Serbian Village Wants "Rocky" Statue

A Serbian village, worn out by floods and misfortune, has decided it was time to fight back.

Zitiste, about 36 miles north of Belgrade, is planning to erect a huge statue of the Rocky Balboa film character in the village square to attract tourists and show a new face to the world.

"We wanted to change the image of the Zitiste municipality and present it in a more positive manner," Zoran Babic, local official who has backed the initiative, explained.

The village has repeatedly suffered heavy flooding and landslides in recent years, gaining a disaster-prone reputation.

Fed up, the locals started contemplating how to change that image and revive the village, which is one of the poorest in northern Serbia, Babic said.

The Politika daily reported Sunday that local officials have already contacted Philadelphia, where a monument to actor Sylvester Stallone's film character already exists.