When 15-year-old Omar Villegas came home with his third tattoo — a rose and his mother's name on his right hand — his father hit him in the mouth and put him in a headlock, Metro police records say.

The teen confirmed the police account and described his tattoos in a phone interview yesterday.

A police arrest affidavit states Pedro Villegas-soto, 41, of Oaktree Court was charged with domestic assault. He remained jailed yesterday afternoon with bail set at $2,500, jail officials said.

According to the affidavit, when Metro Police Officer Stephen Beck arrived, he found the father with his son in a headlock and other family members holding the two against a wall.

The tattoo was the third the teen had gotten in four months, the report said. He has two joker faces inked on a shoulder and his name on the left of his neck, he said.

www.tennessean.com

Smooth and fine, intricate and perfect, it is love at first sight. I develop a kink in my neck from craning to look at it in the mirror. I wonder if I should get another on the opposite shoulder.

I needed to commemorate the anniversary of turning my life upside down. The changes I adopted a year ago have been exciting and largely successful but, on the downbeats, I still worry that everything will spontaneously fall apart and dump me right back where I started. I fret and panic and worry myself into a tizzy. And then, just as suddenly, everything is fine again.

I need to relax, have faith, chill out -- a concept that makes good intellectual sense, but that I am unable to feel. I need to have it engraved in my skin like a permanent string around my finger: don't forget, it's all good, you're going to be fine. I need to be reminded not only of what I can do, but of why I need to do it in the first place.

So I decided to get a tattoo.

It is important for me to produce my own artwork rather than browsing through a book of pre-fab flash and picking a pair of swallows with a skull and the word "Mom" written in Sanskrit across a rose with angel wings and a Chinese fire dragon thrown in for good measure.

As it turns out, this is the preference of the studio, as well. A commission is one thing, but no self-respecting artist wants to paint-by-numbers.

There is a design I've had in mind for quite some time: a blue goldfish turning into water. The symbol evokes for me the essence of freedom and creativity. I would put it on my right shoulder blade.

It takes me some time to find the right shop. I want to meet a sympathetic artist in a clean and soothing environment. The floor cannot be black-and-orange parquet. I must not be able to smell the place from down the block.

That hospital-fresh scent with bonus tobacco odour that some studios have is not for me, although I soon find out that for some people it is practically a requirement.

Friends ask about the seediness of the joint and the burliness of the artist. To them, tattooing is at least 75 per cent about slumming. If only for an hour, they want to feel grungy and subversive. If they could find a one-armed pirate with a glass eye and the word "Barnacle" in his alias, they'd ask him to mutilate them in a musty basement backroom with rusty tools and leaded ink.

By contrast, mine is perhaps the least rebellious tattoo ever etched. I have been contemplating my fish for close to eight years. By the time I finally find a comfortable shop with the right artist, I am so well informed about the process and so sure about my design that I do not even feel nervous about the pain I have been told to expect.

Afraid of needles, my roommate follows me around the house the day of the procedure carrying a giant imaginary tattoo needle and making jackhammer sounds. Still, I feel only the same time-sensitive worry I would experience with any scheduled appointment: doctor, dentist, job interview, brunch.

When I get there, the sketch is perfect. My tattoo artist Amanda leads me to her station and I see that all her safety paraphernalia (gloves, bandages -- anything latex, sterile or boxed) is purple. I take this as a sign and almost look forward to my needling. I am not disappointed. Amanda is art-school trained and works in several mediums: acrylic on canvas, pencil on paper and ink on skin. She is patient as I re-position the outline four or five times and look over her shoulder as she mixes the colours.

At first, the hard edge of the outlining needle feels like a wasp stinging.

My stomach lurches a little, but then calms itself after Amanda brings me a glass of water.

Because the needles are tapered, the interior colouring hurts less. It feels like a mildly malevolent imp dragging straight pins across my back just to get a rise out of me. I am being painted and carved at the same time. I relish the idea, if not the sensation itself.

