you've got to be kidding!

[ffemtPAJ]

Unmarried woman challenges law

A Pender County dispatcher forced to quit her job last year after the sheriff discovered she had a live-in boyfriend is suing to overturn a N.C. law that makes living together a crime.

Sheriff Carson Smith told Debora Lynn Hobbs, 40, that she would have to marry, move or leave her job, said Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina.

"I just didn't think it was any of my employer's business whether I was married or not, as long as I was good at my job," Hobbs said in a statement. "I couldn't believe that I was being given this ultimatum to choose between my boyfriend or my livelihood because the sheriff wanted to enforce a 200-year-old law that clearly violates my civil rights."

The sheriff did not respond to a message left Tuesday. Last year, Smith said he doesn't dispatch deputies to enforce the law, but that he tries to avoid hiring people who live out of wedlock, according to The Associated Press.

Living together as an unmarried couple is a misdemeanor punishable by as many as 60 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

In North Carolina, one of about half a dozen states with such a law, 33 people have been charged with the crime and 25 people have been convicted since 1997, according to the ACLU. There are 118,781 unmarried people of opposite sexes living in the same households in the state, according to the latest Census figures.

Hobbs has lived with her boyfriend since 2001. Since that time, she has worked as a deputy clerk for the Pender County Clerk of Court's Office and twice for the Sheriff's Office, most recently as a dispatcher, her lawsuit says.

Two weeks after starting that job in February 2004, the sheriff gave her the ultimatum, according to the lawsuit. By May, Hobbs was "forced involuntarily to terminate her employment," it reads. She filed her lawsuit Monday in Pender County Superior Court against Smith, Pender County District Attorney Ben David and N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper.

A fight for rights

Hobbs is not trying to get her job back or recover any monetary damages, Rudinger said.

The ACLU leader said unmarried couples have a constitutional right to live together.

She cited the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2003 that struck down Texas' sodomy law. That ruling says a law making such sex acts between same-sex couples a crime violated their rights to privacy and equal protection.

"The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that government has no business regulating what consenting adults do in their homes," Rudinger said.

Staff writer Andrea Weigl can be reached at 829-4848 or aweigl@newsobserver.com.


This sheriff has nothing better to do than harrass his employees? Dispatchers around here are hard to come by. I couldn't imagine firing one for such a bogus reason!

[firenresq77]

Wow....... I'm surprised it's taken this long for someone to fight this law!!!

[nmfire]

Wait, you can't live together if you're not married? WTF is the purpose of this law?

[Weruj1]

Holy Hillbilly Batman !!!!!!!!!! these people are a few sandwhiches shy of a pik-anick...........William Thomas Franklin......

[PattyV]

These petty little laws never cease to amaze me.

[BFDLT32]

What if this had been a same sex realtionship? Not that I am saying that it would be correct, but it falls under the catagory does it not? Guess the Sheriff does not like the fact that someone may be happy and only wants to cause discord amoung the employee's.

[Rossco]

He didn't return the request for a comment because he was very busy, out hunting down dangerous criminals.

[CaptainMikey]

The denial of civil unions is a direct violation of something we all call the frigin constitution.
What dumb*** thought of that law. I hope the state of N.C. knows that they could get the livin S**** sued out of them. Or maybe the supreme court could put bury their size 23 up the states rear.
Who the heck has the right to say that if you are not married you cant live with another person.

That sherrif is not the sharpest tool in the shed, heck he is still stuck in the mud outside of the shed.

[Rossco]

Does this law also mean no room mates? Or is it just for people suspected of doing the wild thing?

[HeavyRescueTech]

I don't know, but I was wondering the same thing. I live with a guy and a girl. according to this rule, I think I would need to marry one or both my roomates to follow this law (which would start a whole bunch of problems). personally, I'd rather go for the girl, but then my g/f would get jelous

if roomates are legal, why didn't she just tell the sherrif that they were platonic roomates?

[Dave1983]

Originally posted by Weruj1
Holy Hillbilly Batman !!!!!!!!!! these people are a few sandwhiches shy of a pik-anick...........William Thomas Franklin......

I think Hillbilly has less to do with it then bible thumping. I'm sure you dont consider yourself a hillbilly, but I'd be willing to bet you have laws like this in Ohio. Pretty much every state does. Think of the laws about what you can and cant do on a Sunday.

Ah, sepration of church and state at work again

[Rossco]

Originally posted by DrParasite


if roomates are legal, why didn't she just tell the sherrif that they were platonic roomates? [/B]

That would be a fib, and that deputy stops at nothing to stomp out crime.

[stillPSFB]

England still has a lot of strange law left over from the Middle Ages that have never been fixed. One of the funniest ones I heard was when a student was sitting his final exam at Oxford University a few years ago and he demanded his Ale to drink while doing his exams - the examiners scurried away and looked up the relevant ancient law books and discovered that he was right, so they rushed down to the pub and came back with a pint of Ale - and then they fined him because he wasn't wearing his sword - which was also required by the same ancient law that was written in the 1300's.

[PattyV]

I know where i want to go for University!
a) You get to drink in an exam.
b) You get to carry around a sword.

[ffemtPAJ]

Originally posted by PattyV
I know where i want to go for University!
a) You get to drink in an exam.
b) You get to carry around a sword.

Patty,
LMAO!!!! I love your sense of humor!!!!!!

[Dave1983]

This site is good for a laugh.

http://www.dumblaws.com/

Some funny stuff in there

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

It is illegal to buy, sell or possess a squirt gun.

This was enacted after a few young punks used squirt guns to spray bleach in people's faces.

Silly string is illegal in the city limits.

Silly string was sold at a Labor Day parade in town. It was a very hot humid day and the chemicals in the silly string caused damage to the paitwork of fire appartus, police cruisers and other vehicles in the parade.

One may not detonate a nuclear device in the city.

Enacted during the cold war years, it also provided for the fining of any nation for damages due to the explosion of said device.


It is illegal for any citizen to own more than two dogs.

This one has been on the books for over 100 years.

[FireMustang]

Danville,Pa Laws
All fire hydrants must be checked one hour before all fires.

Maryland Laws
Oral sex can not be given or received anywhere

[cellblock]

It's cases like this, unmaried couples not being allowed to cohabitate, that remind me to renew my ACLU membership every year. That's one check I actually enjoy writing.

[lvfdch]

Wow
What a way to lose your job?? There is a law that gives same sex couples who live together, Equal health care coverage if one or the other has a plan where they work, Well what makes this any different?