I thought your editorial on Sunday about tattoo studios in Currituck was good and to the point. But I do have to comment on at least one issue.

I'm an equal partner with Steven Canady at Dreamcatchers Soundside in Harbinger. You stated we should not have opened our business without a county permit because it flouts local laws.

I can say straight out that flouting the law was not our intention. We opened without a permit out of necessity.

I worked for the Weyerhauser paper company almost 30 years before I was laid off. I have been attending school for more than a year to get some training for a job so that I can support myself and my two children and help them through college. Due to my financial situation, I'm currently not able to help them at all. The point is, we had to open our tattoo business because we needed the money.

Our neighbors at the business are a Harley shop, a lawn care business, the state welcome center, a post office, and one business across the road that resembles a residence but which is actually an art studio. So, basically it's not true, as Board of Adjustment member Bryan Bass claims, that we're out of harmony with the area in which we're operating. And besides, we are in our legal zoning area.

Under Currituck's ordinances, an "adult" business is defined as "any business activity, club or other establishment which permits its employees, members, patrons or guests on its premises to exhibit any specified anatomical areas before any other person or persons."

I would ask any of your readers to think about their business. Does this definition fit your business? Taken literally, I think there are a lot of businesses in Currituck that are in defiance of this ordinance. But for some reason, we are the only ones getting hounded on it.

We are a service industry, nothing else. This is government gone haywire.

DANNY STALLINGS

Elizabeth City