Jedi Temple Opens in Southern Shores

Southern Shores – Driving along US 158 in Dare County the perceptive visitor might notice the area boasts a remarkable number of churches. From the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Kitty Hawk to the United Methodist Church in Hatteras, there are over two dozen houses of worship dotting the island. And until last Thursday, they all represented branches or denominations of Christianity.

Thursday witnessed the grand opening of the Temple of the Jedi Order of Southern Shores. Yes, the Jedi are a real religion. They have their own symbols, tenants and Wikipedia page. Since 2001, when people first began recording their religion as “Jedi” on the U.S. Census, the movement has steadily grown and in 2010 the Jedi now represent a whopping 62% of religious adherents in Dare County (see chart).

Jedi Chart

The Master of the Jedi Temple, OBX-wan Kenobi, offered his insight on why the Jedi Faith has suddenly become so popular:

“We stand for goodness, protect the weak, believe in the sanctity of all life, support the ban on plastic bags, and we don’t discriminate. I mean, any being can become a Jedi You think we care if are gay or straight? Heck, the Ophrys of Apifera Prime are hyper-intelligent self-pollinating plants and dozens of them are Jedi! The other thing is we don’t tithe. Heck, we don’t even pass the plate in our assemblies. We’re the best bargain in the faith community by a parsec.”

For the most part, the Temple’s new neighbors have been “cautiously welcoming” of the Jedi. Many, such as Mayor/Crooner Tony Bennett, see the benefits of having lightsaber wielding defenders of justice as part of the community. He noted that, as opposed to other religious institutions which are “taxbase freeloaders who have never been welcome in Southern Shores” the Jedi Temple will save Southern Shores money.

“They’re going to take care of all the law and order issues, so we won’t need to pay for a police force anymore,” said Bennett. “And after Master Kenobi negotiated with the CEO of Great Lakes Dredge and Dock we got a fantastic offer for our beach nourishment project. It’s win-win for our citizens.”

Others, such as resident Gary Loracs, like that the Jedi have a deep appreciation for nature and feel they will have a positive influence on the weak minded town council members who Loracs described as “anti-tree.”

But not everyone is so sanguine about the arrival of the Jedi. Darth Midgett, Southern Shores most famous curmudgeon, was outspoken about the Jedi and the Jedi Temple in a recent Facebook rant. He described the Jedi as “space snowflakes” who refuse to accept that “the Dark Side is the only way.”

The Jedi Temple is open to visitors from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and welcomes the public to come and learn more about their Order.

Camden man confident his Taco Bell sign will sell after 175 consecutive weeks on Craigslist

Camden – Uriah Cardmartin is feeling lucky  this week after reposting his Taco Bell sign on Craigslist again. Repeated attempts at selling the sign have resulted in offers, but his hopes are high.

“I been trying to hock this sign for a good couple years, but no body wants to give me a fair price on it. I gots plenty of time though. I can wait,” Uriah said while leaning on the hood of his 1984 Buick Le Saber.

Anyone who frequents the OBX craigslist will be familiar with seeing this Taco Bell sign for sale, that is of course if you are looking in the collectibles for sale section and not the personal W4M personal adds.

“I keep adding astrisks signs cause I think that makes it look more important! People are like ‘oh shit this thing has a ton of ******* around it. That mean’s this thing is totally worthy buying.'”

Uriah is also selling a some barbies and usually a tail light cover for a BMW. One has to admire the dedication of a person willing to post outrageously priced weekly updates to an item that has almost no chance of being bought in the first place.

“I got 4 Pekingeses and they need their Alpo wet food! It takes me a lot of time to post these adds since my Gateway P.C. ain’t as fast as it used to be, but I get it done. I like to go back and delete my old post then repost it so it gets higher up on the list. I call that ‘jumping’ my post.”

 

Controversial Economic Growth Plan for Dare County

Nags Head – Ted Dibiase the managing partner of Money, Inc., LLC, the financial advisory group retained to study economic opportunities in Dare County made his final presentation to the Board of High Commissioners last week. The presentation, titled “Growth Realized: Economic Enterprises in Dare” (G.R.E.E.D.)  lasted over three hours and included a 15 minute intermission as well as a corporate chair massage for the Commissioners.

Mr. Dibiase’s recommendations were broken down into three “ strategic ambitions” which broadly covered the areas of the Outer Banks where he identified “excellent opportunities for exploitation”: Land, Sea and Hatteras.

