Meck Deck readers knew this last week, now the Uptown paper of record doubles back to fact-check those absurd “profit” claims by the U.S. National Log Flume ride. Mecklenburg County finance director Dena Diorio was asked about the “$1.9m. profit in cash flow” gag:

Diorio responded to comments by center Executive Director Jeff Wise, who told the Observer on Sunday that the Whitewater facility made $1.9 million in profit last year. He acknowledged that the facility missed payments on a $38 million loan to build the 300-acre center near the Mecklenburg-Gaston county border.

“It’s misleading for him to be telling people that he made money, because he didn’t,” Diorio told the Observer this week.

Incredibly, reporter April Betha went back to Wise for a response, at which time he uncorked this seizure-inducing whopper on his elusive money-making metric: “We’re just not making enough of it fast enough.”

Oh, alright then — full paddle ahead, captain. We’re just not making enough of it fast enough. Not like there is any time constraint with $38m. in debt hanging over your head. Does this guy have a newsletter I can subscribe to? I like where he’s going with this.

I can’t wait to try this with the IRS. It is not that I didn’t make any money, I’m just not making money right now.

Bonus Observation: It drives me absolutely bananas that far too many reporters — and not just of the Uptown variety — will print anything some person in authority has to say, no matter how crazy, without any kind of push back. Think about it, had Dena Diorio — for whatever reason — not felt like getting involved, or was too busy, or the position was held by a crazy person, this story never gets written. That is wrong.