As I watched the “tanning mom” story unfold I wondered how long it would take until her tanning salon fell under unfair scrutiny. The answer? Not very long. In typical kneejerk fashion, the powers that be in New Jersey are going after City Tropics Tanning Salon in Nutley with a fervor generally reserved for rapists and murderers. Why? It’s simple really. The tan mom, Patricia Krentcil, 44, of Nutley, allegedly took her young daughter into one of the tanning booths at City Tropics — a “heinous act” (to hear some tell it) — that was supposedly evidenced by a sunburn to one of the girl’s legs.
Whether or not this is true will shake out in court (Krentcil was indicted this week on child endangerment charges). Since a child was involved, every posturing and pandering politician will now jump on board to “protect our children” (i.e. get attention).
They’ve hit the salon with over $5000 in fines (most of which are nitpicky in nature) since the alleged incident occurred. How many fines were levied against the salon prior to Krentcil’s alleged infraction? None, according to City Tropic’s owner Anthony Ruccatano.
Sounds to me like someone besides the child is getting burned here. What do you think?
Jeff Bahr
jeffbahr@theobserver.com
