DUNCAN — By Rod Jones

He almost made it. With a little more than a month to go before the practice is legal by state law, the owner of Poor Boy Way tattoo parlor in Duncan was served with a notice from the police to cease operations.

John Shell was feeling confident Tuesday that he could remain in business without any legal difficulties when lo and behold, a captain from the Duncan Police Department notified him that he had 24 hours to close his parlor.

“It would be like kicking a dead dog,” Shell said moments before the notice was served. “By the time any kind of trial rolls around, it will be legal. No jury would convict a shop then.”

Even after the notice was served, Shell said he planned to continue his operations.

The state Legislature passed a law that goes into effect Nov. 1 making licensed tattoo parlors legal.

But for a year and a half, Poor Boy Way has been supplying the service with not so much as a single complaint. Shell says part of that fact is a testament to his customer satisfaction.

He blames an earlier media report for exposing the controversy that is now punctuated by the notice to cease operations.

And indeed, City Manager Clyde Shaw mentioned the same source of controversy.

Shaw was concerned that residents wouldn’t understand why the tattoo parlor could be in business for so long without being fined or shut down, but said that certain criteria would have to be met before such an action could take place.

“There’s no city ordinance against tattooing now. There’s also no city ordinance against murder,” Shaw said. “It falls under state law. People need to understand that the only way to bring charges is if a police officer actually sees it happening or a complaint is filed.”

And even if a citation is issued, Police Chief Jeff Johnson said he has heard that some municipalities have seen them thrown out of court. He said the city wants to make sure that if a citation is issued, it is handled in a proper manner.

In light of Tuesday’s notice, Shell’s concern is that he would like to keep his record clean.

“I’ve never spent a night in jail. I’ve never even been arrested,” he said.

But still, Shell said the show would go on, saying that he would simply pay a fine and try to hold out until the parlor is legal.

His shop employs a couple of body-piercing specialists and a few tattoo artists, one of which is so well versed in the progress of legalizing tattooing that he has the law memorized.

Billy Jack Charnik, who has been a tattoo artist for about 17 years, said he has been pushing for the legal change for almost as many years. Some of his motivation to see a new law put in place is for health safety reasons, a topic he says state legislators finally realized long after tattooing was banned in the early 1960s.

“The reason we needed this is because it is a health issue,” Charnik said. “If the state can regulate the health standards, you’ll see a lot fewer problems.”

Charnik, who admits to being arrested in Oklahoma City three times for tattooing, said there will likely be many hack artists coming out from the underground once the law takes effect, but says the state will be able to address the issue easier once the problem artists are exposed.

He was also part of the fight to get the service legalized in Massachusetts and South Carolina, the last of the U.S. states besides Oklahoma where it was not legal.

Shell and Charnik said they were surprised to find it illegal when they each moved here from different states — Shell from the West Coast and Charnik from the east.

“I thought, ‘holy cow.’ That puts us in there with Iran,” Shell said. “Iran and Oklahoma are now the only two places in the world where it isn’t legal.”

Not to knock the state too much, though, Shell said other than the tattoo thing, he does like the pace of living in Oklahoma over his home state of California.

“The pace is a lot slower. Here I can get out of my car and smell a flower if I want to, and no one would even notice. In California they would look at you funny,” he said.

Shell also sees the issue as a serious health risk to the public at the hands of unregulated tattoo artists. He said his business goes beyond the preliminary requirements set by the state in sanitation and health precautions.

“We’re doing this for the good of the people,” he said minutes after the notice was served. “I know of at least eight people that do this in their house here in Duncan, but we keep it safe and clean.”

In fact, Shell said some aspects of his parlor are even more sanitary than hospitals.

The artists explain to each customer the sanitation process where tools are heat- and pressure-treated at 272 degrees at 15 pounds of pressure, killing any possibility of contaminants.

The artists use a new needle on each customer, and the machine barrels are stamped and dated, steps not even required by the upcoming state rules.

Shell has been preparing for the new law in other ways. He moved his business from downtown to far north Duncan so that he will be at least 1,000 feet from a school, church or playground.

And he’s ready for the competition. With an established name already ahead of the curve, Shell isn’t worried about the two shops opening in Lawton or the 20-plus shops already going in Oklahoma City.

“I’m curious to see what the health standards will be once it’s done. It might not be until February when Congress is finished with it,” he said. “But I think we have everything we’ll need and probably more. And we already have our name out there.”