The pain is manageable because I know I have survived worse. Unlike the times I left my teeth on the sidewalk or nearly lost the battle of tendons versus glass, this sting will not be associated with embarrassment and I will not have to mull it over in the emergency room.

When the tattoo is done, it is cleaner than I expected. Smooth and fine, intricate and perfect, it is love at first sight. I develop a kink in my neck from craning to look at it in the mirror and I wonder if I should get another design on the opposite shoulder -- maybe a little green Narcissus gazing into a lake.

I might not have been born with my fish but now that it is a part of me, I will be as protective of it as I am of the giant orange freckle on my right calf or the dimple in my left ear. Like living next to a superpower, I can't see it all the time, but I know it is there.

I have believed for some time that I have a pair of guardian angels watching my lucky back. Now I also have a blue goldfish and somehow the talisman is more powerful because I put it there myself.

www.theglobeandmail.com

Teens turn to body art to fight the crowd

Lately, a simple walk through the mall can yield an array of colorful characters. Many of these people are adorned, etched and gleaming with unnatural hues.
Almost all of us know someone with either a body piercing or a tattoo. Maybe you have one (or two . . .) yourself. This fad has taken the teen world by storm. Tattoos and piercings are no longer the ominous identification of a biker or a gang member. Instead, they’re everywhere from your neighbor to your coworker.

Matthew “Mad Matt” Leber, a tattoo artist at Flesh Expressions in Dover, tattoos clients with an average age of 16 to 24.

“Seventy percent are first-timers,” Leber said.

Coworker Peggy “Cherokee” Staub has seen a lot of parents giving their consent as a reward for good behavior.

“It’s bringing them closer,” Staub said. “It’s like crossing a milestone.”

Tattoo artist Robert Himes Jr. of Pro Ink in York said he has seen piercings on “eyebrows and tongues for guys and the navel for girls, more often than anything else.”

Tattooing means ingraining a design into skin with a continuously pricking needle. Ink is left to permanently pigment the skin.

For body piercings, professional piercers use a tri-bevel needle with a hollow center that removes tissue when piercing. This is the less traumatizing alternative to piercing guns found at many jewelry stores in the mall.

“Some people say they do (tattoos or piercings) to express themselves or (to brave) the pain. For me, I thought it would look cool,” said Ronald Mitchel, a senior at Northern York High School. “At the time, I was punk.”

Ronnie had his nose pierced at Pro Ink, pierced his own eyebrow, and has pierced and “gauged” both ears. By gauging, or gradually increasing the size of the cylinder in his piercing, he was able to stretch the holes to a 2 gauge, about the diameter of a pencil. The largest he has seen has been a 00 gauge, “about the size of your pinky,” he said.

Ronnie has made changes in his appearance after considering his future jobs and careers. He no longer gauges his ears, and they have since returned to an 18 gauge, 22 being average. He has also reconsidered getting a tattoo on his arm and a tongue piercing.

“(Employers and customers) sometimes look at you differently,” he said.

Other teens find a way to display their creative talents by designing their own tattoos.

“I drew all of mine,” said Gregory Whittier, a 2004 graduate of Dover Area High School.

Tattoo artists are generally able to make designs like Greg’s work with minor adjustments.

Greg has also had his ears pierced in three places since sixth grade and has delved into nipple piercing along with tattoos. He has one tattoo on each arm, as well as one on his back.

He describes the feeling of getting a tattoo as the equivalent of “a really bad bee sting — like a hornet.”

Stephen Kuhn, a 2004 graduate of Central York High School, is piercing-free, but has had his first and only tattoo for nearly two months. Getting a tattoo seemed the ultimate way to display his artwork.

“Everyone has (piercings),” he said, “(but with) tattoos, I can make it individual with my own designs.” Smiling, he said that his mom now wants him to design one for her.

Some teens go a different route with tongue, lip or cheek piercings. In such cases, the American Dental Association warns of risks such as hepatitis B and HIV if piercing instruments have not been properly sterilized. Breathing and talking can be inhibited and metal jewelry can damage teeth and gums.

