The sign in Muhlbach-sur Munster (Haut-Rhin), October 6, 2020. -
G. Varela / 20 Minutes
At one of the entrances to the small town of Muhlbach-sur-Munster in Alsace, a sign warns visitors "Be careful, you are in the countryside".
A sign justified by the mayor Patrick Althusser who has heard more and more complaints in recent years, as in the surrounding villages, for noise pollution linked to rural life.
Complaints that also echo the story of the famous rooster Maurice, in Charente-Maritime, and that the mayor no longer wishes to hear.
The sign is small, but “it makes people talk”.
“Be careful, you are in the countryside” can be read at the entrance to the village of Muhlbach-sur-Munster, in the Haut-Rhin.
For several days, its mayor, Patrick Althusser, has been reporting a series of reports and responding to interviews with journalists.
“I didn't think it would make so much noise about this affair,” laughs the mayor.
The sign in Muhlbach-sur Munster (Haut-Rhin), October 6, 2020. - G. Varela / 20 Minutes
It is however a very small panel, 60 centimeters to break everything, attached to the entrance of the parking lot where the market is held in the summer months.
With a message which is addressed mainly to tourists passing through, day visitors, lovers of "lodgings without a noise", assure the inhabitants.
For them, it is above all the noise of the trucks which tumble down at full speed on the departmental road and cut the small town of 840 inhabitants in two, which causes the most noise pollution ...
Patrick Althusser, mayor of Muhlbach-sur Munster (Haut-Rhin), October 6, 2020. - G. Varela / 20 Minutes
"The idea came from a municipal council where we discussed the famous case of the rooster Maurice", recalls the city councilor.
“We didn't want something like that to happen here.
“It's preventive, for those who want to stay in the village or even settle down and think that there is no noise.
Since the Covid and the confinement, continues the mayor, the need for countryside and calm has been felt.
But everyone is welcome, of course, ”smiles the mayor.
An informative message
“You just have to keep in mind that it is not completely calm as some might idealize.
We have two churches, one Catholic and one Protestant, with bell towers ringing at regular times, so you have to get used to it, we don't even hear them anymore, ”says Patrick Althusser.
It is "a welcome message, so as not to be disappointed afterwards, to remind people of what the campaign really is".
Because complaints about a tractor that makes noise, a rooster that crows, ”the mayor has heard more and more in recent years, as in the surrounding villages.
An "informative" panel, but which catches the eye with its tricolor title and its campaign slogan reminiscent of the one used by the right a few years ago "France, you love it or you leave it".
Does it echo it?
It seems not to see the laughter of the mayor.
“Ah!
That's why I was made a remark.
No, we did not make the report at all, "sweeps away with one hand the city councilor who is amused by such an idea.
The mayor of Muhlbach sur Munster, at the origin of a sign Warning you are in the countryside, has fun with the villagers, the noise caused by the bells of the church of the small town.
#campaign #agriculture #Tourism #Alsace pic.twitter.com/Iy4m4BQbmX
- 20 Minutes Strasbourg (@ 20minutesstras) October 6, 2020
Respect the local city
Back to the panel.
It is clearly detailed that there are crowing roosters, cows with bells around their necks, tractors but also "farmers who work to give you food" or even "artisans who work for you and who wish to perpetuate their activity ”.
A sign with some injunctions even if the recipients of such a message are not clearly designated: “Respect these places and the people who are used to them” before concluding that this “nature does not belong only to a privileged few”.
Muhlbach-sur Munster (Haut-Rhin), October 6, 2020. - G. Varela / 20 Minutes
A warning to city dwellers who have desires of an "idealized" nature?
"We're chauvinistic around here and I don't like Parisianism," explains Daniel, a thirty-something from the village.
The sign, he sees it with a good eye, like all the inhabitants that
20 Minutes
has met.
“That's what they did, the mayor is right.
We must respect local life with its farmers who circulate in tractors in the streets.
Often I push myself to let them pass when they are loaded ”, illustrates Daniel.
For the baker Andréa, this is even insufficient: “There should be signs like that in all the villages.
"And that would" not be a bad idea, "jokes Dede, a resident who built more than 40 years ago in the town.
"Me, this sign makes me laugh!"
»Hush Dede!
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