The featured proposal for the “Land” portion of the plan was the construction the Lost Colony Experience Theme Park which would allow visitors to experience the rigors or early American colonization by stranding them with minimal supplies in Nags Head Woods. Mr. Dibiase said that popular television programs such as “Survivor” and “Man vs. Wild” lead his team to believe the attraction could bring hundreds of extra visitors to the County, particularly during the shoulder seasons.

High Commissioner Shade pointed out that the plan sounded very “tourist based”. Mr. Dibiase responded that this was “Level D” tourism whereas tourist activities normally associated with the Outer Banks such as fishing, sunbathing and binge drinking were categorized as “Level A” tourism activities.

Money, Inc., LLC’s proposal for Sea-Based economic growth included having the Public Relations Office post locations of sunken ships from the Spanish Silver Fleet on Reddit, Pinterest and Craig’s List. Dare County would create an “Office of Treasure Hunters” and sell licenses to those coming to find the offshore fortune. Mr. Dibiase expected to see a tangential economic boom in the dive store industry. Objections from High Commissioner Loveseat that the Spanish Silver Fleet never sailed near the Outer Banks were waved off by Mr. Dibiase as a “technicality.”

Mr. Dibiase’s most controversial proposal involved Hatteras Island, specifically Cape Point. Based on his staff’s calculations, Cape Point reaches far enough into international waters to avoid falling under the jurisdiction of the United States government. As such, it would be “technically legal” for Dare County to begin a counterfeiting operation on the easternmost tip of Cape Point and print their own money.

“The positive economic impact of being able to churn out your own currency cannot be overstated,” Dibiase said in his closing remarks. “With proper wealth management strategies, every resident in Dare County could be a millionaire within 8 to 16 months.”
Dare County Highest Commissioner Rooster Crowcall told Mr. Dibiase he would need time to study the proposal further but said that at first blush “G.R.E.E.D. sounds good.”

Local Representative Beverly Boswell introduces bill stating life begins at conception

Dare County’s Representative to the State House, Beverly Boswell, introduced a  bill stating life begins at conception. The idea is that by declaring a fertilized egg a person, abortions would be illegal.

Wait wait wait a minute this isn’t satire. This is real. We aren’t making this up. WTF? Seriously? Sounds like something crazy we would make up on this site. No need for jokes on this one; it is already laughable.

 

Charter to Schedule More Convenient Outages

The internet/phone/cable service giant Charter/Spectrum has announced plans to schedule service outages at more convenient times for their customers. The move was primarily driven by Charter’s CEO Thomas Rutledge’s being “over” the whining from Charter customers.

“Somehow, our customers have gotten the company’s email, phone number and corporate headquarters address,” said Rutledge in a press conference held earlier this morning. “And there was frankly a lot of pointless griping. They don’t seem to understand we’ve got a company to run and most importantly profits to make.”

A review by the OBX Report of outages affecting the Outer Banks over the past five years showed 6% caused by solar flares, 14% related to severe weather, 19% due to panda-related activities such as nesting and foraging and a whopping 51% of the outages due to no reason whatsoever. It’s that last percentage that has locals incensed and demanding change.

“Reliable internet service is crucial to our business,” said Kitty Meyow of the First Sperm Bank of Manteo. “As you might imagine, production tends to fall off when we lose connectivity.”

Beginning in 2017 Charter/Spectrum will allow customers to choose times when it will be more convenient for them to lose service. Customers will still have to lose a minimum of 39 hours of service a month but the ability to pick and choose when they will not have service should mitigate some of the impact.

Sea Turtle death on Hatteras ruled suicide. Opinions on the issue are mixed.

Cape Hatteras – A joint investigation by the National Park Service, and the OBX Dune Buggy Club has determined that the turtle found run over on the beach was not an accident. The groups are claiming that the turtle knowingly put itself in the path of the oncoming truck. “At first we thought the tire tracks through the back of the turtle were post mortem, and we were investigating a murder, but after we found the turtles tumbler page we realized he threw himself under the wheels of that truck as a form of protest,” says Buggy Club spokesman Gary Meyers.

The National Park Service was somber about the incident. “We take our job of protecting these turtles very seriously. Anytime a turtle dies, we feel it as a personal loss. After finding this turtle we were determined to find who killed it, and and we have done so. As punishment the dead turtle faces a $5000 fine for killing a threatened species,” explained Ranger Sarah Snelling.