However, Staub of Flesh Expressions said tongue piercings come in varying lengths, and with proper placement, jewelry and aftercare, customers should have no complications.”

Yet teens, worried only about coming into school the next day with a permanent new look, may not think to ask about sterilization procedures or how to properly care for the piercing or tattoo.

“There (are) piercers out there that expect everyone to be educated,” said Leber, of Flesh Expressions.

But not everyone is.

On May 21, Gov. Ed Rendell signed a bill stating that no shop may tattoo or pierce a minor without a parent or guardian’s consent and presence throughout the procedure. Both Flesh Expressions and Pro Ink artists agree this legislation has had little effect on them since they’ve always gone by this method. Himes warns of word-of-mouth advertising for minors.

“(Minors) know where they can go to get (a tattoo or piercing) without identification,” he said.

Christina Yingling, a senior at Dover Area High School, has had five piercings in her ears, one of which was cartilage, as well as a tattoo on her lower back and a belly-button ring since seventh grade.

“My stepdad took me for my belly button and signed off on a lot of agreements, but my mom had to sign releases, too,” Christina said. However, she said that when her stepbrother got his tongue pierced at 16 at the beach, the piercers didn’t ask for identification.

“I don’t regret any of it,” Christina said of her many piercings and tattoo. “When you first get it, it’s unique and cool, and after that it’s just a part of you.”

As for the future of the tattoo and piercing craze, Christina doesn’t have much faith.

“I think it’ll fade away,” she said. “It’s a trend that once everyone has, they’ll look for something else to make them unique.”

Greg has a more optimistic opinion.

“I think it’s here to stay,” he said. “All kinds of stuff is getting more popular. . . . It’s growing.”

York County’s 18 tattoo and piercing outlets are 18 reasons suggesting that the trend isn’t going to fade anytime soon.



TATTOO CARE
  Washing your tattoo: This cannot be stressed enough during the healing process. You should use an antibacterial liquid soap. Wash in a circular motion; do not use a cloth or a sponge. Pat your tattoo dry. DO NOT use deodorant soap with additives of any type.

  Keeping your tattoo moist: Apply a small amount of A&D ointment to your tattoo several times a day. Wipe off any excess ointment. The use of triple antibiotic ointments or petroleum-based products will cause your skin to “ooze” and will result in lost color.


  As it heals: Flaking skin usually lasts as long as a week to two weeks. After the healing process, you may use regular moisturizers again. Never rub, scratch or pick at your tattoo. If a scab forms, let it fall off naturally. DO NOT expose your tattoo to direct sunlight or tanning beds for at least two weeks. Also, DO NOT swim or use a sauna for at least two weeks.

Source: Flesh Expressions tattoo care sheet


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PIERCING CARE
  Wash your hands with soap and water before touching or cleaning the pierced part during the healing process. Don’t let anyone else touch the pierced part during the healing period.

  Gently wash the area surrounding and including the piercing with an antibacterial soap and water twice a day. Remove all crusty formations from the piercing and jewelry. Rinse off the soap.

  You do not need strong cleaning agents if the area is infection-free. Do not use alcohol or peroxide to clean the area at any time. They will dry out your skin. Betadine will discolor gold jewelry.

  Avoid contact with other people’s body fluids. Even your own sweat may irritate the piercing. Be sure to rinse the area after all exercise to remove sweat.

  Always wear clean clothing and change bedsheets every week during healing. If the piercing is an ear piercing, clean your telephone and glasses with disinfectant spray or alcohol. Wash the part of glasses that touch your ear with soap and water.

  Check any threaded jewelry in your mouth (such as barbells) twice a day to make sure the ends are tight. You may swallow the barbell or damage a tooth if it comes loose.

  For ear and cartilage piercings, avoid makeup and powders around your face and neck during the healing process. Cover the piercing with a tissue when using hair spray.

  No tight clothes during the healing process. For navel piercings, don’t wear large belts, stockings or body suits, and do not sleep on your stomach.

