Fundraising drive saves Delbert Melton’s land from auction ----- By Rob Morris

Reprinted with permission from
outerbanksvoice.com/commentary/

After some tense moments wondering if donations would clear in time, a group raising money by
online crowdfunding to pay fines for a man whose property was up for auction in Kill Devil Hills
has met its goal.
As late as Tuesday, concerns rose that the YouCaring website would not be able to transfer the
donations into Delbert Melton’s bank account by today’s deadline. “Toward the evening, we started
getting incredibly generous messages from people who were offering to loan the money that hadn’t
yet transferred, as well as other incredible gestures. We went to sleep knowing it would be fine, but
we weren’t sure exactly how,” the fund raisers wrote on the site.
Before time ran out, Southern Bank sent notification that the money had been deposited, and the
$22,000 he needed was available.
“So this morning, Delbert went to the bank, got his cashier’s check, and then we went to the Dare
County Sheriff’s Office to pay his fines in total,” the fund raisers wrote.
It’s done. You saved his property.”
Bidding was scheduled to end Thursday, and the county said it needed the fine paid by Wednesday to take the property off the auction block. Although the fines
were levied by the town, the auction was handled by the Dare County Sheriff’s Office.
The town said that it had been trying to get the property at 1208 Swan Street cleaned up for over 20 years. Officials first started receiving complaints in 1992 and
issued a notice of violation. The auction of the property drew strong public reaction after the Voice reported that town Commissioner Michael Midgette and his father were involved in the bidding.
Getting the exact amount needed by Melton had proven difficult, according to Tracy Chafin, one of the organizers of the fundraising effort, and others when they inquired with town officials. They finally learned Monday the exact total needed is $22,723.82.
More than $6,000 was raised on Friday alone. And the donations continued to build over the weekend, including $5,000 donation from an anonymous business in Duck.

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