A city worker in Changhua, Taiwan told residents the grass could not be cut during Ghost Month, and the mayor is now going out to mow it himself.

• Residents complained that weeds at a Changhua parking lot and several parks had grown high enough to hide snakes.
• A civil affairs clerk told them cutting grass during Ghost Month is forbidden or "something might happen," and pushed the job to mid-September.
• The office first claimed the clerk only said he had "heard" about the taboo, until a councilor played a recording of the call.
• Mayor Lin Shih-hsien, angry at the excuse, said he will lead a crew to cut the weeds himself to kill off the superstition.
• Locals mocked the reasoning online, joking that the grass-cutting budget should only cover eleven months of the year.

Outlook: The weeds get cut this week, and the clerk's superstition defense is unlikely to survive the mayor's visit.