News: Shop Owner Busted on Drug Charges, but the Bigger Picture is Worse
Rodney Pendleton, owner of Area 54 Tattoos in Peachtree City, Georgia, has been arrested for cultivating and distributing marijuana. Several plants were found in his home. As far as I know, he's still in jail.
What pisses me off the most about this story is the back information. Area 54 just opened earlier this year and it was the first tattoo studio to open in Peachtree City. (source) It was a struggle to begin with, and the city tried to shut Pendleton down. Rodney Pendleton rounded up the support of residents and sympathetic legislators, and eventually opened up Area 54. He could have taught people that we're better than they expect us to be. He could have proved that we don't mean these cities or their residents any harm. In a year or two, he could have softened the hearts of the local lawmakers and opened a doorway for more tattoo studios in the area. But instead, he has proven them right - that they should never have allowed him to open and that such a business has no place in their fine city. Regardless of how they may have felt before, the city will more than likely be even more vehemently opposed to the presence of a tattoo studio anywhere near their borders thanks to the idiocy of one person.
People like Pendleton are in the minority. Most artists and shop owners take this business very seriously and do not purposely do things to jeopardize the reputation of the industry or its supporters. But the actions of a few people can really hurt the way the rest of the world perceives all of us, making it twice as hard for the rest of us to be accepted.
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Comments
Yep, the actions of a few affect the majority of us. Hate to be the next tattooer wanting to open shop anywhere near this yahoo.
Sigh, when you bang your drum loudly you must realize you are now living in a glass house. Nothing that the powers that be want more than to expose you, put you down, prove they were ‘right’.
As I say in my Customer Service seminar….”be the person people want to do business with”.
We deal with all levels of society today and we must understand the responsibility that goes with it. Not only for our own personal business future but for the industry as a whole.
Why isn’t anyone telling that ALL of the charges agains’t Rodney’s wife Erica were dropped & that when Rodney was bailed out of jail, that his bail papers show only a charge of pscession? And if the charges agains’t him were that bad, why did they allow him to post bond anyway? It’s great to stand on the outside looking in & not being able to see anything…