Robin Jones is going to be strict. Jones, the owner of Columbus” two Sun Struck tanning salons, said she”d posted signs in every room three or four months ago about the new teen tanning law — as soon as she got word of news the Legislature had begun working on one.
The law, House Bill 214, says anyone 17 or younger must obtain written permission from a parent or guardian before tanning indoors, and anyone 13 or younger must also have a parent or guardian present the whole time he or she tans. The written permission is valid for one year and can be revoked at any time, the law says.
Sun Struck”s two locations and a few other tanning salons around the Golden Triangle are reportedly aware of the law, which takes effect today, and have made arrangements to comply with it.
Jones believes the law could prevent children from tanning too much, or going tan salon-hopping, and coming home burnt. Which, to her, is “great,” because the state is now encouraging safe tanning.
And so she has been enforcing the law unwaveringly. She does not plan to make any exceptions.
She said she has turned away two children, that she could remember, who did not produce written permission from a parent or guardian. But the business did not vanish.
“Any of them I”ve had to turn away, I”ve found the next day the parents come in to sign for them,” she said on Monday, standing by one of the 30 tanning beds at the location on Highway 45 North in Columbus.
Although it may drive away a small number of potential customers, Jones suspects the law will impact her business less than the ongoing economic recession.
Standing behind the counter at Rain or Shine Tanning Salon on University Drive in Starkville, employee Mary Fulton said a new customer younger than 18 cannot slip into one of the salon”s tanning beds until he or she gets a parent or guardian to sign a consent form.
Fulton, 23, said she has been tanning since she was 10 or 11. Her parents tanned, and they invited her to experience it too. “If they were going after work, they would take me with them,” she said.
“I don”t see a problem with tanning, personally, but I”ve been doing it all my life,” she added.
Rachel Henry, a 20-year-old sophomore at Mississippi State University, began tanning every day at the gym her parents owned in New Orleans when she was about 12. (Now she tans once a week.)
Her parents were lenient. “That was, like, the least of their concerns, … tanning,” she said on Tuesday, while sitting in the Rain or Shine waiting room until a bed at the salon became available.
But here, she said, “I think more people would be concerned, more strict. I guess (the law) will decrease people”s tanning. They won”t be able to just sneak off and go. … I”m glad I”m not young anymore.”
At the Sun Struck on Highway 45, Leasha Jones of Caledonia, who has a 13-year-old and a 17-year-old, praised the passing of the law. “That”s the way it should be — control it a little bit,” she said.
If there is no teenage tanning oversight, she continued, kids will be “overdoing it, and, just, kids are gonna do that. They”re gonna push their limits.”
The law could lead children to spray on their own tan, Henry reckoned.
“They”ll find out how to get tanned, whether in the sun or in the tanning bed or whatever,” she said.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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