Fortune Teller

A tarot card reader from Philadelphia was dealt a bad hand yesterday in Bucks County Court. After hearing two hours of trial testimony, a judge found Patricia Wallace - also known as Madame Renee - guilty of fortune telling and sentenced her to two years' probation, plus restitution. But the judge ruled that Wallace, 30, was not guilty of more serious charges of theft by deception and receiving stolen property stemming from two readings she gave in her Upper Southampton Township "psychic studio.

Blind German psychic Ulf Buck says he can read people's futures by feeling their naked butts. Buck says butts have lines like those in the hand that palm readers feel. But Buck says the butt is much more intense. "It has a much stronger power of expression than the hand," he told Reuters recently. Our opinion? The whole thing is assinine. I scream . . . Anger has cast a chill on the ice cream business in New Jersey. A vendor has been ordered to stand trial after being accused of attacking another vendor recently because she was on his turf.

He was a prosperous businessman from Horsham who says he gave everything he had to a Boardwalk fortune teller who promised to "keep evil spirits and curses from plaguing his life. " But Sole Mio Balaam Nicola, 90, says she was just a five-and-dime store astrologer - a fixture at the old Boardwalk Woolworth's for 34 years - who tried to help a troubled man who found her name in the Yellow Pages. The man, David Piscitelli, sued, saying he was the victim of a "gypsy scam" from 1978 to 1991 that prompted him to turn over about $200,000, leave his wife, sell his real-estate business, and move to Brigantine to avoid snake attacks and other evil curses.

A Southwest Philadelphia woman who suffers from lupus is the latest victim of a Center City fortune-teller who told the woman she could cure her illness by removing a curse from a former life, authorities said. Authorities said that the alleged victim, whom they did not name, was conned out of $8,000 by Annie Uwanawich, also known as Grace Miller, 53, of the 1100 block of Spruce Street. Uwanawich, authorities said, allegedly told the woman she could remove the curse if the woman handed over her money so it could be taken to a church and blessed.

The well-heeled New York shoe designer, a senior vice president for Kenneth Cole Productions, gave up alcohol and concluded he was gay last year. Robert Webber, 34, was finally starting to feel good about himself and his life - just about the time he first visited the fortune teller and paid her $15 for a tarot card reading. In her West Village shop, Penny Dimitros, also known as Penny Megel, told Webber that she could make him feel even better, spiritually. Over six months, he gave her about $305,000.

Doris Lizardi, an elementary school guidance counselor who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was walking past a coffee shop on South Street two years ago when she noticed a sign in the window offering tarot card readings for $5. The tarot card reader told Lizardi she had an aura that was responsible for her bad fortune. The card reader referred Lizardi to a fortune teller, Annie Uwanawich, 43, of Center City, also known as Grace Miller. Uwanawich, the card reader's mother, told Lizardi that someone had put a curse on her, according to a police affidavit, and that she could be rid of the curse and healed of MS if she gave the fortune teller her money, her credit cards and her jewelry, so they could be taken to a church "to be blessed.

Married June 1 at St. Helena Church in Blue Bell, with the Rev. Joseph Nicolo presiding. Two hundred and thirty guests gathered at PineCrest Country Club in Lansdale for the reception. They met Steve first spotted Lyz outside Temple University's Anderson Hall in 2001. In Old City three years later, he recognized her at the Continental, approached, and asked if she had attended Temple. They struck up a conversation, but Lyz had recently ended a serious relationship, and wasn't looking to dive right in again.

Never one to leave anything to chance, Vinny Burgese decided to consult a fortune teller to gain some insight as to how his upcoming bout would turn out. "She told me I was going to win by a knockout, so maybe I should ask for my money back," Burgese, the popular South Philadelphia junior welterweight, said after he scored a unanimous, 10-round decision over David Silva last night at Resorts International. "But she also said I was going to have a boy (his wife is expecting the couple's first child in January)

Even Bloomingdale's won't give Nancy Reagan a break. The always-trendy chain, which has outposts in King of Prussia and Willow Grove, is poking fun at the first lady's obsession with the stars, calling its Memorial Day promotion "Our 'All Astrological Signs Point to Bloomies' Sale" in a two-page advertising spread that appeared yesterday. The ad, which ran in major markets including Philadelphia, Boston and New York, was illustrated by a line drawing of a fortune teller and her crystal ball.

Madonna routinely ate out of garbage cans while she clawed for a show- business break in her early New York days, says a flashy new unauthorized biography. Other "revelations": An enraged Sean Penn armed himself and opened fire at the helicopters buzzing overhead when he and Madonna were married in California in 1985. The bride was furious. The shootings were never reported to authorities. Published stories about the night Penn tied up his estranged wife after breaking into their Malibu home are quite tame compared to what really happened during an apparently genuinely terrifying episode, according to author Douglas Thompson.

