By:Elizabeth Sagarin
Instead of voiceless remakes of top-ten hits, Type O Negative's Goth rock album "Bloody Kisses" was the background music in Slingin' Ink's waiting room Friday night. Its music and its dress code are only a couple of things that separate this Island Park tattoo studio from any other kind of office that administers minor surgery, says owner Zeke Schaeffer.
What isn't different, though, is Schaeffer's approach to the procedures he performs. Untrue to the scofflaw, rebellious attitude stereotypically placed on tattoo culture, Schaeffer and younger brother Shoe, who manages Slingin' Ink, applaud a measure recently passed in Nassau County that aims to make sterility in tattooing and piercing more like what's practiced in healthcare facilities and prevents minors from getting pierced without parental permission. "I'm pro it," said an enthusiastic Schaeffer, who has worked as a tattoo artist for 14 years.
Proposed by Legis. Vincent Muscarella (R-West Hempstead), the new law requires tattoo parlors in Nassau County to be licensed with the Department of Health and youths under 18 to have notarized parental consent before having their body pierced. New York State law prohibits minors from getting tattoos.
Unanimously, the County Legislature adopted the local legislation, and on July 3, County Executive Thomas Gulotta signed it into law. By Jan. 1, the Department of Health is supposed to have developed regulations for licensing and enforcement, and the law will go into effect at that time.
A business then found in violation could face a fine of up to $750 for a first violation, $1,500 for a second and $3,000 for a third. If knowingly and willfully in violation, the business will face maximum penalty.
"This is a common-sense law that addresses the concerns of parents who may be worried about their underage child getting a tattoo or body piercing from an unlicensed tattoo parlor, where infectious diseases can be transmitted through unclean devices," Legis. Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside) said.
"It protects us, too," Shoe Schaeffer said during a telephone interview prior to the Herald visiting Slingin' Ink. "You don't want some 16-year-old's parents flipping out on the store for piercing their kid ... It's not worth it to us."
Zeke Schaeffer also likes the parental-consent part of the law.
"I'd rather not see some 16-year-old get something and then regret it later," he said. "That's why you have to be 18 to vote," Shoe said. "Your head is on straighter."
Which is why the Schaeffers already have an in-house policy at both of their shops
