Comments about ‘Owner of American Fork shop calls raid illegal’

That is certainly sounding like it did not have all the legalities covered. Good for you stick up for your rights.

To have a tattoo requires the individual to be 18 or older...or with parental consent. A question arises as to the age of this child who found these pictures so inapproriate, what was this child doing in the tattoo palor, and where were her parents?
Life in Happy Valley...were the prudes and malcontents roam freely.

One ear peircing and no tatoos. Advocate anything else and face the ire

It is common for people under 18 to go in these places because they are the only places you cn get your navel or nose peirced. Sorry if my spelling is off.

It appears that Judge that signed the search warrant thought that the circumstances where illegal enough to sign a warrant. By the shop's own statement the books where in the open. Just what we need is a group of juveniles seeing adult piercings. If an adult wants to participate in this that is their business. But it should be kept out of sight from minors.

It would appear from the article that the Judge who signed the search warrant thought that there was enough information that the incident was illegal. It is also not an illegal search if there was a warrant. By the shop's own statements the "adult Piercings" book was out in the open. Just what we need is minors seeing this material. If an adult wants to engage in this that it their business, but kids should not be exposed to it.

I can't believe there was a tattoo parlor in Happy Valley in the first place! Honestly, I didn't think the place was that hip. Guess them BYU basketball players need to get their ink somewhere.

To those who defend... Did you read he stated that the "album" was stored on the front counter. It is now stored under the front counter. Sounds like he did know that the placement of the "album" was against the law. He should not be given sympathy on this one. Children going to the shop with (or on a dare without a parent) should not be viewing that type of "artwork". Perhaps the "album" was left open when the children entered the shop. Think before you defend.

CHILL OUT FOLKS. First of all, the pictures were IN AN ALBUM not hanging on the wall. This "child" had to go out of their way to open up the album and then go crying to daddy about the "bad" pictures. WAH!! Second, what was this "child" doing in a tattoo parlor with out parental supervision? The father can complain about the "child" seeing inapporpriate pictures but cant be bothered with keeping tabs on his kid? If you don't want your child seeing bad stuff then keep track of where they are going.

Third, it sounds like the pictures were of the tattoo/piercing work that they can do there. it wasn't there to tittilate or be suggestive, or anything like that. This isn't a "forbidden" book as others suggested, it was just an ADULT book, as was clearly marked. Didn't the "child" see that it was clearly marked for Adults? couldnt they read, couldnt they see that they shouldn't be looking there? Quit jumping to conclusions before all the facts are in. Just because a warrant was issued does not mean that it was JUSTIFIED!!!

Again the question is asked...Where were these godfearing parents to allow their child in such a horrendous place? Are their parenting abilities so poor that they cannot keep track of their youngster, but yet proclaim the virtues of innocence when their child TRESPASSES into the this parlor? Does their child also sneak around consuming illegal alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, as well? Rather odd to place blame on a proprietor when they can't control their own child.

The tat parlor is open to the public. Teenagers go places where their parents don't want them to go. Duh. That's why we have laws to protect minors from this stuff.

What did those teenage girls think they were going to see in an album labeled "adult body piercings"? I think it was unneccessary for the A.F. Police to confinscate the artists' photos. Why didn't the parent just call the shop and suggest for the owners to put the book behind the counter?

I think it is extreamly stupid to confinscate the shops stuff. If anyone should be in trouble it should be the kid for getting into a folder marked "adult body peircing". I mean heck if the kids old enuff to be out without adult supervision then she should had been taught to keep her nose out of stuff that she dosen't belong in, in the first place.

Dr. Lowry: genital piercings for Jesus. Interesting concept.

It is too bad it has become such a police state in which you punish a shop owner because unsupervised minors show up in a shop picking up a book with is labeled 'adult piercings' and then parents blame a shop owner for the conduct of said minor.

The minor/s should be fined for trespassing being minors are not allowed in a tattoo shop without the parent or guardian.

The laws are put in place to prevent this kind of problem. Shop owners are held responsible to obey the law. That does not mean parents do not have responsibilities, but this father did do the right thing by reporting the problem. Are you all really willing to pretend that parents can control EVERY move a teenager makes? The album should be kept in an "Adult Only" room. The shop is located on a main street, where many people pass by daily. We try to protect all children from adult themes in movies and magazines. Why should this business owner be held to a lesser degree of responsibility than a movie theater?

Just another reason for Utah county to keep the label: "Land of the Prude." Did you know that Happy Valley Tattoo isn't the only tattoo parlor in Utah county? They ALL do adult piercings. They all tattoo in the same adult areas as well. I agree with every word AmyX wrote. Kudos to you Amy!

I know this goes quite far and has zero legal merit, but wouldn't it be great if we could fine parents for their own stupidity? Seriously now.

I have been in this tattoo shop and looked at their art & photographs and have seen nothing a minor could not have found and bought in a book store.

Their portfolios are not even racy. They are photos of the work they do. Nothing pornographic about them.

These people are very good people who do their best to monitor their business. They are family type of people.

Their employees are not like what you would find in the other shops in their area. The place is clean, open and friendly. They really they care about their clients.

Even with the photo albums out in the waiting room, they are monitored. One of the artists came and stood by me and talk to me while I looked at them.

I would suspect they put them behind the counter to prevent people from stealing parts of them. They told me that happens all of the time.

There must be more to this story. I'm going to check out their website and see what they have to say about this.

I totally respect our police forces but this is out of line. If they had an issue with these books they should have handled it in a different manner. Possibly they could have went into the shop and talked to them about the complaint. I do know that my husband and I have both gotten tattoos from this shop and I know that the sign hanging on the door says that if you are a minor you must be accompied by an adult. If this girl could read and could follow the rules she should know that she shouldn't be in there anyways. If you see a stop sign you stop right??? Obviously she couldn't follow the rules....It's just to bad that us Utah County people have been put in this bubble and we really think that it's ok to critcize these people for what is called art. Before I got my tattoo I wanted to see work just like I would if I was going to get a piercing. Thats why artists have portolios to show there work and increase there clientelle. These people are just trying to make money just like you and me.

What if the same kid went into the library, opened a copy of National Geographic, and saw a nude African lady working in a field somewhere in Ghana?

Is that, too, considered pornography? Of course not. There's nothing sexual about it, it's merely a photo of someone working in a field, that's all. When I was in school, we had National Geographic in every classroom, and of course us boys would look at naked African women and laugh, but was it porn? Did our little minds get warped, did we go home and molest the family dog because of it? No. We just learned what a boob looked like, that's all. No harm done.

These kids shouldn't have been in the shop to begin with. In fact, from what I've heard, as soon as an employee noticed there were minor children in the shop, she asked them to leave. Without keeping the front door of a public business locked, how is a business owner supposed to make certain that minors don't walk in? It happens in bars all the time- minors walk in, usually get carded, and get tossed back out again.