Mobility After Death

For a long time now in California, the land of Forest Lawn and Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One, the law has allowed relatives to do only two things with the ashes of their cremated dead. They may be left in a cemetery or they may be scattered to the winds--but then only if from an airplane flying at least 5,000 feet up and three miles out to sea. No doubling up to reduce charter fees, either: no more than one loved one may be strewn per flight. Keeping Uncle's ashes in an urn on the mantelpiece, next to the pewter sconces and Aunt Sadie's silver-framed portrait, is currently a misdemeanor under California law.

All these cinder blocks will vanish under a bill passed last week by the state senate that would lift all restrictions on ashes disposal. If the state assembly and Governor Reagan agree, Californians will soon be free to scatter the charred remains of friends from the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge, under a favorite ocotillo plant in the Mojave Desert, or even at a freeway interchange in downtown Los Angeles.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.