MountainWings       A MountainWings Moment

#9316              Wings Over The Mountains of Life

Severe Punishment
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BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - The mayor of a village in
southwest France has threatened residents with severe
punishment if they die, because there is no room left in the
overcrowded cemetery to bury them.

In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard
Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx
that "all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and
wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in
the parish."

It added: "Offenders will be severely punished."

The mayor said he was forced to take drastic action after an
administrative court in the nearby town of Pau ruled in
January that the acquisition of adjoining private land to
extend the cemetery would not be justified.

Lalanne, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Wednesday, and is
standing for election to a seventh term in this month's local
elections, said he was sorry that there had not been a
positive outcome to the dilemma.

"It may be a laughing matter for some, but not for me," he
said.

(Reporting by Claude Canellas, Writing by Andrew Dobbie;
editing by Sami Aboudi)

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