  Be careful where you swim. Avoid public pools and hot tubs until the piercing has healed.

  For mouth care following a tongue or lip piercing, choose an antibacterial mouthwash that does not contain alcohol and rinse your mouth after all meals and snacks. If you notice bad breath and an off-colored tongue, the mouthwash may have killed the mouth’s own bacteria. If this happens, switch to salt water rinses instead of mouthwash.

ydr.com

Marketing gurus had tasty product idea, no one to make it. So they did it themselves.

If she never accomplishes anything else, Jeanie Morgan can at least say she helped create the first taste-ertisements.

Morgan is president and co-founder of POP Marketing Group Inc., a Covington marketing agency and think tank for Fortune 500 companies, such as Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Disney. POP (which stands for point of purchase) puts Listerine Pocket Paks on keychains and builds sample food stands for Sara Lee.

But four years ago, Morgan and her partners developed an idea that put them right in the novelty candy aisle. By adding flavors to colors, and then colors to logos, POP could make tattoos that would advertise corporations. The problem was, no one made such tattoos, so POP had to make them itself.

Now kids are eating them up.

"We had a certain vision from day one of what this product should taste like," Morgan said recently at her office on Philadelphia Avenue. "We wanted, Wow! in-your-mouth explosion. And I can't tell you how many times we went back to the drawing board."

POP's Tongue Tickling Tattoos are being distributed by the millions, to corporations and to stores. Coca-Cola is inserting Hi-C flavored tattoos in national magazines, and Wal-Mart is carrying multiflavored tattoos shaped like Spiderman.

Experts say that at just pennies each, the tattoos can deliver quite a financial punch. Kids, after all, have the ficklest tongues in the business.

"If you think about what it takes to get people to try something, it's an expensive proposition," said Britt Beemer, founder of America's Research Group, a Charleston, S.C., agency that tracks consumer behavior. "This is a relatively inexpensive way to get people to try your product in a fun experience. And what's better than getting people to try your product and having fun at the same time?"

The concept now represents about one-third of POP's business, which this year is projected to generate sales of as much as $8 million. Tattoos also are taking the firm through a crop of flavor-inspired ideas that can translate to millions more dollars.

Taste, after all, is not the domain of youngsters. The tattoos can be used to sell anything from tequila to MTV, Morgan said, as long as it is, um, tasteful. And the technology can be crossed over to other mediums -- how about a chocolate-flavored straw? (Keep reading.)

What surprised Morgan most about tasty tattoos is that marketers weren't already using them. POP, whose other partner is Vice President John Schaffstein, came up with the idea after a brainstorming session in the summer of 2000. Morgan spent a day trying to find another maker of such tattoos, and when she couldn't find one, started filing for a patent.

"I was very surprised because it's such a darned good idea," she said. "It's not a simple product to make, but it's a simple idea. It's a common-sense idea."

POP shifted into fourth gear. It hired a Pennsylvania company to make the ink and Flavor Systems International, in West Chester, to create a range of flavors. POP then invested $500,000 to build special equipment to print the tattoos (the ink gummed up the original printers).

Over the next couple of years, Morgan and her partners dedicated about 20 hours a week on developing the tattoos. When they were ready for market, in fall 2002, it was a critical birth.

Coca-Cola, an existing point-of-purchase client of POP, chose to use the tattoos to promote its Vanilla and Cherry Cokes, and it took a while to get the tattoos to taste just like the soft drink.

"Coca-Cola being your first customer is a good thing and a tough thing," Morgan explained.

Meanwhile, Morgan monitored her own children's response to the tattoos. At a low price, she knew from the beginning the tasty tattoos would make attractive impulse buys.

So last year, POP entered into an agreement that put Tongue Tickling Tattoos on store shelves. It signed a contract with South Hampton, Pa.-based Basic Fun Inc., which distributes interactive, novelty toys for chains such as Wal-Mart, Target, Toys 'R' Us and Walgreen.