ASK ANY STOCKBROKER, real estate agent, or 1-900 fortune teller: Predicting the future is an uncertain business. Three years ago, the Phillies' pitcher, catcher and infielder of the future were Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson and Jason Donald. None of the three is still in the organization. In fact, none of the three has had anything more than a modicum of success in limited big-league action. For the Phillies to extend this era of success well into this century's second decade, they will likely need to draft and develop far more talent than currently exists in a system that is rich with young pitching and corner outfield talent, yet thin on positions up the middle.

News item: State Sen. Jane Orie (R., Allegheny) and one of her sisters, state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, consulted a psychic "Angel Lady" in Philadelphia to foretell the outcome of a criminal probe of their campaign activities. Psychic: Greetings to both of you. How can I help? Sen. Orie: My sister and I are in peril, Angel Lady. Our careers are in jeopardy. Justice Melvin: Yeah, especially if anyone ever finds out that we hired a fortune teller.

Serious money It is unfortunate that your editorial writer didn't contact us to get the facts behind Safe and Sound's decision to fund after-school and other programs at the behest of the Street administration ("Some Serious Money," Feb. 22). Safe and Sound sent revised budgets to the former administration three different times but each was rejected. We did our best to slow down spending in the hope that the situation would be resolved. Safe and Sound is publicly audited and has continually received clean audits from its independent certified public accountants.

Married June 1 at St. Helena Church in Blue Bell, with the Rev. Joseph Nicolo presiding. Two hundred and thirty guests gathered at PineCrest Country Club in Lansdale for the reception. They met Steve first spotted Lyz outside Temple University's Anderson Hall in 2001. In Old City three years later, he recognized her at the Continental, approached, and asked if she had attended Temple. They struck up a conversation, but Lyz had recently ended a serious relationship, and wasn't looking to dive right in again.

Philadelphia's fortune-tellers didn't see it coming. Suddenly they're facing a very unhappy future. Alerted to an obscure state law banning fortune-telling "for gain or lucre," the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections is closing storefront psychics, astrologers, phrenologists and tarot-card readers who charge money for their services. Inspectors had closed 16 shops since Tuesday, Deputy L&I Commissioner Dominic E. Verdi said yesterday. "We were not aware it was a crime," he said, "but the Police Department came to us a few days ago and showed us where the crime code prohibits psychic readings.

There was incense and myrrh in the air, flower petals scattered around the bed, and a cop hiding in the shower, keeping an ear to an ongoing scam. The occasion was another visit by purported psychic Christine Evans - a.k.a. "Yanna" - to the home of a Bucks County woman whose finances Evans had been draining for months. Evans' stated mission: to "bless" the Buckingham Township home of Margaret Smith, and to drive away the "evil spirits" that had settled there. For a fee, of course.

Blind German psychic Ulf Buck says he can read people's futures by feeling their naked butts. Buck says butts have lines like those in the hand that palm readers feel. But Buck says the butt is much more intense. "It has a much stronger power of expression than the hand," he told Reuters recently. Our opinion? The whole thing is assinine. I scream . . . Anger has cast a chill on the ice cream business in New Jersey. A vendor has been ordered to stand trial after being accused of attacking another vendor recently because she was on his turf.

He was a prosperous businessman from Horsham who says he gave everything he had to a Boardwalk fortune teller who promised to "keep evil spirits and curses from plaguing his life. " But Sole Mio Balaam Nicola, 90, says she was just a five-and-dime store astrologer - a fixture at the old Boardwalk Woolworth's for 34 years - who tried to help a troubled man who found her name in the Yellow Pages. The man, David Piscitelli, sued, saying he was the victim of a "gypsy scam" from 1978 to 1991 that prompted him to turn over about $200,000, leave his wife, sell his real-estate business, and move to Brigantine to avoid snake attacks and other evil curses.

Gypsy tucked her muscular hind legs beneath her 57-pound frame and pushed out her chest like a runway model. She glanced out a window as a cameraman captured a profile of her glossy mahogany-colored coat of hair. The pose that this Irish setter struck yesterday in her owner's Cinnaminson office better resembled a supermodel than a show dog. Gypsy knows how to work it - her sculptured body, her rollicking personality - so people notice. Using that chutzpah, Gypsy, whose registered name is Ramblin' Red Fortune Teller, grabbed the top prize in her breed last week at the Super Bowl of canine competitions: the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York.

The well-heeled New York shoe designer, a senior vice president for Kenneth Cole Productions, gave up alcohol and concluded he was gay last year. Robert Webber, 34, was finally starting to feel good about himself and his life - just about the time he first visited the fortune teller and paid her $15 for a tarot card reading. In her West Village shop, Penny Dimitros, also known as Penny Megel, told Webber that she could make him feel even better, spiritually. Over six months, he gave her about $305,000.