DARE COUNTY, N.C. — Dare County began lifting its coronavirus travel restrictions gradually. That meant non-resident homeowners could go there, and some of them said they found hateful flyers on cars with out-of-state license plates.
The flyers start strong: "You are NOT a resident of Dare County. The residents of Dare County DO NOT WANT YOU or ANYONE FROM OUT OF STATE HERE DURING THIS PANDEMIC!"
They go on to accuse non-residents of seeking the county as a safe haven from the virus, and demanding these people go home.
Late Tuesday night, the Dare County Sheriff's Office said it was investigating the situation. It said the message put forward in these flyers is not condoned by the county.
The same message was posted on the county's official website. It says: “The flyer claims to be on behalf of Dare County residents, but that is not the reality.”
A lot of people in Dare County, agree, and say the flyers are downright rude.
“I think they’re terrible. There’s no reason for it,” Richard Furioni said. “I think it’s terrible. This is America, we should be able to go where we want, do what we want, that’s it.”
Some residents said they agreed with visitor restrictions but the flyers are unnecessary.
“I don’t want the visitors here but I don’t think the flyers are the way to handle it. That just gives us a bad image,” Stephanie Simpson said.
Another resident, Xoshilt Romero said she doesn't like the flyers either.
“I think they’re really rude,” Romero said. “Sometimes you have to think the things but they’re not good to say it out loud or nice to say it out loud.”
The flyer says: “Stop being so selfish and ignorant about this. You can say you want to come in and check your properties but we all know this to be false.”
It continues: “Lying might work to get past the government but it doesn’t work the same way on locals.”
Resident Reilly Chytracek said she doesn't agree with the flyers because visitors contribute a lot to the area's economy.
“It’s not right. They say we’re all supportive of each other but that’s not really supporting,” Chytracek said. “Honestly, I think it’s kind of ridiculous how locals actually don’t want visitors here because most of the businesses, they rely on the visitors.”
So far, Dare County has only seen 15 cases of coronavirus. Of those 15 people, 14 recovered, and one person in his or her 90s, with underlying health conditions, died.
Non-residents had been pushing for the ability to return to homes they owned in the county throughout the County's duration of strict travel restrictions.
The number of coronavirus cases in Dare County has been stable since mid-April.