"We saw something very unique," said Julie Ashcraft, marketing manager at Basic Fun. "There's nothing like it on the market, and it's a great interactive feature for kids."

Basic Fun holds licensing agreements with a number of major companies, including MTV, Disney and Marvel. It ordered 1 million retail packs, each with four tattoos, that sell for $1.79 to $1.99 each. At a wholesale price of $1 each, Ashcraft said, that equals a clearance of $790,000 to $990,000.

POP declined to detail the financial arrangements of its contract with Basic Fun. But Morgan said the tattoos cost pennies each to make. She said POP's goal is to sell 4 million to 5 million of the retail packs from May 2004 to May 2005.

This is possible because Basic has exposed POP to a variety of potential suitors. MTV is looking at developing an entire retail package around the tattoos, geared toward an older audience (think lime and salt flavors, to sell tequila).

Also in the pipeline is an agreement with a toy company to make gross-out tattoos that taste like vomit or dirt, and POP is talking to food companies about dropping the tattoos in cereal boxes.

In the meantime, POP continues to use the tattoos as a promotional tool. It recently signed an agreement with Coca-Cola to print 3 million tattoos promoting Hi-C Sour Blast, a new sour-flavored drink. Some of the tattoos were inserted in the current Teen People magazine, which has a circulation of 1.6 million.

"It is such an affordable way for companies to sample a new product or an existing product that needs a boost," Morgan said.

Advertising executives say it can certainly be effective for marketers.

POP charges 3 cents to 6 cents per tattoo, depending on volume. Teen People charges $75,500 for a full-page color ad and $45,500 for a half-page ad, including agency commissions, said J. Mitchell Dunn, account supervisor at Empower MediaMarketing.

"Seems like a good deal to me," Dunn said in an e-mail interview. "They likely paid a premium, but that would be expected ... any time you add an 'interactive' element like that."

POP is about to get more interactive. The technology it uses to put flavor on tattoos is being used for other products, such as straws.

POP just got a commitment for 1 million of the thick, bendable straws, flavored in chocolate, banana or strawberry. But unlike Tongue Tickling Tattoos, POP will not make the straws; it is finalizing a deal to license the technology to a straw manufacturer.

Even with its success, though, Morgan said the tattoos and their technology will remain a smaller part of POP's overall business. The company is, first, a point-of-purchase firm, and while getting taste on the tongue is great, the final objective is putting food on the table.

"It's all about making money," Morgan said. "As fun as this product is, if it does not make money, we will do something else."

cincinnati.bizjournals.com

As the old saying goes, two things in life are guaranteed: death and taxes. Starting Thursday, July 1, the latter of those guarantees will be part of Arkansans’ lives even more than before.
Act 107, which was passed by the Arkansas Legislature in February, adds several types of businesses that were previously sales tax-free to the ranks of services that Arkansans have to pay that little extra for.

The types of businesses that will be required to include sales tax in their charges are: wrecker and towing services; collection and disposal of solid wastes; cleaning parking lots and gutters; dry cleaning and laundry services; industrial laundry services; mini warehouse and self storage rental services; body piercing, tattooing, and electrolysis services; pest control services; security and alarm monitoring services; boat storage and docking fees; furnishing camping spaces or trailer spaces at public or privately-owned campgrounds, except for federal campgrounds, on less than a month-to-month basis; locksmith services; pet grooming and kennel services, and; service of initial installation, alteration, addition, cleaning, refinishing, replacement, and repair of motor vehicles, aircraft, farm machinery and implements, motors of all kinds, tires and batteries, boats, electrical appliances and devices, furniture, rugs, flooring, upholstery, household appliances, televisions and radios, jewelry, watches and clocks, engineering instruments, medical and surgical instruments, machinery of all kinds, bicycles, office machines and equipment, shoes, tin and sheetmetal, mechanical tools, and shop equipment.

Some local business owners said they were unhappy about the new law because they believe it will hurt their businesses.

For other businesses, the tax may not have as much of an effect.

