Tattooing and body piercing is available on site. All of the tattoo artists have been inspected and licensed by the state and the site was approved by a state health department official on Friday morning.

The convention’s special guest is Lyle Tuttle, a 55-year veteran tattoo artist who has adorned Janis Joplin, Cher and Joan Baez. He’s also been billed as the world’s most-tattooed man. He will present a slide show on the history of tattooing, as well as judging the tattoo contest on Sunday afternoon.

Trophies will be awarded during the contest to several different categories, for both the client and the artist.

“It takes my breath away, the imagination and the art ability that some of these guys have is just phenomenal,” Watts said.

Watts, a 20-year veteran tattoo artist, said business has increased greatly among professionals.

“In the past five years, I’d say the number one help would be sports figures. Your basketball players, football players are covered in them,” Watts said. “They’re more well accepted.

“It used to be just bikers and hardcore stuff, but it’s developed into more of an art.”

The top spot for tattoos on women is the small of their backs, and for men it’s their forearms.

Designs are showing more of a variety than ever, Watts said.

“We’re noticing a lot more bigger and creative work anymore,” he said. “People are really using their imagination.”

www.qctimes.com

An important health alert has been released that parents of teens attending high school in Greater Cincinnati should pay close attention.

Police said a Groesbeck man has been tattooing and piercing dozens of students in an unlicensed, unsanitary apartment and at least one teen has already become sick.

Colerain Township police said she was still undergoing tests and would not say what the girl had contracted.

Police said that more than 150 students from all over the city have received tattoos and piercings from Tony Pippin and they are urging them to be tested for a number of blood borne illnesses that are contagious.

Police said Pippin, who was recently arrested, lived in an apartment at 2926 Banning Road with his wife Melanie and was giving tattoos and body piercings to high school students in unsanitary conditions.

"Him not having the proper utensils, the proper tools to actually clean the proper needles. The unsanitary conditions of the apartment itself," said Officer Jennifer Muashsher, Colerain Township Police Department.

Officers said students from many different high schools went there to get a new look for the summer.

Students said the principal of Colerain High School actually made an announcement Thursday warning that anyone who received a tattoo or piercing from Pippin should be tested.

"It's a very scary thing to think that someone would be doing that without knowledge of the potential health problems," said LaDonna Memory, parent.

"I've been hearing that everyone's been going around getting checked and I've heard about one girl in the hospital with a bad infection. Everybody's getting checked out for infection around school," said Kevin Kehl, Colerain High School student.

Health officials would not say what the infected teenager had but said students who visited this unlicensed facility are at risk of developing blood borne illnesses like Hepatitis B, C and HIV and should see a doctor.

"Diseases spread so easily and if you've got one person and you're using that needle on that one person and you start to use it or someone else for a tattooing it's going to continue to spread until it becomes an epidemic," said Muashsher.

Pippin has been charged with consent to perform procedure on a minor and prohibition concerning tattooing or body piercing.

www.wcpo.com

Steve is a 50-something married man who’s around the block. Mia is a 20-something single immersed in the Center City dating scene. They may not agree, but they have plenty of answers. If you’d like an answer to your romantic troubles, e-mail them at S&M@phillynews.com write: S&M c/o Daily News, Box 7788, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101.
Q: I started chatting with a guy online two months ago. We get along so well and have a lot in common. The problem is he is 20 and I am 30. We both have strong feelings for each other but he is embarrassed about my age. worries what his family and friends will think. I don’t know what to ’cause one minute he has feelings and the next he doesn’t. Iwould like to meet this great guy and show him age just a number. I have always been attracted to younger guys. But he can’t over the 10-year age difference.

Mia: So you haven’t actually met this yet? So he might not even be 30. He could be (gasp) 50! And more important, could be hideously ugly and unemployed. You never know when you meet online. I say the two of you get together (in a well-lighted, public place just in case) and if he’s legit and if there’s a connection. Then you can decide how to handle the generation gap.

Steve: Hey, what’s wrong with a woman who’s 30 hooking up with a guy who’s Every old millionair e in America is dating or married to a woman 20 years younger. But Mia’s right about assuming anything about someone you meet online . If do meet, besides meeting in a public place, bring a friend or bodyguard.

