As Foretold, City Council Passes Fortunetelling Ordinance

Aberdeen City Council passed an ordinance Monday that permits fortunetellers and others that practice the "occult" to open for business inside city limits.

Council voted 5-0 to pass the ordinance that would allow fortunetelling. But some members voted for the measure reluctantly, saying they were supporting it only because prohibiting the practice was recently deemed to be a violation of the First Amendment.

The new measure overturns longstanding, existing city law that had prohibited the practice of fortunetelling. The new law also establishes restrictions on such business that would keep them away from schools and churches.

“I don’t think this brings anything to the city that is complimentary,” Councilwoman Ruth Elliott said of fortunetelling. “I really have strong opinions in this regard.”

 Councilwoman Sandra Landbeck, however, acknowledged the rights of individuals to express their freedom of speech.

“I, too, am betwixt and between,” Councilwoman Ruth Ann Young said.

Such activities had been prohibited under Article III of the Peace and Good Order section of the city code. But according to case law, the city cannot forbid such practices, City Manager Douglas Miller has said.

Elliott, Landbeck, Young, Counciman Bruce Garner and Mayor Michael E. Bennett all voted to pass the ordinance that now allows fortunetelling within city limits.

Although the city cannot forbid the practice, it can regulate it.

The ordinance passed Monday establishes where, how and under what circumstances such businesses can operate.

Such businesses cannot operate within 1,000 feet of a school property line or be located within 1,000 feet of a church, place of worship or even another fortunetelling establishment.