David Waddell, who has two years left in his term on the town council in Indian Trail, about 15 miles southeast of Charlotte, resigned Wednesday in a long but otherwise standard English letter to the public. Waddell cited long-simmering clashes with the town manager and frustration with what he called cronyism and secrecy.
But because Mayor Michael Alvarez is "a little bit of a Trekkie, also," Waddell told NBC News, he decided to break the news to him in Klingon — the language of the deadly enemy-turned-ally-turned enemy race in the "Star Trek" universe of TV series and movies.
"It was part fun," Waddell said Thursday night, but if you understand the Klingons you know they value integrity, honor and duty above all else, and "that's been a big point of contention between myself and the council."
Waddell said he plans to run as a write-in candidate on the religious conservative Constitution Party platform for the seat of Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan this year.
"I'm going to challenge the two-party system and challenge the common way of thinking on a lot of political issues," he promised.
Klingon, of course, is a made-up language, but thanks to the monomania of serious "Star Trek" fans, a full, working language has been created, complete with dictionaries and translations of classics like "Hamlet" and "A Christmas Carol."
If you want to give it a try, you can even search Google in Klingon.