COLUMBIA--For five years, Sen. Bill Mescher has tried to legalize -- and regulate -- tattoo parlors in South Carolina.

For five years, Sen. Jake Knotts has stood in his way.

But after a recent trip to the site of a raided tattoo parlor in his Lexington County district, Knotts decided to quit fighting and join Mescher in his attempts to legalize tattooing.

With the support of the bill's former arch-nemesis, Mescher thought tattoos might finally become permanent in South Carolina -- only to look up and find Sen. Phil Leventis blocking the path.

"I don't want tattooing to be convenient," said Leventis, D-Sumter. "It's not like buying a pair of shoes you might not want later. This is permanent."Leventis said he believes tattooing is a fad that is addictive, and since a tattoo is forever, he doesn't believe it's a bad thing for folks to drive a couple of hours to Savannah to get one. They might even reconsider on the drive.

Mescher says women ages 20 to 25 are the main customers for tattoos these days -- "It's not just a biker thing anymore" -- and that he wants to see a clean industry.

"There are all sorts of things out there now, like hepatitis, which can take you years to find out you have it," Mescher said.

No, Mescher said, neither he nor anyone in his family has tattoos. "I'm neutral on the issue," he said.

Knotts' opinion of the art of tattooing is harsher. For years, he simply did not want tattooing in South Carolina -- and still isn't fond of the idea. But, echoing the arguments of Mescher, Knotts says if the parlors are here, they might as well be forced to be sanitary.

The illegal tattoo parlor he visited convinced him of that.

"It was nasty, and then we have a judge from outside the county come in, fine the guy $750 and give him back all his illegal equipment!" Knotts said Tuesday.

He has offered amendments, accepted by Mescher, that would require counties wanting tattoo parlors to vote them in. Under the bill, no under 18 could get a tattoo.

Leventis, who promised to try to stop the bill from getting out of the Senate, said that being legal won't make the places cleaner.

Mescher, R-Pinopolis, has passed bills out of the Senate that would allow tattoo parlors in South Carolina, one of the only states in the country to ban tattooing, but subject them to Department of Health and Environmental Control monitoring. Last year, the bill got as far as its final vote in the House before dying.

Most of those House defeats were orchestrated by Knotts, and Mescher is glad to have the support. But getting the bill past Leventis, a respected senior member of the Senate, could be just as tricky.

Regardless, Mescher thinks the bill now has a chance -- next year. Even if the Senate passed the bill before adjourning in June, it is likely too late in the session for the House to take it up.