By Tim Binnall
Fortune tellers in the West Virginia city of Huntington are now free to ply their trade without fear of the law as the community has repealed a longstanding ban on the practice of soothsaying. According to a local media report, the prohibition on palmists, clairvoyants, phrenologists, or any other "person of similar pretensions or profession" was struck down at a city council meeting on Monday evening. At the gathering, city attorney Sam Ransbottom argued for repealing the archaic regulation by explaining that it actually put the community in legal jeopardy.
Noting that "in the time passed since this article was adopted, the law was developed to show this is an unconstitutional prohibition on free speech" and, as such, "by keeping this law on the books as it is now, we open ourselves up to a potential lawsuit." Alas, at the rather staid meeting, there was no fiery response from an ardent skeptic nor an impassioned plea put forward by an area psychic. Instead, the city council simply voted 9-2 to err on the side of caution and repeal the prohibition lest Huntington wind up being taken to court by an aggrieved clairvoyant. The change in the law follows a similar decision by the Virginia city of Norfolk, which also repealed its ban on fortune tellers last month.