I also live in North Carolina... grew up, went to school and attended church in Pender County for a good portion of my life. Wilmington & New Hanover County (right next door to Pender Co) is where I live now.
We had a case here in New Hanover Co. about 7 months ago with a woman on probation in NJ (I think) that had moved to NC & got into trouble for living with her boyfriend because someone reported her locally, based our co-habitation law. I don't remember all the details, but it's odd that this issue should come up in the area twice all of a sudden. Supposedly, the sherriff in Pender County made his ultimatum because he felt it wasn't right to employ someone who was blatantly defying state law.
The fact remains, however, that his employee's living arrangements are none of his business. As for the matter of the law, there are plenty of out-dated laws on the books that no longer apply to modern citizens. You know - those silly things you see listed from time to time. Stuff like "It shall be illegal to ride an elephant in the city limits after 7pm", "Any citizen found to be bathing more than twice a week shall be arrested", etc, etc. His moral convinctions shouldn't be forced onto anyone else - his family, his friends, and certainly not his employees!
Sadly, though, NC is not a "right to work" state.... our employers can fire us at any time without notice for whatever reason suits them. So long as we weren't fired for a discriminatory reason (that can be proven), we've got no recourse.
The whole situation reeks... and certainly doesn't help kill the image of NC as some backward cesspool, crawling with holier-than-thou Southern Baptist Morality Police.
We aren't all raving hypocrites... I swear!