Q: I recently starteddating this really nice guy.He’s an artist and a substitute teacher. I noticed after a couple dates that he never asked me to his place. We always went to my apartment. Eventually he admitted that he lives with his parents. He says he’s trying to save money so that he can pursue art full time. This is a 28-year-old man we’re talking about! I’m kind of weirded out by this, but I don’t knowif a dumping offense. Does the fact that he’s still living in his childhood bedroommakehim undatable?

Steve: Only if he still sleeps with his teddy bears. His jobs don’t pay much, so he’s being practical. However, at some point he have to decide whether he can make a living with his art and, if not, get another Mia: It is pretty uncool, but not necessarily a dumping offense, as long as he actually has a plan to move out at some stage. If he starts dropping hints about moving in with you, I’d be cautious. You don’t want to get stuck with a freeloading, artistic bum.

Q: I’ve been thinking about getting a tongue ring. I hear they can increase the pleasure for the ladies whenm you’re working on certain areas. Do you think getting one will make me more popular with chicks?

Mia: I made out once with a guy who had a tongue ring and it was a lot of fun. Sadly, the guy wasn’t fun, so I didn’t keep him around long enough to find out what the tongue ring can do elsewhere (although I hear good things). That said, I doubt getting a piercing will dramatically improve your chanc es with the ladies. Most girls rank personality, intelligence and looks a lot higher than tongue jewelry. Also, don’t get pierced right before a big date, because your tongue usually swells up for a while, making talking tricky. Definitely not smooth!

Steve: Tongue ring? I swapped gum once.

Q: I recently house-sat for my parents while they were in Europe. I was cleaning the guest room one day and I stumbled upon a box of porn flicks and sex toys hidden under my bed. I’m 30 years old and I know I should be fine with the fact that my parents have an active (kinky) sex life, but it’s completely grossed me out. I don’t even want my boyfriend to touch me because every time I think of sex I get visions of my parents using that stuff. What should Ido?

Steve: Just keep repeating to yourself, "It’s only a movie, it’s only a movie . . . ” No one wants to think of their parents having sex. But you can’t let this experienc e foul up your own sex life. Maybe talking about the issue with your boyfriend will help you purge it.

Mia: I feel your pain. I once walked in on my parents when I was a little kid. It still hurts to think about it. (Note: All parents should invest in locks. Strong locks. I’m begging you.) But Steve is right, you can’t let this ruin your fun. Talk to your boyfriend, a friend, a therapist, or have a ritual torching of some sex tapes to purge yourself. Then get back in the game!

www.philly.com

Body piercing is nothing more than a trend - a trend that's existed for thousands of years in every culture on the planet. Despite the fact that poking extra holes in your body was one of the first things humankind invented, along with the wheel, fire and war, it has a sort of bad name.

Most people think of it as some sort of underground subculture and exclusive domain of deviants, and for some reason the stereotype perpetuates that piercings take place in dirty back rooms, or at home with ice and safety pins.

We've all heard the urban legend about the girl whose face exploded after she pierced her tongue, or the guy whose willie rotted off after he got a Prince Albert. At the same time, we all know that a properly-placed barbell or ring can turn a plain and ordinary young woman or man into a substantially more attractive, slightly more magnetic person.

The minute you walk through the doors of Infinite Body Piercing, on 4th Street just off South, you'll realize that Infinite, founded in 1995, is - with the exception of that place in Nevada that makes super-pure silicon chips - the cleanest place on earth. We've all heard that stern warning from our grandfathers and prude friends that piercing parlors are dens of filth, but that simply isn't true here.

The first thing that one would notice upon entering the building is that it is ridiculously, scrupulously, excruciatingly clean. The cleanliness doesn't end with just the furniture and equipment; if you get something pierced, you can be assured that if there's the slightest possibility of contamination, the situation is fixed.

Gloves are changed almost constantly through any piercing, the equipment is brand new and only used once, and the place has more unguents, salves, creams, lotions and soaps for sterilization than anywhere else. If you go to Infinite, and your piercing gets infected or doesn't heal right, the only person you have to blame is yourself. Their bathroom floor is cleaner than the cafeteria's plates.

