Topsail Gun Gal August 2025

Welcome to version 27 of the game Jumanji – the season of giant spiders and tiny ants.

About 2 years ago I noticed a large influx of a new breed of garden spider that preferred treetops to ground level. Some of these webs were 20 feet across and the giant orange/yellow spiders were so vibrant you couldn’t miss them. As I am not a fan of spiders, these guys seem to have an awareness of human activity and build arch ways over trails that I often walk. Ingenious really. The odd thing to me is that birds don’t pick them off. They look yummy, but apparently not. Oh, tiny ants, what a pest you are. Park for more than 30 minutes and for some reason they find the ultra-hot interior of a car delightful. No, it’s not you – it's them. The best thing I have personally found is a honey crisp apple scented multi cleaning spray that seems to kill them on contact and disrupt their trail. I’m not a professional ant killer, just someone tired of these little annoying critters.

A sneak preview of version 28 may include the new and more exciting “radioactive wasps” from South Carolina. On July 3rd a wasp nest was located on a 310 square mile nuclear facility compound in South Carolina. After the wasp nest was destroyed, it was tested and found to contain 100,000 dpm of radioactivity. Yikes. Apparently, this is no big deal as the radiation was considered “legacy radiation” from work done in the 1950s. I don’t know about you – but that does not convince me that everything is peachy. We need to keep an eye on this one.

The oceanfront Surf City Welcome center has been leased to a private business which will convert the location into a 2nd location for a popular brewery. I’m all about supporting local businesses, but my concern is what happens to the 25-30 public parking spots attached to the building? That’s a lot of beach front parking lost to residents and visitors. I’m not saying anything negative about the business, I’m just wondering.

The NC Governor recently enacted a “2-year extension” on expired NC driver’s licenses to help with the backlog of appointments at DMV. Some locations have been opened on Saturdays to help with those trying to renew. The only problem – an expired license may no longer count as a valid ID. Purchasing a firearm, banking, getting something notarized and picking up prescriptions, as well as other things, may require a valid (non-expired) license. You want to know a real solution? How about we make a NC license valid for 20 years at a time and stop wasting everyone’s time and money. The other concern? Other states don’t care that the NC DMV is backlogged. You may be ticketed for an expired license.

Some state politicians are hard at work trying to override the Governor’s vetoes on two North Carolina firearm bills. SB 50 (Freedom to Carry) and HB 193 (Firearm Law Revisions). At the time of this article, HB 193 was successfully overridden, making it law. HB 193 will allow private and religious schools to give teachers permission to carry concealed on campus after complying with requirements. SB 50 may not reach the number of votes needed in the House to override the veto. We will see.

Remember knowledge is power, radioactive wasps are a bad thing, and some rules just don’t make our lives easier.

November 4th is right around the corner so don’t forget to get out and vote in the local elections!