As for the children of the deceased turtle, 181 orphans hatched of which 2 are still alive. A Go Fund Me has been set up to care for the remaining 2 left behind.

Defenders of wildlife is already filing no less than 14 different law suits on about the investigation. One of which seeks to euthanize one child from Hatteras for every turtle killed. These suits will likely take years to reach a courtroom, and will end up costing the government and the charity millions all the while accomplishing nothing.

We decided to ask around and see how people felt about the incident.

“If I had it my way, I would pave the access ramps with turtle shells,” said longtime fisherman and potential candidate for Trumps Secretary of the Interior, Jamie Lollins, We have a joke down here that turtles are natures speed bumps. I just hope the guy’s truck is alright.”

We asked famous bird watcher, Molly Sharps, how she and she responded, “These turtles can be hundreds of years old. They come back to the same shore where they were born every year. It is another example of natures miracle. And all it takes to destroy that is one careless person. We have a responsibility to-” At which point the interviewer realized she wasn’t saying anything controversial or funny, so we moved on to the loudest person in the room.

“I’m sick of these turtles committing suicide! These turtles have been actively trying to shut down our commercial fishing nets by killing themselves in protest. They keep jumping in our fishing nets, trying to make us look bad. Does anyone ask why? What do turtles eat? Fish! They hate local fishermen and their families, because they want all the fish for themselves. These selfish greedy turtles expect us to give up our way of life, and if we don’t they will use violence to get what they want. I won’t back down to turtle terrorism, and you shouldn’t either,” said Jeremy Hanks, as the other people in the room distanced themselves from him.

“We need to dedicate $800,000 to improve the county Program for Emergency Sea Turtles immediately,” said Samantha Farthley, the PEST coalition, “We are starting to train volunteers on turtle CPR this month. We encourage anyone who isn’t heartless to take these classes as soon as possible.”

“These turtles bring thousands of dollars a year in tourism to the beaches,” Said Town Manger Jimbob Joyner, “I have seen dozens of people standing around to watch a turtle hatching.”

“We have multiple of our troops committing suicide everyday and people want to worry about a stupid turtle doing it? Typical libtard sheepeeles. I don’t see turtles fighting ISIS. Alex Jones already pointed out this turtle’s death is merely a false flag in order to give ISIS a beachhead on American soil. You think those turtles are all laying eggs? What if one of them laid a thermonuclear device? How would we know?” was the response when we asked some guy we picked up hitchhiking on the causeway.

“We need to focus on the systemic devaluation of the lives of turtles in our society,” said UNC professor Jasmine Ermine, an expert on Turtle law, “There are zero turtles holding office in this state, and only one in US Sentate (McConnell). Not to mention the numerous historical inequities resulting from the turtles having their property rights stolen in unfair treaties. I am calling for massive protests on the scale of Standing Rock to take place on the beaches of Hatteras for the sake of giving the islands back to the Indigenous Chelonians. My fellow protesters and I have already marked off the weeks before and after the 4th of July, so it would be great if everyone could donate to us, because these cottages are expensive. Also if you plan on joining us, remember that this protest is BYOB.”

“Why is no one talking about these negligent welfare queen mother turtles? They have hundreds of babies in government property, and expect tax payers like you and me to protect and support them. Then they just swim back to the ocean and don’t even take care of them. Who’s gonna pick up the bill? I’ll tell you who, it’s people that actually work for a living. We might as well give them free college and health care too. We do that for all the other illegal immigrants. There I said it. These turtles, like our president, don’t have birth certificates. They say they were born here, but how are we supposed to know. They all look alike. They are sending their worst turtles here to steal our money, our fish, and our beaches,” said some chain email that I saw when fixing my uncles computer.

Stephen Stephenson of a local homeowners’ association said, “I heard somewhere online, so I know it has to be true, that one clutch of sea turtles hatching has the same erosion effect as 20 Nor Easters. They are stealing my beaches, and then I have to pay huge tax bills to nourish them, just so the little jerks can come back and wreck them again.”

When tried to interview a turtle we found on the beach yesterday, but he was too stunned to comment. We assume his thoughts and prayers go out to the dead turtle’s family.

If you have comments or opinions better, equal, or stupider to these, please feel free to leave them below so that we may praise, ignore, or ridicule you.

