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After public notification of an ordinance passed by the Warsaw City Council July 18, new restrictions to the city's massage parlors will soon be enforced.
Permits are now necessary for all massage establishments within city limits. These businesses will be responsible for a $150 annual fee, along with a $25 fee for any individual employed. Massage parlor hours cannot be conducted between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and no establishment is allowed to be run from or be connected to any type of living quarters.
"I don't agree at all with this ordinance," Janette Fairchild, owner of Dating Dynamics and Exotic Massage Inc., said. "No one pays $150 for an establishment. I believe they are targeting me and I find this very harassing."
Fairchild, with businesses inside Warsaw's city limits for nine years, said that she should be exempt from the ordinance under a grandfather clause, which would allow all pre-existing establishments to be unaffected by the new law. The ordinance includes no grandfather clause, and all massage establishments in Warsaw will be responsible for the new restrictions.
"This just isn't right. If this continues, I will go as far as George Bush's bodyguard - the Supreme Court if I have to," Fairchild said.
Fairchild threatened to release names of her previous patrons if she is forced to close her company. Many of these names, she said, are high-ranking members of the community.
"It's not the town that has a problem with my business, it's the Warsaw council. If the town had anything wrong with me, they wouldn't keep me in business," Fairchild said.
Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins said that the ordinance only affects illegitimate establishments that shouldn't be conducting business due to health standards because they are in residential zones.
"We're not targeting anything or anyone with this ordinance," Wiggins said. "If establishments meet the requirements, then they'll be fine. What we're concerned with are places that run out of homes.
"Like any other business, there are restrictions. We're focusing on legitimate massage education and licensing so that these businesses run properly within the laws," Wiggins said.
With the new restrictions, the Warsaw Police Department will be monitoring massage parlors and will expect owners and employees to properly conduct business under the new guidelines.
"As far as from our standpoint, we will be focusing on the permit, location and business hour specifications given in the ordinance," Warsaw Chief of Police Steve Foster said. "Anything else we hear will be considered hearsay or rumor unless we receive proper evidence."
