Setting standards good for tattoo parlors HEAD>
Ten years ago in Columbia County, after a rash of prostitution-related arrests centered around seedy massage parlors, county officials knew they had to take action.
Calling together legitimate massage therapists, they worked together to create regulations for operating such businesses.
The result included licensing and inspections for those businesses – minimum requirements that legitimate operations had no problems meeting, but which made it tougher for the phony parlors to continue.
A few random arrests occasionally occur from businesses on the edge, but on the whole the massage industry in the county has been cleaned up.
Next stop: Tattoo parlors.
There haven’t been any complaints about the small handful of tattoo businesses in Columbia County. But right next door, Augusta officials have been making plans for setting regulations for tattoo parlors. Without similar regulations here, Columbia County could be in danger of becoming the dumping ground for unlicensed artists chased across the county line.

See the full article from “Columbia County News Times”