Blog.TattooFocus.net

When first we learned about the brewing tattoo parlor brouhaha over in tiny Atlantic Beach, we figured there must be a reasonable explanation for the mess.

Surely a town manager wouldn’t maliciously lie about an official government action (in this case, a town playground’s condemnation) – and surely he wouldn’t lie in blatant black and white in a letter to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) certifying the action.

And surely DHEC would – if it had figured out that it was conned – see its way to pursue charges of perjury or obstruction of justice.

But we were wrong on all counts …

It turns out that there really was no reasonable explanation for Atlantic Beach town manager Ken McIver to have written a letter of condemnation for a playground that was – is! – jumping with people and remains open and accessible to the public.

And apparently DHEC is the kind of agency that doesn’t mind if you lie to it, even when it relies on that lie to grant licenses – as was the case in this scenario.

In the first article we wrote about this issue, we said: “Political corruption is hardly newsworthy. But rarely is the corruption so blatant, the lies so salient, or the sleaze so manifest.”

When we wrote that, we had no idea how profoundly true it was.

Our investigation has revealed a lot about corruption and outright deception and – and this is perhaps the crucial point – the business-slaying effect of these things, as well as the people who get hurt along the way.

So, here’s the scoop on that angle …

“5 Jesters” Custom Tattoo is a subsidiary of 5 Brands, Inc.

The company is owned by Stan Hudgins, who, in an exclusive interview, told FITS that he is caught in the crosshairs of a battle between the town of Atlantic Beach and Excitement Video.

Long story short: Excitement Video, in a lawsuit settlement against the town, won the right to grant a business license for a tattoo parlor.

So who is “5 Jesters,” and where does it in the picture?

Glad you asked …

5 Jesters Custom Tattoo leases the space owned by Excitement Video, thereby becoming the “assignee” of Excitement’s right to a tattoo parlor license.

Simple, right? Not so fast …

It turns out that tattoo parlors are required to clear an additional hurdle – which is to say that, with regard to tattoo shops, yet another governmental agency requires yet another license.

And that’s where the drama began.

DHEC regulations bar the operation of tattoo parlors within 1,000 feet of a public playground – and 5 Jesters’ store space happened to fall within 1,000 feet of a park.

Which meant trouble in tattoo paradise …

Meanwhile, there was still plenty of lingering ire among the Atlantic Beach town council about the terms of the city’s settlement with Excitement Video.

Particularly ticked off about the whole thing was Mayor Retha Pierce. (May we suggest a google search to fill you in on her storied tenure.)

Sources close to the town’s leadership tell FITS that neither the council nor Mayor Pierce wanted to abide by the settlement agreement.

In fact, 5 Jesters’ owner Stan Hudgins said that Council member Donnell Thompson told him that the town planned “to bring Excitement Video to its knees.”

Of course, despite the town’s aversion to legality, lawsuit settlements tend to be legally binding.

So Atlantic Beach, in a desperate ploy to avoid a contempt of court conviction for failing to uphold the terms of the lawsuit settlement, found a way to honor its agreement with Excitement Video.

The town’s ingenious plan?

Lie, lie, lie.

That’s how Mr. McIver’s letter of condemnation came about.

McIver alleges that he wrote the letter on the advice of town attorney Steve Benjamin, who didn’t respond to our request for comment and clarification.

We hear he’s in Europe for the week, which would explain his lack of response.

Except that Benjamin also allegedly failed to respond to an April 1 FOIA request made by Atlantic Beach resident Paul Curry.

Clearly there’s a pattern of impropriety among Atlantic Beach’s leadership.

Town manager McIver, for his part, has “no comment” on the issue.

When we called him, he said, morosely, “I read what you wrote. I have no additional comment.”

McIver, perhaps more than anyone else, could clear this up.

He could offer clarification, self-defense, or at the very least tell us that we’re wrong for calling him a liar in our previous piece. If there is somehow an explanation for his actions, he’s well-positioned to provide that explanation. We gave him the opportunity to clarify, illuminate, and even exonerate … and he has “no comment.”

Which could be the most telling comment of all.

Stan Hudgins, meanwhile, says he spent $86,000 in miscellaneous business expenses in reliance on McIver’s letter of condemnation. Now Mr. Hudgins is in jeopardy of losing his Atlantic Beach tattoo location, pending his upcoming appeal to the South Carolina Administrative Court.

Even if he wins that action, he’ll still be out all the money he’s paying his attorney, former judge John Breeden.

Still, Hudgins remains optimistic.

“I will never stop,” Hudgins told FITS. “I will never give up. If you give me a letter of condemnation, you’re going to have to live up to it.”

Seems fair to us. McIver certified that the playground was condemned … so shouldn’t he actually condemn it?

FITS spoke with DHEC spokesman Thom Berry, who said that all the trouble could have been avoided if McIver had simply condemned what he said he had condemned.

That would have been the ethical, good-faith, legal course of action.

Instead, it appears that the letter of condemnation was a last-minute, last-ditch effort to “bring Excitement Video to its knees” … just as Councilman Thompson had promised.

McIver’s letter of condemnation was a gratuitous act made to appease Excitement Video (via 5 Jesters) for the time being, until the town found another way to bypass its settlement agreement.

We’ll have more on this situation and myriad peripheral issues surrounding Atlantic Beach – including a tale of a prominent judge who refuses to compel the town to file answer a legal complaint.

Stay tuned . . .

Credits: www.fitsnews.com