‘Handsome Actor Eats Cheeseburger’ Is Just An Excellent Local Newspaper Headline

The Weekly: Chapel Hill and Carrboro’s Neighborhood Newspaper is, surprise, the local neighbourhood newspaper of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, two small townships in North Carolina.

Like any community paper, its focus is on “local news coverage and features that showcase the distinctiveness of the area’s history, people, places and activities”. And the area had a very big week this week: Rob Lowe of the Brat Pack, The West Wing and Parks And Recreation dropped by with his wife and son to sink his teeth into a burger at the bizarrely-named eatery Sutton’s Drug Store.

“He said his father used to run a place like this back in Ohio,” Manager Don Pinney is quoted as saying. “He said it brought back memories … He said it was one of the best burgers he ever had. And he said they would be back.

“That made me feel good.”

The journalist Matt Dees also interviewed a few locals about this momentous occasion. One, a student at UNC, reported that “We quickly took a picture with him and left so we wouldn’t take too much of his time.”

The story hasn’t come without controversy though. It didn’t take long for a response piece to pop up online. “I personally doubt that Rob Lowe ate a cheeseburger AND a hot dog AND a shake,” local Tom Griffen refuted. “That seems a little over-the-top.”

Someone needs to create a single-cam sitcom based in the office of a small-town local paper. Your move, Poehler.