You might think a tarot card reader would have an inkling about what’s illegal in Evanston.
Angeli Primlani has been reading tarot cards at the Something Wicked bookstore since 2003 and said she was surprised to learn of her standing in regard to the city’s law on “crafty science.”
“I’m completely surprised,” Primlani said. “It really doesn’t constitute a community threat.”
In the near future, Evanston officials plan to update the four-volume city code, which includes outdated, obscure and unusual laws such as the ordinance on “card reading,” which states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to obtain money or property from another by fraudulent devices and practices in the name of spirits, medium, palmistry, card reading, astrology, seer or like crafty science or fortune telling of any kind.”
The law was passed in 1957 and amended in 1980.
“There are a couple of places in Evanston that have been doing card reading for years, and everybody knows about it,” Primlani said. “Nobody comes in and complains.”
Deputy Police Chief Joseph Bellino said some of Evanston’s more antiquated ordinances are not normally enforced.
“I have no recollection of any ordinance citation being issued to a tarot card reader,” Bellino said. “I can’t recall any complaint by a citizen regarding an encounter with a tarot card reader.
“If you look at the city code from any municipality, there’s going to be laws there enacted years ago that are overlooked.”
Among other laws that could become history are giving away “a vertebrate animal as a prize or as part of a business deal” or allowing a female dog or cat in heat to go outdoors.
City Clerk Mary Morris said she is requesting the city do a legal review of the code, some of which has been around for more than a century, with an eye toward “getting rid of that old, meaningless stuff.” She has included a request for $3,200 in her 2006-07 budget.
“We haven’t had a legal review in quite some time,” Morris said. “We have to do that every so often. It brings everything up to date.”
She said it will help eliminate conflicting provisions as well as obsolete and vague language. In addition, it will allow the city to compare its ordinances with state law and to look for areas where new legislation is needed.
Morris said it is unclear why some laws were enacted but said some were likely added in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries when Evanston was more of a farming community.
Morris said laws forbidding seances and fortunetelling were passed to fight fraud.
The City Council would have to vote on removing the laws, but Ald. Edmund Moran said it is time to clean house.
“It’s some pretty wild stuff,” Moran said. “Some council in the past put those laws in there, and now they’ve embedded themselves.”
It is also against the law to fly motorized model airplanes or allow flies in buildings in “considerable numbers.” There are also laws regulating how slop and swill can be fed to pigs.
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Primlani, who said she has been doing readings three times a week at the store, believes a legal makeover is the right idea.
“I think it would be a really good thing to take off the books,” she said. “People do it for entertainment. There are some people who do it for a hard-core scam, but it’s not fair to lump us all together.
“It works well with the store. It’s just a lot of fun.”
Primlani, who is from North Carolina, said there are similar laws on the books there.
“There’s a lot more pressure by churches to enforce those laws,” she said.
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Oddities on the books
Evanston is planning to update its city code, which includes some unusual laws. For example, it is illegal to:
– Give a tarot card reading or hold a seance for money.
– Give away “a vertebrate animal as a prize or as part of a business deal.”
– Allow a female dog or cat in heat to go outdoors.
– Fly motorized model airplanes.
– Allow flies in buildings in “considerable numbers.”
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