The staff is just as professional as the shop. No matter how stupid the question is, you'll never get any flak for asking, and no matter how disgustingly kinky the piercing you want is, you'll never hear one word about it. They have reasonable prices, and haven't ever tried to talk my poor ass into buying something I don't need or want. That's three things more than can be said about some of the other places in Philadelphia.

In a review of a venue, it's always good to mention some flaws so as to not sound like a direct advertisement, but the worst thing I can say about Infinite is that the music they play is a little ... inconsistent - perhaps even erratic. Having been to many piercing places for many reasons at many different times, it is obvious to me that Infinite is a cut above the rest.

In the same way that you shouldn't go to bars where the bartenders spill drinks on you when you're wearing you're favorite shirt, one shouldn't get body modification someplace where the staff is unfriendly, dirty or otherwise unprofessional. It should be obvious that there's something special about such a long-standing place in an industry where shops open and close all the time.

If you've always wanted to get something pierced but were afraid of being considered weird, or of it getting infected, or of wimping out, you now have no reason not to do it. The staff is friendly, the place is clean and they know a million ways to distract you from the razor-sharp needle sliding through your flesh. Other places might get the job done, but if you want the best, go to Infinite.

Evelinda: Style Matters has gone on the record regarding our dislike for body mutilation, i.e. tattoos and excessive body piercing. Not only does it ruin perfectly good skin, but as you age, tattoos sag and wrinkle with you.

Judie: One in every 10 Americans has tattoos, up from one out of every 100 three decades ago, according to the Alliance of Professional Tattooists in Annapolis, Md.

And it's upper-middle-class women between 20 and 40 years old - especially those that dread mutating into soccer moms - who fuel most of the growth, according to tattoo parlors.

Evelinda: You know what this is really about? Midlife crisis. If you're having a midlife crisis, go out and buy some jewelry. Or better yet, forget about your privileged life and volunteer your time.

Judie: It's more than just a midlife crisis. Getting a tattoo can affect your livelihood. A 2001 online survey by Vault.com, found that 58 percent of employers would be less likely to hire someone with a visible tattoo or body piercing.

Evelinda: Romayne Berry, an executive recruiter, says in a 2002 Wall Street Journal Classroom online edition, that job candidates should cover up tattoos and remove body piercings.

"You don't want to do anything that distracts an interviewer from the situation at hand. You want them to focus 100 percent on your qualifications."

Judie: On the other hand, according to the Wall Street Journal Online, companies such as Ford Motor and Boeing allow employees from the most senior executives on down to have tattoos and piercings, except piercings that could endanger factory workers.

Evelinda: Really, I wonder how many top executives are flaunting their tattoos. Besides, it can be a health issue. According to an ER doctor, the piercings are creating health problems.

Large tongue rings can prevent insertion of emergency air wave tubes, resulting in unnecessary complications.

Judie: Apparently, several of you disagree with us. Here's our favorite from a reader identified as BH-M who emailed us with this lovely, if somewhat rambling, epistle:

"It is women like the two of you, that will never comprehend the living of life. Go home to your 2.5 kids and cheating husband/boyfriend, suppress all of your urges and blend in.

"Tattoos and modification have been a part of native lifestyles since the dawn of time. It is how people recognized each other, their status, and duties to both tribe and life, at a glance. It was before your uptight Gucci bags, and a more beautiful commitment. Anyone can pretend to be a beautiful person. The rest of us can live life . . ."

Evelinda: BH-M, FYI. Now, a Gucci bag is a way of recognizing status. And by the way, what do you know about Mr. Style Matters that I don't know?

www.rockymountainnews.com

Investigators have interviewed at least two- dozen witnesses and are fielding calls from the public with information on Amie Lynn Riley since the murdered 20-year-old woman’s body surfaced 13 days ago, a state prosecutor said.



Still, they have yet to identify any of the men matching the three descriptions police distributed since Riley was last seen at the Hog’s Trough Saloon on Lincoln Street last Aug. 15, Senior Assistant Attorney General N. William Delker said this week.

“I don’t believe any one of them (descriptions) are being discarded,” Delker said. “We haven’t identified those people at this point. We are still in the process of trying to determine specifically who she was with when she was last seen.”

Delker said an arrest does not appear imminent.

Authorities said Riley was killed but will not say how. Her mother said she suffered fatal injuries to her head and body.

