Bring Your Own Boards

By DAVID ELLIS/

Burying communism in the Soviet Union is proving more difficult every day. A Soviet newspaper reports that the state funeral agency in Orel, an agricultural center south of Moscow, has stopped making coffins because of a wood shortage. The local plant, however, will accommodate those who supply their own wood for a departed loved one. Porch planks and fence posts are preferred. One local worker helpfully suggests that "all who intend to leave this world wait a little bit."

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart