News

By Rick Steigmeyer, World staff writer
Friday - January 26, 2007

WENATCHEE — David Long wanted to help when he heard about another in the tattoo trade who was put out
of work after her equipment was stolen Christmas night.

Long is a tattoo artist at the Illusions tattoo and body piercing shop, 230 S. Wenatchee Ave.

It was actually the shop's co-owner, Mike Mills, who spotted a few paragraphs in the Jan. 1 Worm column of this newspaper about Natasha Craigen, whose Okanogan tattoo shop, Simply Sublime, had been robbed of all of her tattoo and body piercing equipment. Mills told Long about the incident and Craigen, who they both had met.

"I thought I'd try to give a helping hand. She always seemed nice and courteous and professional. I wanted to see her back up and running," said Long. "It was Mike who planted the seed."

Mills said he wouldn't always volunteer to help another tattoo shop stay in business. "The tattoo business is very competitive. But we knew she was expecting a child and was a single mother."

Long said he spent a couple of days refurbishing and putting together enough equipment so she could reopen her shop. He gathered two tattoo guns, a power supply, 100 new needles and other odds and ends and about a month's supply of ink in various colors.

He said the equipment is worth about $500 used and well over $1,000 new. Long said he is loaning the equipment to Craigen and isn't worried about compensation.

"It's basically all she needs to get back in operation until she can get back on her feet," he said.

Long didn't know how to reach Craigen so he called The Wenatchee World to see if reporters there could track down her phone number. They were able to put him in contact with Craigen's mother, June Skinner of Wenatchee.

"I think it's pretty amazing," said Skinner when she called the paper Thursday to report the good deed. "People don't just do that, give away $1,000 worth of equipment to get a competitor back in business."

Craigen drove from Okanogan to Wenatchee Thursday to pick up the supplies and was excited about the possibility of reopening the shop she's operated at 2328 Elm Way for 14 months.

She said business had been good until the robbery. She and her boyfriend have been trying to track down the stolen equipment, but have so far been unsuccessful.

"I've been out of work since then. It sucks. No money. Nothing to do," said Craigen, 24. "This is definitely awesome. I'll get back to work tomorrow."

Copyright © 2007 The Wenatchee World

By David Postman
Seattle Times chief political reporter

WENATCHEE — In the small storefront that houses Illusions on Wenatchee Avenue, you can get a tattoo, a piercing, some jewelry or one of the carefully named "smoking accessories" on display.

And as it turned out, you can also get an instant review of Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges, who, not far from the store, is presiding over the historic trial here on the November governor's election.

Illusions was not a random stop in the search to learn about Bridges.

Bridges has a pierced left ear and wears what looks like a diamond stud in it. Here on the quiet end of the Ave, Illusions may be the closest place to the courthouse where someone could get an ear pierced.

While the earring was the talk of courtroom spectators during the run-up to the trial, Illusions co-owner Mike Mills says it's not that unusual to find a professional man with a pierced ear in this very conservative and largely agricultural town.

Not that it is without symbolism.

"I always sort of figured he was a Republican," said Mills, who was interviewed just before the start of the trial. "But with that earring, I don't know."

Ken Worrell, who was inside the small shop browsing through a book of tattoo samples, had his own thoughts about Bridges.

"He's a pretty fair judge, as far as judges go," said Worrell. "I've been in front of him a number of times."

How many?

"Umm, this year?" Worrell asked. He can't really say but has enough experience in front of the veteran judge to offer something of an insider's view.

"As far as I know, he doesn't go over the prosecutor's recommended sentence."

Worrell, 31, is wiry. Two of him could fit in his sweat shirt. He has a shaved skull divided by a close-cropped Mohawk.

He says if he came upon a prosecutor or "public pretender" in trouble he wouldn't do a thing to help them. He says that, though, in a way that shocks even the proprietors of Illusions.

Most recently Worrell was sentenced by Bridges for first-degree escape. He was in the Chelan County Jail, slipped out of his handcuffs — he demonstrates how he can make his hands no bigger than his wrists — and then out of the jail. He was on the lam for a year, though he didn't go far and was arrested while driving through town.

Bridges sentenced him to nine months. "I could have done up to 29 months — so that's not bad," he said.

Worrell's experience is from the criminal side of Bridges' work, while most of the state is getting to know the judge as he oversees one of the biggest political trials in state history. The trial is entering its second week and is expected to wrap up on Friday.

Mills has his own experience with Bridges. It's a far more ordinary trip through the judicial system than Worrell's. But it parallels what people who know Bridges the best say about him.

Last August, Bridges presided over Mills' divorce. Mills and his wife used mediation rather than litigation to split up. "He was real fair about it. He said, 'It looks like you've come to terms with this,' " Mills said.

He said he felt Bridges was paying attention and cared what happened.

"He's the sort of guy I think if you're straight with him he'll be straight with you."

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company