By Tim Binnall
Fortune tellers in a Tennessee city may soon be able to forecast the future without fear of legal reprisal as officials in the community are set to vote on a repeal of a shockingly strict set of regulations that currently apply to self-proclaimed soothsayers. According to a local media report, the odd bit of bureaucracy came about when Stephanie Hoffman discovered that her hobby of providing tarot card readings for friends actually conflicted with a rather bizarre ordinance that was enacted in the city of Clarksville, where she lives, back in 1986. The nearly forty-year-old law which regulates fortune telling in the community left her stunned by virtue of its exhaustive nature.
Among the requirements for would-be soothsayers hoping to operate in Clarksville is that they must be a Tennessee resident of at least 10 years and have to have lived in Clarksville for at least two years. Bizarrely, beyond that, fortune tellers are required to possess a college degree and a county-appointed doctor must determine that they have a clean bill of health before they can perform any professional forecasting session. Should some dedicated soothsayer complete that gauntlet of requirements, the law also states that they must "be of good moral character," though it does not indicate who is responsible for making that determination.
Clarksville city council member Trisha Butler recalled that, upon having the law brought to her attention, "I just kept getting progressively more irritated how wild the regulation was." While it is unlikely that it would be enforced in 2022, she would rather not take any chances, musing that "I just don't want it to be able to be used" to go after any unsuspecting residents who happen to practice divination. As such, Butler enlisted the Clarksville city attorney to draw up a resolution that would repeal the law and the city council intends to vote on the matter at their next meeting. Should they repeal the regulations, the city will become the second community to overturn a fortune telling law this year as a city in Michigan rescinded a similar soothsayer law earlier this summer.