Act 107 was passed as part of the Legislature’s Extraordinary Session earlier in the year that focused on finding a solution to the state’s educational problems. One of the challenges the group of lawmakers faced was finding a way to pump desperately needed funding into the state’s education budget. Requiring more types of business to charge their customers sales tax was one of the ways they came up with. Another way was the increase in overall state sales tax to six percent, which went into effect March 1.

The additional business sales tax is expected to generate about $21.5 million for this fiscal year and more than $23 million next year.

In addition to the state sales tax, local taxes will be applied to the aforementioned types of businesses.

www.sherwoodvoice.com

Board may expand adult classification

CAROLINA SHORES, N.C. - Tattoo parlors, fortune tellers and body-piercing studios could face the same restrictions in Carolina Shores as strip clubs and adult bookstores.

The town's planning and zoning board is considering classifying the businesses as adult entertainment, which would place stringent regulations on where the businesses could operate. A public hearing on the proposed ordinance will be held July 12.

The town's efforts at restricting tattoo parlors come about a month after S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford lifted South Carolina's 40-year tattoo ban.

Some town commissioners are concerned that Brunswick County tattoo parlors will want to move closer to the state line to compete with parlors expected to open along the Grand Strand.

The closest tattoo parlor to Myrtle Beach is Fantasy Ink Tattooz & Body Piercing on U.S. 17, four miles north of the state line.

Commissioners are particularly interested in keeping tattoo parlors away from the town's only commercial area at the shopping center at U.S. 17 and Calabash Road because it is adjacent to several neighborhoods.

"I don't think you would want something like that operating there in front of the general public," said Commissioner John Manning.

Fantasy Ink Tattooz owner could not be reached for comment.

If included as an adult business, tattoo parlors wouldn't be allowed to operate with 1,500 feet of a residential district. All adult businesses also must have a conditional use permit approved by the planning board.

"It makes it much more difficult to get a conditional use permit for this kind of activity," said Carolina Shores Commissioner Gere Dale.

www.myrtlebeachonline.com

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers yesterday that it is investigating side-effects associated with a popular brand of ink used to perform tattooing of lips and eyes. The FDA said it has reports of more than 50 adverse reactions to certain shades of Premier Pigment brand ink.

They include blistering, swelling, cracking and peeling skin around lips and eyes that, in some cases, caused serious disfigurement and difficulty in eating and talking, federal regulators said.

The suspect inks are made by American Institute of Intradermal Cosmetics based in Arlington, Tex.

www.canoe.ca

Though they're months from inking their first tattoo, entrepreneurs looking to open tattoo parlors are scouting storefronts almost as fast as local governments are rushing to restrict them.

Last month, Gov. Mark Sanford signed a bill lifting the state's 40-year ban on tattooing. But tattoo parlors can't open until the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control issues tattoo regulations. That could take several months.

Local governments already are drawing up rules to say where parlors will be allowed.

Horry County, Conway, North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach have or will shortly adopt rules that prevent tattoo parlors from opening in most areas. Officials say they want to keep parlors away from neighborhoods, schools, churches and most other businesses.

"You don't think anyone wants to see them on [U.S.] 17," said North Myrtle Beach Zoning Administrator Paul Blust.

Myrtle Beach already relegated parlors to medical facilities and the semi-industrial area near Seaboard Street - the same area the city has set aside for strip clubs and body-piercing parlors.

"They should put up a sign, 'Piercing industry and tattoos this way,'" said Jackie Chattaj, a former registered nurse who operates two piercing parlors on Seaboard and hopes to open a tattoo parlor there soon.

Chattaj already has found a nearby storefront on Seaboard for her tattoo parlor. Tattoo designs hang on the freshly repainted wall. She's even hired a tattoo artist, Joe Maupin, who has 14 years' experience doing tattoos in other states.

"We're ready to go," Maupin said. "I could have this place ready in a day."

Early drafts of the state regulations would prohibit parlor owners from operating out of existing businesses. That means body-piercing parlors and other businesses looking to offer tattoos must open a separate office and apply for a second business license. The same rules also would prohibit parlors from selling anything.

