Orange County NC Website
03,91.90 <br /> Stewart Walker, Chairperson of the North Carolina Association of Body <br /> Works and cofounder of the Community Wholistic Health Center, commended the <br /> County for their attempt to work out the problem. He feels the legislation <br /> should be changed at the State level. The primary goal is to separate the <br /> therapeutic massage from other massage being used in prostitution. He <br /> expressed appreciation for the compromises and thanked the Board for working <br /> with the massage community. <br /> Russell Ault spoke in opposition of the fingerprints and mug shots and <br /> asked that they be deleted from the Ordinance. <br /> Ellen Mitchell, Secretary to the Board of the North Caroline. Association <br /> of Body Works and a practitioner in Orange County, thanked everyone for <br /> working on the compromised Ordinance. While she does not agree with <br /> everything in the Ordinance, she feels the changes that have been made are <br /> changes she can live with. She feels the Ordinance is a very important first <br /> step in the right direction and hopes it can be rewritten within a year in a <br /> more positive vein. <br /> Robin Zill, business women, spoke in support of the ordinance but <br /> questioned how the requirement of fingerprinting and mug shots would reduce <br /> prostitution. <br /> Sheriff Pendergrass indicated that fingerprints and mug :shots clearly <br /> identify a person. They will be used to run a background check, If necessary, <br /> on the person. <br /> Marshall Hock, part-time practitioner of massage therapy and counseling <br /> in Carrboro, spoke in support of the County efforts in making a distinction <br /> between sexual services which calls itself massage and legiti.mste massage. <br /> She questioned why the County does not make that distinction comgAetely. Why <br /> have the criminal type procedures for those who are practicing massage therapy <br /> when it is understood they are practicing a profession rather than selling <br /> sexual services. She asked the Board to be complete about the distinction <br /> being made. <br /> Allen Stutts, Vice-President of the North Carolina Chapter of the <br /> American Massage Therapy Association and an employee of the Body and Soul <br /> Clinic in Chapel Hill, thanked the County for the compromised document. He <br /> found the Ordinance as a whole acceptable. He hopes that the Ordinance is <br /> changed in the future as the situation changes. <br /> Misarch Bayles, movement educator and a licensed member of -the American <br /> Messsage and Therapy Association, expressed opposition to the fingerprints and <br /> mug shots. She asked Sheriff Pendergrass who would file the complaint and if <br /> the Sherriff could require fingerprints and mug shots only from those <br /> employees who work in places from which the Sheriff had received complaints. <br /> Sheriff Pendergrass indicated that complaints could come from many <br /> sources, i.e., an officer, or a dissatisfied customer. A numoer of things <br /> could precipitate a complaint. <br /> Geoffrey Gledhill indicated the problem with setting requirements for a <br /> select group is that all people must be treated in the same way until a <br /> criminal activity has occurred. <br /> He noted that fingerprints give the Sheriff access to the FBI finger- <br /> printing system. Part of the Ordinance requires that the person not operate <br /> or be part of an illegal activity in the past. The only way the Sheriff can <br /> run a check is through fingerprinting. <br /> Commissioner Walker noted that the Ordinance states that no one can be <br /> licensed who has a previous record and expressed concern for the person who <br /> may have a record and who wants to become legitimate. <br />