What's to Love About Macon?

Let me tell you a dirty little secret about Macon, Georgia.

No, let’s start over. Let me tell you some of the reasons I love Macon, Georgia. I love Macon because its people are warm and friendly, its southern cooking second-to-none, and its weather--the current winter a notable exception--is temperate year round. I love Macon because Sherman spared our fair city on his infamous “March to the Sea,” for reasons the historians continue to debate. At any rate, because Macon was spared, it is home to some of the most beautiful antebellum homes in Georgia. I love Macon because of its rich heritage of music, from Gospel to soul to southern rock. I love Macon because of the great stories locals tell about ghosts in the Hay House, Clark Gable learning to speak “southern” in Macon during the filming of “Gone with the Wind,” and such strange and tortured souls as Anjette Lyles who liked to add a dash of arsenic poison to buttermilk.

Yes, there’s a lot of reasons to love Macon, Georgia, and all of them swell my chest with pride.

But there is a shameful secret about Macon that needs to be said aloud, even in a “family newsletter” like this: our city is home to one of the most thriving “massage spa” cultures in the Southeast. Most such “Asian spas” have nothing to do with the therapeutic, medically sanctioned massage practiced by certified professionals. Many such self-proclaimed “spas” are simply fronts for seedy and illegal activity.

There are 25 “massage parlors” or “Asian spas” in Macon, a city of approximately 93,000 people. San Francisco, 10 times the size of Macon, has only 99. Why is Macon such a hotbed for this type of “establishment”? The fact that we are located at the intersection of two interstate arteries, plays a part, but the main reason is that Macon--unlike any other city of comparable size in Georgia--has no licensing or other requirements  regulating the “massage parlor” industry.

What goes on in illicit massage parlors is not a “victimless crime.” Underage minors and internationals who can barely speak English--lured into the “trade” under false pretenses--are routinely pressed into service as “massage therapists.” The Lord who began his ministry proclaiming “release to the captives” (Luke 4:18) would surely include such girls and women in his promised liberation for the oppressed.

There is a growing, interfaith coalition of clergy and lay leaders, of which I am a part, determined to address this blight in our community. Thankfully, the Bibb County Commissioners are poised to pass needed legislation at their March 2 meeting. God willing, the Mayor and Macon City Council will be next.