But body-piercing parlor owners expect the tattoo business to thrive, no matter how tight the regulations.

Body piercing has proven to be a lucrative business, with several opening on Seaboard since DHEC approved regulations last year.

At Elite Body Piercing in Myrtle Beach, Diana Garon said her business is considering opening a parlor. She said many of her competitors are, as well.

"I know of eight shops ready to open," Garon said. "Everybody thinks they're going to be open next week."

If those parlors open, chances are they'll be on Seaboard or on one of its side roads - an area that once was mostly known for its warehouses and industrial contractors. With nary a church, school or residence in sight, officials say Seaboard is a good place for adult-natured businesses.

Several business owners on Seaboard said they were initially hesitant about their body-piercing neighbors. But many now say they've learned to live with Seaboard's changing nature. They say the tattoo parlors will fit right in.

"We've got three or four strip clubs and several body-piercing places," said Greg Alford, owner of Nova Lighting, a lighting contractor. "I don't think the tattoo parlors will cause much trouble."

Alford said the clubs and parlors do most of their business at night, when his store is closed. But he worries about burglaries.

Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride opposes the restrictions on tattoo parlors, as he did the rules for body piercing. He said it's unfair to parlor owners, who already must comply with state health rules. And it's unfair, he said, to Seaboard's existing businesses.

"If you want to get a tattoo, you should be able to get one," McBride said. "I say spread it out. Don't concentrate it in one area. There are enough restrictions already."

Officials in other parts of the Grand Strand are grappling with the same issue.

A proposal in Horry County would limit parlors to areas zoned for medical offices. The county's Planning Commission met Thursday to discuss the proposed rules.

Conway adopted similar restrictions in May.

North Myrtle Beach officials are considering a plan that would limit tattoo parlors to light-industrial areas.

"Tattoo parlors are like any of the other uses that people don't like," said Horry County Planning Commission Chairman Adam Parness. "Whether it's light industrial or a sexually related business, the purpose of zoning is to ensure quality of life for everybody. The law allows them to operate, so we've got to find them a place that's suitable."

www.myrtlebeachonline.com

Martin Emond's dream was to run a tattoo studio in Auckland.

Although he died before the wish became reality, a new tattoo studio dedicated to Emond opened this week.

The Illicit HQ tattoo concept store on Auckland's Karangahape Rd will offer tattoos of Illicit characters and designs.

The Illicit streetwear clothing label is home to designs by several New Zealand artists, including Emond, who took his own life in March, aged 34.



Illicit distributes to clothing shops worldwide, and since Emond's death, the label has received messages of sympathy from around the globe.

"People from all over the world have been writing in," says Illicit's Steve Hodge. "They never knew the guy, but he affected their lives in some way."

Emond lived in Los Angeles for the last eight months of his life. He was learning the art of tattoo - and this unrealised ambition became the driving force behind the new store.

"We always talked about doing a tattoo shop," says Hodge. "I told Martin I would set up a shop for him to work in when he returned to Auckland."

Evidence of strong demand for tattoos came directly from Illicit's customer base. "I've had so many kids sending in photos of their own tattoos of Illicit design," says Hodge. "Customers are extremely loyal and it's a real subculture that we've created."

The resident tattoo artist at Illicit HQ is Adam Craft, who has been tattooing for around 11 years. After working in London, Brighton and Sydney, and attending tattoo conventions around the world, Craft wanted to return home to New Zealand.

"People kept asking Illicit for tattoos, wanting Switchblade or one of Marty's other designs," says Craft. "At the same time I wanted to do a tattoo shop - so it's working out well.

"I met Marty years ago and lent him my tattoo machines once to tattoo a friend of ours. He wanted to learn but he was so busy painting for years. He had started a tattooing apprenticeship."

Craft specialises in classic Americana - eagles, hearts and "sailor stuff" - are his staple. He also enjoys traditional Japanese tattoo and other tribal designs, although he says tribal is becoming overdone. "It lost the roots of what it was supposed to be when it became trendy."