Duck Reconsiders One Child Policy

Last Thursday’s Duck Town Council meeting opened with bad news from Town Manager Christopher Lee. Though Lee addressed the Council in his usual somber tones, there was no mistaking the urgency of his message.

“Duck’s one child policy is no longer sustainable,” Lee said. “In 2016 we experienced the first year of negative population growth. The Town’s Demography Division expects this downward trend will continue and accelerate until 2029 when we will have nobody left in the town.”

The Council was visibly shaken by the news, but Lee was not finished delivering his dire news.

“There are only a handful of Duck women capable of childbearing remaining. Of those, most would need the most advanced medical intervention to conceive. We are going to have to consider opening our borders to immigrants from Kill Devil Hills and possibly Colington.”

Paramedics were summoned to render first aid to several members of the public in attendance who fainted. Those left standing produced pitchforks and torches, causing Lee to flee the meeting room. After the angry mob was brought to heel by warning shots from Chief Constable Cutie, Mayor Don Quimby sought to reassure them that there would be no changes to Duck’s immigration policies.

“If we have to raise taxes to afford fertility treatments, if we have to reconsider our one-child policy, so be it. But so long as I am Mayor, we will never open our borders to anyone living south of the Welcome Center.”

Local Women Put Superpowers to Good Use

From the outside, the headquarters of the League of Extraordinary Women Voters appears to the passer-by as nothing more than an unassuming beach-trinket warehouse, or perhaps a defunct indoor laser-tag venue. It’s just how the League’s president, Doctor SanBernandino, aka “Doctor Dinosaur” liked it.

“The last thing we wanted to do is draw attention to ourselves!” said Doctor SanBernandino. “We didn’t need the Abominable Sandman or Penny Dreadful knowing where we work.”

For over 300 years, the League quietly fought to protect the Outer Banks from the likes of super-villains such as Sandman and Dreadful, whose evil plans ranged from “total world domination” to “domination over Rodanthe.” The League’s anonymity came to an end after the United States became a signatory to the Sokovia Accords in last year, requiring that all super powered beings register with the Department of Extraordinarily Remarkable People (DERP) by 2017.

With the deadline for DERP registration looming, the League has released a list of the individual members and their various powers. As it turns out, League members’ abilities run the gamut from practical to incredible to what could best be described as “curious.” For example, longtime members Jerri Salavan and Francisca Ford Kapola, both can fly unaided, clearly a power useful for fighting evildoers. Marion Munchkin, much as her name implies, can shrink down to subatomic size. Doctor SanBernadino herself has the incredible ability to shape-shift into any kind of dinosaur, living or dead.

But it is the powers of members such as Gerry Smith and Lila Taft that seem to have created the greatest public interest. Smith, the League’s recruitment officer, has a limited sort of clairvoyance where she can always tell the color of the next gumball that will pop out from any gumball-dispensing machine. Taft is purported to have the power to turn invisible when nobody is looking at her.

“The Visionary (Smith) and Glass Girl (Taft) are great gals around headquarters,” said Doctor SanBernandino. “But we don’t put them in the field much, for obvious reasons.”

Despite the loss of their anonymity, the LoEWV vows to continue protecting the Outer Banks from giant seagulls, Graboids and Jim Cantore.

Local Mobsters Upset at Gubernatorial Recount

Mob bosses representing several local crime families have expressed extreme displeasure with Governor McCrory’s insistence on continued recounts. With each recount, challenger Roy Cooper’s lead over McCrory has grown, which threatens to upset the over/under for the race.

While normally reticent to talk to the media, The OBX Report was able to convince three of the local Don’s to go on record, as long as everyone understood that anything they said was strictly hypothetically speaking. They, hypothetically, hoped Governor McCrory would receive the message in time to avoid hypothetical unpleasantries.

“So the line up to the election was Cooper +11,000,” said Don Pardo, hypothetical godfather of the Wanchese Fish Mafia. “I think some guys was givin’ 10,500, maybe 10,700, but if I was a gamblin’ man, which I am not, I would say 11 even would be a reasonable line. So after the election, bada bing, Coop wins by a couple thousand votes and we…I mean…hypothetically somebody betting on the race has made some fairly decent money.”

Don Rickles, possibly of the Kill Devil Hills Wings Mafia, said his syndicate of strictly professional beach trinkets stood to lose over seven million dollars in “complicated investment strategies” if the recount total went much higher.

“It would be very bad for business,” he said. “Any consequences from this negativity would be, of course, strictly business.

