
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 26, 1990                   TAG: 9003262026
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.                                LENGTH: Medium

LIMBLESS MUSICIAN JUST WANTS TO PLAY FOR PAY

A legless, armless woman who won custody of her daughter 14 years ago by changing the baby's diaper with her teeth now plays "We Shall Overcome" and "Over The Rainbow" on this city's Boardwalk by pressing her tongue against a keyboard.

However, her music strikes the wrong chord with municipal prosecutor Steve Smoger, who said Celestine Tate is a "con artist" taking advantage of a special permit given her by the city by not living up to an agreement to pay a fine in exchange for being allowed to perform.

Tate, a 34-year-old mother of two who lives in Ventnor, said during a break from a recent performance in front of Bally's Park Place Casino Hotel that she just wants to play her music.

She frequently asks God to bless passers-by who drop quarters and dollar bills into the bucket in front of her hospital gurney.

Smoger estimates Tate earns from $120,000 to $140,000 a year. Tate puts the figure at more like $70,000 to $80,000.

She said her two daughters - ages 11 and 14 - attend private school in Philadelphia, and that she has to pay her $750-a-month rent plus the expenses of a woman who comes in to help her at a weekly cost of $158.

In 1976, Tate had to prove to a Philadelphia judge that she could care for the first of those girls after the welfare department said she lacked the ability to raise the child.

"I changed her diaper in court and the judge gave her back to me," Tate said, adding the child's paternal grandmother forced her to break up with the girl's father because she was disabled. "It was the Lord's will that I give birth to her so it must be his will that I have her."

Tate was born in Philadelphia suffering from birth defects that left her legs and arms undeveloped.

In March 1989, the city gave Tate a special permit that exempted her from the city's 80-year-old ordinance barring Boardwalk panhandling. As part of the agreement, Municipal Judge Bruce Weekes said she had to pay a $2,600 fine over the next year for 26 violations. That followed a similar agreement reached in November 1986 between her and city officials.

Smoger said she has reneged on her latest agreement. Tate freely acknowledges she hasn't paid the fines, arguing that since that she's not a beggar she shouldn't have to pay them.

by CNB