Meanwhile, several of Riley’s closest friends said they questioned why Riley’s badly decomposed body was nude, except for a pair of green socks, when it was found floating in a small pond off Stark Lane April 24.

“I thought that was strange because Amie never wore socks,” said one close friend, Crystal Valliere, 21, of Manchester.

A Manchester couple discovered the body after following a trail of black and dark-colored women’s clothing that Riley’s friends said closely matched Riley’s limited “Goth”-style wardrobe.

“Every one of her friends said the same thing. We all thought that can’t be Amie because, if Amie was wearing socks, they would be black. We never knew her to wear socks. She didn’t have any socks,” Valliere said.

Amie’s boyfriend, Joseph A. Pelletier IV, 22, who lived with Amie at 315 Cedar St. when she disappeared, couldn’t remember whether Amie was wearing socks beneath the long, black skirt she wore when he dropped her off at the Hog’s Trough Saloon Aug. 15. But he said she barely ever wore socks and only owned a black pair.

“She doesn’t own green socks and neither do I,” he said yesterday.

Delker had no comment on Riley’s clothing.

Riley’s friends and a Hog’s Trough Saloon employee said reports of “Amie sightings” had swirled around the city since Riley disappeared.

“I heard so many rumors that there were Amie sightings,” Valliere said.

“I heard she was working at Dairy Queen,” she said. “I tried going there to see if I could see her. I never saw her there.”

Shannon M. McCarthy, manager of Hog’s Trough Saloon, said she heard a blonde woman appeared at the Spider Bite body-piercing shop on Elm Street as recently as a week before Riley’s body was found.

“She was saying ‘people think I’m missing and they have posters up all over about me,’” McCarthy said. The woman was accompanied by another girl.

Employees at the Spider Bite refused to comment on the report.

Pelletier, who now lives in Lincoln, said several people also told him they saw Riley in the weeks after she disappeared, often in the company of a tall, dark-haired man.

While Delker would not comment on reports investigators have received, he said, “We’re certainly looking into anyone who said they saw her in the time after she was reported missing. We are talking with those people and following up on that.”

Delker also said investigators “haven’t ruled anything in or out with respect to the time of (Riley’s) death.”

Meanwhile, Manchester police have interviewed probably more than two-dozen witnesses since Riley’s body was found, Delker said.

And, he said, publicity the case has received recently has prompted people to contact police.

“People are calling in that have information on the case, and (police) are in the process of interviewing those people,” he said.

Pelletier is among those police have questioned. He said he failed a polygraph last week and gave a DNA sample. Pelletier said he had “absolutely” nothing to do with Riley’s disappearance.

Pelletier yesterday said police also have questioned his two Londonderry friends who met him at his apartment after he dropped Riley off at the Hog’s Trough Saloon sometime between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Aug. 15.

And Pelletier said two investigators traveled to Florida to have Riley’s estranged husband, Mark Ross, sign papers releasing her personal belongings to them. Pelletier said he gave all Riley’s belongings — pets, clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, a diary and knickknacks — to Riley’s parents after she disappeared.

Pelletier said he was unaware Riley kept a diary and that was not among the items he gave to her parents.

“I didn’t know about it because she only told her closest friends about it,” he said.

Police have distributed three descriptions of men seen with Riley shortly before she disappeared.

The first description released March 3 was of a white man, about 5-foot-9, blond hair and wearing a light summer sweater and black-and-white, button-down shirt.

The second description released last week is of a well-dressed white man with dark, slicked-back hair. He wore a white, button-down collared shirt and dark pants.

The latest description released April 30 is of a white male in his early 20s with dark, possibly brown, hair, about 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-7, weighing between 150 and 170 pounds and last seen wearing a burgundy or maroon jacket or sweatshirt.

www.theunionleader.com

Body piercing and tattoos, make way. The latest fashion trend to hit the Netherlands is eyeball jewelry.

Eye surgeons have implanted tiny pieces of jewelry called "JewelEye" in the mucous membrane of the eyes of six women and one man in cosmetic surgery pioneered by an ophthalmic surgery research and development institute in Rotterdam.

The procedure involves inserting a .13-inch wide piece of specially developed jewelry — the range includes a glittering half-moon or heart — into the eye's mucous membrane under local anesthetic at a cost roughly $600 to $1,200.

