Sheriff: 'Get Hitched or Get Out'

I'm always ecstatic to see justice meted out to dangerous lawbreakers, such as filling-station owners who lower the price of gasoline, and couples who have the gall to live together without the benefit of a marriage license:

Deborah Hobbs, 40, says her boss, Sheriff Carson Smith of Pender County, near Wilmington, told her to get married, move out or find another job after he found out she and her boyfriend had been living together for three years. The couple did not want to get married, so Hobbs quit.

Sheriff Smith actually has the law on his side; it's been illegal for the last 200 years to live together in North Carolina without being married.

The sheriff told the Star-News of Wilmington last year that Hobbs' employment was a moral issue as well as a legal question. He said that he tries to avoid hiring people who openly live together, but he doesn't send out deputies to enforce the law.

There are roughly 144,000 unmarried couples living together in North Carolina. That's 288,000 domestic criminals who, like Deborah Hobbs, really should get their comeuppance, dontcha think?

Comments

[Sister Geoff]

My home state in action, lovely.

>That's 288,000 domestic criminals who, like Deborah Hobbs, really should get their comeuppance, dontcha think? <

Please don't say that too loud, they may get ideas.