A court “no-show” might keep a tattoo parlor beyond the city limits, but that doesn’t mean the owner is ready to leave quietly.

The lawsuit filed by Craig Murphy, owner of “Skin of a Different Color,” 345 W. Lincoln Hwy., was dropped Monday after he failed to show up to court. Murphy had 30 days from his last injunction June 5 to file a complaint if he wanted to continue the case.

City Attorney Ron Matekaitis said, “The suit was dismissed by the court due to his (Murphy) failure to file an amended complaint by the time the court allowed.”

Matekaitis said there was no response by Murphy or his attorney to the city’s request to drop the suit.

But Murphy said he did not know about the deadline to continue the case.

“My lawyer never even told me about the case,” Murphy said. “The first I heard of it was (Wednesday) morning.”

Edward Diedrich, Murphy’s lawyer, was out of town and unavailable for comment.

Murphy said he still plans to fight the city. “I definitely want to be back in DeKalb.”

Murphy has moved his parlor to 409 Cherry Ave., Rochelle.

The move stemmed from an ordinance that was passed by DeKalb city council banning tattooing in DeKalb.

Murphy said the business in Rochelle is not as good compared to DeKalb.

“People don’t want to travel to get a tattoo,” and Rochelle is not as densely populated, he said.

“I want to stay in the DeKalb/Sycamore area, but Sycamore will not give me an answer.”

Murphy said Sycamore Mayor Harold “Red” Johnson was supposed to bring up the issue of the tattoo parlor at two previous Sycamore city council meetings and never did.

Murphy said he will take some action within the next few days to speed up a new suit.

Although he will not keep the lease on his DeKalb store, Murphy claimed his landlord would be willing to rent him the store again if a new suit is filed and resolved in Murphy’s favor.

Murphy filed the suit against the city in April for “violating his constitutional rights.”

He was denied a temporary restraining order in the beginning of July. It was the second restraining order denied in one month.