Miss Cleo
I knew I was going to write this. And I know that you knew that I knew. Yeah.
Who knew? An old law shuts psychics
…Alerted to an obscure state law banning fortune-telling “for gain or lucre,” the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections is closing storefront psychics, astrologers, phrenologists and tarot-card readers who charge money for their services…
Fortune-telling for profit is a third-degree misdemeanor. The law has been on the books for more than 30 years.
The owner of Psychic, a fortune-telling shop at 2041 Walnut St., sat on his steps yesterday and complained bitterly about the police action. He would not give his name or his lawyer’s name. “First of all,” he said, “they’ve got to stop the 129 murders in this city. What we do is entertainment.”
He also said the police Major Crimes Unit had shut him down even though he had bought a business license from the city and paid taxes.
“Shouldn’t they be cracking down on rapes and murders, not palm readers?” he asked. He also demanded to know whether tea-leaf readers in Chinatown were also being shut down. He doubted it. “They’re discriminating against Gypsies,” he said, although he said he was born and raised in Philadelphia.
“Look what they want to do with the fortune-tellers,” the man said. “We might be coming to the end of the world.”
No, actually the first sign of that will be the Clintons moving back into the White House.
Shouldn’t they be cracking down on rapes and murders, not palm readers?”
It’s too easy, this person can tell the police where the crimes are going to happen, collect rewards to live on, then continue their philantopy by advising clients for free. I’ve always said any psychic worth his salt could make a lot more from the horses than from me. So if they’re charging they mustn’t be worth it.
I find it strange, Ms. Bruce, that there wasn’t as much of an air of indignation in this post as I would expect.
I, personally, find it ridiculous that a legitimate business should be shut down due to some arbitrary law that the authorities suddenly decided to enforce. True that fortune-telling is a silly service to offer, but if people are willingly paying for it, anyone who is selling it is well within his rights to do so.