How bourgeois.

I did a similar thing when I died.

As someone who has recently died and left my fortune to my small village with some strange provisions attached, I am getting a kick out of...

Heh... leave them a million dollars under the proviso they import poor people to live in houses they build for them.

Yea....I'd pass.

"She had a nasty streak you can tell by looking at her photo"

Because looks says everything about someones personality.

French biggots.

It's a poisoned gift people! I hope someone has the antidote.

Seriously though, she does sound a little nasty. They have to rename the street she lived on, put up her paintings in the Mayor's office and build a ton of low rent housing. And like the article says, where are the people in the low rent houses going to get jobs?

\And what do the paintings look like? How do we know they aren't the French version of those "Hang in there, Kitty" posters.

houses to be let at peppercorn rates to poor or destitute families

At peppercorn rates they'll go like hot cakes.

LadyMech:

How do we know they aren't the French version of those "Hang in there, Kitty" posters.

Je décrète journalier est chatmedi au bureau du maire!

I sincerely hope that I figure out my own terrific way to screw over the people I hate.

I really do!

so in cases like this... if the town refused to take the money, who would end up getting it?

serial_crusher:

who would end up getting it?

Shelbyville.

Hee. This sounds like the bequest James Scott made to the city of Detroit when he died in 1910. He was a gambler, ne'r do well, and civic pain in the ass. He left the city money to create a beautiful fountain on Belle Isle Park, but it had to have a big statue of him and be named after him. Caused a stink for years, but he got his way.

Small-town French hicks are probably about the least pleasant, most prejudiced, most parochial hicks in the world.

"Now look at all that stuff you have to carry heh heh heh"

/too obscure?
//Zelda fan until the end
///Wished my slashies shot laser swords

\And what do the paintings look like? How do we know they aren't the French version of those "Hang in there, Kitty velvet Elvis" posters.


FTFY

Mrbogey: Heh... leave them a million dollars under the proviso they import poor people to live in houses they build for them.

Yea....I'd pass.


£1m is more like 2 million US$

LadyMech: \And what do the paintings look like? How do we know they aren't the French version of those "Hang in there, Kitty" posters.

Poodles playing poker.

I was half hoping it would be a request that someone kill one of the townsmen.
/disappointed
//did she have a pet tiger at least??

yes, i'm also curious where the money would go if the town refused the offer. they probably should, because what is the point of inheriting a million dollars if you can't spend it on what you want? she basically left them a huge financial headache in her will.

In France, poor frequently equates to rioting "youths" of a certain ethnic persuasion. After watching the Paris banlieues burn in recent years, I'd be a little hesitant to invite them into my town as well.

For a moment, I had thought this would be about Hadleyburg.

No "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg" (pops) references?

Quite an excellent short story by M. Twain; shows the true power of the short form when done skillfully.

/only crazy people write great dialog in fiction

"Devil's deals" are great, if you set the up so you can get away with it. It's best when they have to do something to "improve" themselves to get the money.

Like telling the guy who weights 300 pounds, that they can have it, but only if they lose 150 pounds.

You can also totally screw them over, like offering $5,000 to a 17 year old girl, but only if she has a baby before graduating high school.

Or giving the Political Science department of a notoriously liberal college a well-endowed "Ronald Reagan" chair in "The Failure of Communism", with specifications as to who can hold the chair. With a provision that any hanky-panky would result in the money being given to the Young Campus Republicans.

Claire Zachanassian approves.

Wow something the french won't surrender to, poor people.

Here's an idea, Frenchies: Just don't take the money. Quit the bellyaching about it and just say "No, thank you." If that million could only be spent on importing a bunch of poor people to a village of 900, why would they even consider taking it?

FTFA:
"But few want the new homes near them. In the cities, legislation to ensure
a minimum level of council housing is widely flouted."

I can't imagine why?

FTFA: "The latest divine intervention - 130 years after the first - is the astonishing will left by the village's oldest resident, Hélène Louart."

Man, they're really lowering their standards for divine intervention these days.

jjorsett: In France, poor frequently equates to rioting Arab "youths" of a certain ethnic persuasion. After watching the Paris banlieues burn in recent years, I'd be a little hesitant to invite them into my town as well.


FTFY. Why beat around the bouche?

Friedrich Dürrenmatt would like a word with this old lady.

lol that's funny
imagine you have millions and maybe you hate a town, school or politicians in general, it'd be fun to leave with a parting shot

personally I'd leave a few mil to some town on grounds that the politician has to have his pecker wacked up by a meat tenderizer
And someone standing by to post the event on You tube

My parting gift to the world, maybe add a few lawyers into it as well

If any of you farkers have $$$ (because I don't), just an idea to throw out there, should your ticker be facing it's final days

Louart has added a further condition: that the money is spent on building council houses to be let at peppercorn rates to poor or destitute families. It is a prospect that is far from filling every inhabitant with joy.

How evil of her. Making greedy farks do good for people. Oh, the horror! We can't have people helping the less fortunate!

I can see maybe 10 million making a difference but 1 million doesn't stretch like it used to. In certain parking lots, that could be less than 10 cars.

That's not a will...

Link (new window)

THAT is a will!

Paging Leona Helmsley.. C'est si français, quel bordel !

£1 million = $1,946,453.40 USD = €1,343,514.18 EUR