Resignation Letter Enters A New Frontier

You can call politics boring, but this isn't the time: David Waddell, a town councilmember from Indian Trail, North Carolina, wrote his resignation letter to Mayor Michael Alvarez in Klingon, the language from a warrior race on Star Trek that's beloved and transcribed by fans around the world.

“Folks don’t know what to think of me half the time,” said Waddell. “I might as well have one last laugh."

Waddell is leaving at the end of this month, two years into his four-year term that otherwise would have ended Dec. 2015. His resignation stems from frustration with the pace of development in Indian Trail, population 35,000, as well as the inaccessibility of public records. Now, Waddell said, he'd be appearing at council meetings to speak his mind as a citizen.

Below, a copy of his letter — and not just in good ol' everyday Klingon, but, behold, the beautifully scripted Khronos dialect. The use of the language was meant to be an inside joke, but Waddell included a handy-dandy translation of the message just in case the mayor wasn't fluent or he didn't get it.

And, erm, it looks like Alvarez didn't: The mayor called the letter childish and unprofessional. “It’s an embarrassment for Indian Trail, and it’s an embarrassment for North Carolina,” he said.

As c|net analyzes passionately:

As a "Star Trek" fan, Waddell must have known that Klingons are more about action and less about talk. So it makes sense that he'd resign from a position that undoubtedly required having to endure endless council meetings. After all, SuvmeH 'ej charghmeH bogh tlhInganpu -- "Klingons are born to fight and conquer," not debate.

Alvarez had a point about the unprofessionalism, though: Waddell didn't even sign off with a "Live long and prosper." Honestly.