Tattoo Parlor Victim Of Old Stereotypes

It's a debate that springs up from time to time in small towns everywhere.
A business wants to move in, but some of the residents don't like it. Two factions form: those who back the owner's right to do business and those who support citizens' right to preserve the character of their town.
Usually, the debate is over an adult bookstore or strip club. This time, it was a tattoo parlor.
After doing business in Laconia for 30 years, LA East Tattoos and Body Piercing recently made plans to move to the Milford Oval. But the owner of a local gift shop and other angry residents protested at a selectmen's meeting last week.
In the end, town officials gave the tattoo parlor the go-ahead, saying they could not discriminate against a business that is legal and has met all code and health requirements.
While we understand some residents might have preferred some other type of business, they should be thankful in today's economy that LA East Tattoos wants to do business in town.
Fewer people are launching new businesses, now that consumers are spending less and it's more difficult to get start-up loans. The fact that owner Wilfred Lamontagne chose Milford could be taken as a compliment in these trying economic times. Or a glimmer of hope.
But more importantly, selectmen were right in refusing to assume a tattoo parlor is going to bring trouble to town.
Fear over 'adult' businesses is more understandable, although those establishments, too, have certain legal rights. No one wants their children exposed to nudity and pornography. But we don't cover our kids' eyes when someone with an arm full of tattoos walks by.
Clearly, there's still some sort of generational gap in how tattoos are viewed. Until a decade or two ago, a lot of people thought they were for bikers or gang members only.
But tattoos have definitely spilled over into the mainstream. If you don't believe it, visit any college campus.
And even if tattoos will never be your particular style, making assumptions about the type of people who get them really isn't fair.
In Nashua, there are at least three tattoo shops. And there hasn't been much, if anything, by way of complaints reported to The Telegraph by police or nearby residents. In fact, a search of the paper's archives doesn't produce any stories about tattoo parlors causing trouble.
Sometimes tattoo shops do really good deeds, too. Last December, Mayhem Ink on Broad Street hosted a fundraiser for a nonprofit called Karen's Climb. Twenty percent of the cost of all rose tattoos was donated to the charity, which raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
While in business in Laconia, LA East Tattoos had no violations with the city and no complaints to the New Hampshire Department of Health and ornament tattoo Human Services, Milford's commercial building code enforcement officer said.
So there's no reason to believe anything would be different in Milford.
If problems were to arise rowdy crowds, health violations, etc. the town has procedures to deal with them. Until then, let's welcome LA East Tattoos into town.



BACKGROUND: A businessman's attempt to open a tattoo parlor on the Milford Oval created quite a stir among some people in town.
CONCLUSION: Given the state of today's economyresidents should be pleased that someone actually wants to open a businesspay taxes in their town.


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