ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- The St. Petersburg City Council was trying to update its ordinances and wound up upsetting local fortune tellers and mystics.
The city passed a new fortune telling ordinance, requiring any phrenologist, astrologer, palmist, soothsayer, fortuneteller, character reader, spirit medium, absent treatment healer, or mental healer to obtain a license and go through a background check.
That didn't set well with psychics who say they're being discriminated against. They claim they have to undergo fingerprint and background checks, while ordained ministers do not. Charles Eminizer, a tarot card reader and fortune teller, told ABC Action News.com, "I think it's wrong. I think that the ministers should be just as checked out as the fortune tellers. Because human beings are human beings no matter what kind of work they're in."
City Council member Bill Dudley says there's a clear difference between ordained ministers and fortune tellers. That's why he voted for the ordinance.
Ordained minister Bruce Wright spoke against the ordinance. Wright says the law also prohibits lay preachers from taking the word to the street without a license. He says that's unfair.
