Story Archive

Nightmare Vacation

Bald Head Village, N.C., has about 25 public safety officers, and only 168 year-round residents; it’s on Bald Head Island, which attracts vacationers such as Julie Mall. One of the cops arrested Mall on charges including misdemeanor child abuse — for letting her son, 11, drive a golf cart on a paved path. The charges were dismissed after the officer failed to show up to testify, but Mall, who volunteers at her kids’ schools, fears that the child-abuse charge could turn up on a background check and interfere with that. She could get it expunged, but her lawyer explains that North Carolina allows only one expungement per lifetime, and the prosecutor has two years in which to reinstate the charge. “I’m not a menace to society,” said Mall. “I’m not a child abuser.” She concedes that she was wrong to let her son violate the requirement that golf-cart drivers on Bald Head Island be at least 16 and have driver’s licenses. (AC/Charlotte Observer) ...Driving a golf cart still sounds like a lot of fun for “being abused.”