‘SACRED MONEY': ‘Mr. Wizard' commutes from Denver by bus to beg for cash in Monument

MONUMENT - Briefcase in hand, Leerie Tagney boards the morning FREX bus in downtown Denver with commuters heading to jobs along the Front Range.

He naps on the hourlong ride south on Interstate 25, gets off at the Monument exit and walks to the nearby Woodmoor onramp to start his day's toil.

Block letters on a rumpled cardboard sign tell motorists he is OLD-TIRED-SICK-HUNGRY CREATIVE BROKE.

He has until the red light turns green to take offerings from hands jutting from car windows. Two bucks is the typical handout, with fives, tens and candy bars not uncommon.

"I make a good $25 an hour," said Tagney, 71, known as "Mr. Wizard" and looking the part with turquoise eyes and a frizzy blond-streaked gray beard.

"I did fantastically well last Friday, which according to my biorhythm chart was my lucky day. I did $340."

Without the $6 ride on the Front Range Express bus, Tagney would be just another beggar on Denver's streets.

Tagney limits his treks to Monument to two times a week. "These are beautiful, generous people," he said. "I don't want to wear it out."

He totes a water jug, jacket, snacks and several hats. He likes to look presentable. He prides himself on being a gentleman.

He knows the demographics of his client base. "This area leads to upper-middleclass housing and a generally Christian community. I have teenagers give me $20 bills."

He regards it as an investment in a maladjusted misfit who thinks big.

"I consider what they give me sacred money. It's in a trust for my betterment, it's not mad money," he said. "I gave up booze 23 years ago. I don't use drugs, I'm not about to start at 71. I like to have a cup of tea and have something at McDonald's and socialize a little bit. I bought a $500 crystal ball on layaway."

His name is on the business cards for tarot card and horoscope readings he does for $10 at the Mercury Cafe in Denver. But it isn't until he starts talking about the octagonal 5-foot clock he's spent four years building with wood and 1,308 upholstery nails that his Mr. Wizard side rears.

"There will be a Buddha in the middle, surrounded by the 12 animals of the Chinese calendar," he said. "I have all the radially codes of the planets, starting with Pluto, in simple and complex form."

The clock, which he thinks should fetch $10,000 at auction, will be functional. "It will tell time," he said.

Tagney was married for a short time as a young man in California, and he has a son and a grandson. A cosmic revelation led him to Colorado Springs in 1999. He read tarot cards in Manitou Springs before moving to a subsidized senior housing studio apartment in Denver in 2006 in hopes of expanding his business. That didn't happen, but he noticed people panhandling downtown without getting arrested. He decided to give it a try.

He objects when panhandlers put untruths on signs. He doesn't like it when they drink, either. Smoking is OK, though. He does it.

He set up shop at the Monument exit earlier this year, drawn to the spot because he felt a good karma about it when he passed a man and a woman panhandling there a few years ago.

Monument does not have any laws against panhandling. The city police don't hassle him because he isn't in the town's jurisdiction.

Tagney is OK if he doesn't cross the painted line.

"Pedestrians are prohibited on roadways and cannot impede traffic," Sgt. Tony Rasnake, Colorado State Patrol spokesman, said. "It's a Class B traffic infraction."

Mostly, people pretend Tagney doesn't exist.

He's not part of the laptop crowd on the Front Range Express bus. "They just smile and think, what kind of screwball is this?" he said. "They live happy lives. They have a standard life. I admire them in many ways, I just don't want to be one of them."