The soft-spoken head of the Manteo Pirate Mafia, Don Knotts, was much more direct with his hypothetical assessment of the outcome of a recount that eclipsed 11,000 votes.

“I was having a nice afternoon with my grandson fishing the Baum bridge. He caught a really nice striped bass. Not hypothetical at all, this thing weighs twenty pounds at is at least two feet long. We’d really like to have that fish for dinner.”

At this point Don Knotts grew visibly distressed and banged his fist on the table, “But if I have to wrap that fish in the Coastland Times and send it to 200 N. Blount Street to express my considerable dissatisfaction with the direction of these recount proceedings, then my grandson will just have to go to bed hungry!”

“That part, of course,” he added, “would be hypothetical.”

Local mother demands town’s most popular park be closed because she didn’t have a good time there.

Kill Devil Hills – Barbara Alsnoght took to the Local Facebook group to demand a closure to the immensely popular Aviation Skate Park this week. Apparently she has different opinions than other people on parenting, and thinks letting children play without strict supervision is a recipe for disaster.

“You should have heard the language out of their mouths,” She said as she gesticulated hand movements to emphasize her astonishment, “They were rude to my child who wanted to play on the box in the park! He has just as much a right to ride his razor scooter over the bumps and dohickeys as they have.”

Other parents joined in to express their displeasure at the urban music being played. “I’m not trying to sound like an old person,” said local old person Stephen Warners, “but this rap stuff they listen to isn’t even music. Its all F this and F that and N-word this and that. Not to mention how it objectifies women. It’s not something I want my children listening to,” he said as he gestured to his young boys in the back seat of his car while 95.3 played a Motley Crue song.

“I just want to be able for my child to be able to go everywhere and never be exposed to anything I don’t like,” said fellow outraged mother, Sharron Harrell, “Is that too much to ask?”

When some people, who obviously don’t know what it’s like to have kids, decided to defend the skate park the discussion got heated. They tried to point out a lot things that were not wrong, but in no way changed how angry those parents were.

“I don’t care what they say,” Alsnoght continued to argue, “if other people’s children don’t behave the way I want, I think I should be able to punish them. That goes for young adults hanging out there too. These millennials are so entitled that they think they can defy me when I demand they behave how I want them to in public! How dare they exercise their freedom of speech and expression when I don’t like it. Close the park!”

“My son is on the football team, and he assures me that there is no cussing or bullying going on there,” said another angry mother, “maybe we should put these delinquents on the football team so they can learn some character. My husband plays golf with his friends, and they tell me that there is no bullying or cursing there either. If we close the park maybe they will take up a real sport.”

“There are only 4 other playgrounds within a mile of the park. Where am I supposed to take my kid to play and not have them exposed to these feral children. What are their parent’s thinking by letting them make their own decisions? This is what happens when you let your children eat gluten.”

“We all go through that phase,” said KDH Officer Steve Follwer, “I had a Black Flag shirt when I was in high school, and my hair almost grew past my ears! I go over there occasionally and mix it up with the kids, and let them know I’m still cool and they can talk to me.” When asked how his department plans to chaperon the park he said, “are you serious?  We have real work to do. Anyway, skateboarding isn’t a crime! I had that T-shirt too in high school, and a Bob Marley one, but don’t print that. I don’t want the boss to know about that phase.”

Still people were not relenting with their demands that all public places meet their standards or be closed. One agitated parent even went as far to demand the public beach access by her house should be closed because too many “Colington” people gathered there. “Surely you see how a few anti social deviants can ruin a place so completely, that there is no hope of anyone else ever having fun their again,” she continued, “If we allow just one person to misbehave without shutting down these places, we will have ceded our island to Satan.” (Editor’s Note: Satan was unavailable for comment, even after I sacrificed numerous small creatures to him. Apparently he is still mad about getting fooled by the Cantore story.)

“It’s these entitled millennials!” said another commenter, ” They got a trophy even if they were losers, and now they demand the same rights that were afforded to us by our parents generation! What arrogance! We just want them to follow social norms just like us Gen X-ers did.”

Unfortunately the local skaters had not much to say on the issue. When The Report asked why they didn’t comment, a local skater in beanie replied, “because I’m not joining some dumbass Facebook group, my hobby is skating, not bitching on social media,” then he put on sunglasses, took a pull of a cigarette and skated away like a badass.