Although custom tattoos will be on offer, the more iconic Illicit characters that adorn shirts and hoodies are expected to be the drawcard.

"We've created a flash of our own including Martin Emond, Misery and Simon Morse - and the other tattooists will put their artwork up as well."

Craft says it will feel a little strange to replicate Emond's designs. "I replicate anything - that's my trade. I can tattoo anything from Mickey Mouse to the Mona Lisa. You have to have that detachment where you're just the machine."

One of Emond's friends was tattooed on opening night. Craft says this was to help to alleviate any "weird" feelings and instead celebrate his classic designs.

Emond's first tattoo was of Mr Horsepower, a cartoon woodpecker from an auto parts logo. Emond's favourite film at the time was Raising Arizona - the lone biker in the film had Mr Horsepower tattooed on his forearm. He also had tattoos of Calvin and Hobbes, Popeye and Donald Duck.

Though tattooing will take centre stage, Illicit's clothing range will also be sold.

Craft says the shop is about custom artists. "There'll be painting, prints, graffiti art and commercial-style art as well."

www.nzherald.co.nz

A line of ink stands between Midn. 3/C David Caballero and his Navy career. Caballero, of 3rd Company, had been told that his tattoo must be removed by his third class year if he wanted to remain at the academy.

"Part of being in the military is maintaining a professional military appearance," said Caballero, who served as an enlisted information systems technician for three years.

"Unfortunately, my tattoo, my last name scrawled across my right forearm, shows in uniform and detracts from my professional appearance."



Caballero got his tattoo shortly after enlisting. Later, when he began planning a transition to the officer ranks, the ink on his arm became an obstacle.

Caballero began to look at his options. First, he put in a request to have his tattoo removed at the National Naval Medical Center.

While he waited for a response, Caballero began paying about $125 a session for his removal sessions at a private practice clinic whenever he could afford them.

Eight hundred dollars and six painful treatments later, his request to be seen at a military treatment facility was approved.

Caballero was introduced to Lt. Jonathan Bingham, a first-year resident at Naval Hospital Bethesda and Walter Reed Army Medical Center's dermatology clinics.

Bingham, a USNA graduate himself, empathizes with Caballero's situation and those of his other patients.

"Many of my patients are brave like Caballero," said Bingham. "It's amazing the amount of pain patients will endure to achieve a goal."

Caballero said the procedure really is painful. "It was worse having the tattoo removed then having it put on," he said.

Some tattoos are more difficult to remove than others.

Bingham classifies them in three groups: amateur, professional single-colored and professional multi-colored.

"Amateur, usually done with an ink pen and a motor contraption, are the easiest to treat, in only three-to-six treatment sessions," he explained. "Professional single-colored, for example, a tribal band is slightly more difficult. I'd say, six-to-eight treatment sessions."

Of the three groups, the most difficult to remove are the professional multi-colored tattoos. Certain pigments, yellows, greens, and browns tend to cling to the skin. Depending on the size, this kind of tattoo may be removed in eight-to-12 treatment sessions.

Most sessions are about 15 minutes long and patients must allow four to six weeks time to heal before going in for another visit to avoid risk of infection. Bingham says that for the most part patients are pleased with the end results.

"I tell patients up front about the possible side effects -- pain, and the possibility that the tattoo may not be able to be completely removed," he said.

Caballero's case looks hopeful. The past six sessions have helped diminish his tattoo.

He said despite the sometimes painful experience, he still likes tattoos, but will think twice before getting "inked" again. "I'll do whatever it takes to accomplish my goals."

He needs about six more laser treatment sessions until he's home free, Bingham said after first meeting Caballero.

"Caballero has come a long way, and he still has some ways to go," said Bingham. "From a medical and parental standpoint, I wish folks would think long and hard before they put permanent designs on their bodies. They might consider how it could affect their careers and relationships. Everyone is not as lucky as Mr. Caballero."

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