A REGRETTABLE PLACE

Over the last four years or so I've encountered nearly a dozen men who are moving to North Carolina. All of them are middle aged, well-to-do, usually bitter, and they hate it here. They've sold the house in Marin, packed up the furniture and doodads, and can't wait to head on out. Freedom! North Carolina.

This morning I finally figured out why they're like that.

CITE
"Two-thirds of the marriage applications in Buncombe County last year that involved at least one person under 18 originated from people who lived outside of North Carolina, Reisinger said, noting that a 49-year-old man and 17-year-old girl recently came from Kentucky seeking a license.

The county, which includes the popular tourist city of Asheville, is a destination for many adults and child brides from nearby states such as Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee ... "
END CITE

[Source: North Carolina is child bride destination - SFGate.]


ANOTHER CITE
"Under current North Carolina law, children as young as 14 can get married if they become pregnant and if a judge allows it. Otherwise, children can wed as young as 16 with parental permission. Alaska is the only other state whose law expressly allows marriages as young as 14."
END CITE

So far I haven't run into any successful Marin businessmen planning to move to Alaska.
But it's probably only a matter of time.


I was thinking of illustrating this post with a picture of a manga heroine, but catering to skeevy old pervs like that ain't quite my bag.


As a side note, the only enjoyable conversations I've had with teenagers in the last decade have involved super-braniac Talmudists and language scholars (Aramaic and Hebrew).
The single exception was a brilliant French speaking lesbian.

The only enjoyable part of talking to the men heading to North Carolina was thinking 'good riddance'. Almost without exception they were assholes and Republicans.



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