"In my view it is a little more subtle than (body) piercing. It is a bit of a fun thing and a very personal thing for people," said Gerrit Melles, director of the Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery (www.NIIOC.nl).

The piece of jewelry is inserted in the conjunctiva — the mucous membrane lining the inner surface of the eyelids and front of the eyeball — in sterile conditions using an operating microscope in a procedure taking about 15 minutes.

"Without doing any harm to the eye, we can implant a jewel in the conjunctiva," Melles said. "So far we have not seen any side effects or complications and we don't expect any in the future."

The institute, which develops new ocular surgical techniques in corneal, cataract and retinal surgery, developed and patented the jewelry made with special materials and the surgical procedure. The institute, which carries out the procedure in cooperation with an eye clinic near the city of Utrecht, said it has a waiting list for people who want the implant.

And this, from the Web site, touting the procedure: "Surprisingly, no jewelry is available for the organ that is most important in social interactions, the eye."

Surprising.


seattletimes.nwsource.com

What would you say if your teenager asked, "Can I get a piercing?"

Before you answer, you may want to see this next report. The 11 news I-Team discovered there is very little oversight of piercing parlors and the results can be devastating.

I-Team reporter Mindy Basara has the story.

It's a growing trend among teenagers -- piercings of all kinds in all places. Marlana Hulson, 17, got her tongue pierced.

Basara: "Why did you want to get your tongue pierced?"

Marlana: "Because everybody else was doing it. Seemed fun."

At first, Marlana's mother Lisa was hesitant to let her daughter go through such an invasive procedure, but eventually gave in. They came to Alch's Tattoo and Piercing Parlor in Baltimore County. The procedure took just seconds.

Video


Simple Stab Could Mean Lifetime Of Pain





Marlana: "She clamped my tongue. She really didn't check anything, make sure where my veins were or anything. She just stuck the needle through."

Within a few days, it was obvious something was terribly wrong.

Marlana: "I started bleeding non-stop. It just kept coming out."

Lisa Hulson: "She had handfuls of blood. She had a hand towel in her hand that was full of blood and it was dripping off of that onto the floor."

They rushed Marlana to the hospital -- a doctor did emergency surgery.

Lisa: "It was pretty bad because he said when he went in he was praying the whole time. He said it looked really bad. He said he'd never seen anything like it."

Doctors say the piercing severed an artery in Marlana's tongue, causing a blood clot, which then burst. She could have choked to death on her own blood.

Marlana: "I cried and I cried and cried -- hating myself for letting her get it done."

Basara: "And it left her wondering about the technician's training. She was shocked when she found out there is little regulation of piercing and tattoo parlors -- no state licensing of workers, no specific training required. The state says it's up to individual counties to oversee their own jurisdictions. But all the counties we spoke with don't require training either. They will do inspections but only if there's a complaint."

Plastic surgeon Dr. Ira Papel: "It can cause irreparable deformities."

Hopkins plastic surgeon Dr. Ira Papel says he's constantly repairing problem piercings.

Papel: "It's pretty much a weekly thing now we have someone with a problem -- whether it be an ear, an eyebrow, a nose, or something that's had a complication with a piercing."

Papel showed us several graphic examples of what can happen when a piercing goes bad.

Papel: "If someone is going to be doing invasive procedures on people, there needs to be some kind of training, some kind of minimum standard."

State Sen. Paula Hollinger says piercing bills have come before the legislature several times but never passed because there wasn't enough negative testimony.

Hollinger: "They were hesitant to set up another board for licensing another profession. However if there is a problem out there, it is something we would deal with again."

The owner of Alch's claims the woman who pierced Marlana Hulson's tongue has four years experience and 1,400 hours of training with him. Even he thinks there should be more government control.

Shop owner: "I think the regulations should be stricter. They leave it up to the shops to train their own people."

The shop owner says he would never allow his daughter to get her tongue pierced. As for Marlana, she's doing fine but says she won't ever consider body piercing again.

For the 11 news I-Team, I'm Mindy Basara.

If you have a complaint about a body piercing or tattoo parlor, contact your local health department as well as your state representative. They say it's the best way to get body piercing legislation back on the agenda.

www.thewbalchannel.com