When the California city of Franklin Falls dug up a time capsule over the weekend, officials were amazed at how well the contents and the box that contained the artifacts had aged.Buried in an enameled capsule that was encased in concrete and buried about twenty-two feet deep, the time capsule weathered the beating of California's climate. A plaque placed on the side of the capsule stated it would be opened in October of 2009 by Franklin Falls' mayor.
And so it was.
The 2005 time capsule, buried in front of Cap McCrarey Park, was crafted years ago by workers at Poulter, Stimmit and Company, neighboring city Larchville's sewer pipe and architectural terra cotta factory known more for its work with clay than ceramics.
"It was in pristine condition," said Sally Maglie, chairwoman of the city's 4th birthday party on Saturday. "It was a timeless work of art that those guys from Poulter, Stimmit created."
Inside, there were photos of the 2005 Franklin Falls Council, a Time magazine, handprints from schoolchildren, a letter from the then-mayor Morris Maglie, a picture of Franklin Falls founder Morris Maglie and newspapers.
Pope John Paul II graced the Time cover of April 11, 2005. Inside was an advertisement for a new Ford F150 truck that listed for $21,835.Newspapers stored in the box were the Franklin Falls PennySaver, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Sunday Sacramento Bee. A daily copy of the Chronicle cost seventy five cents, and The Sunday Bee cost two dollars.
The Bee, dated September, 2005, featured a photograph of yet another soldier's coffin arriving from Iraq, and stories about a two new office buildings being built in Sacramento, and President George W. Bush apologizing for the 3.7% national unemployment rate. The capsule also included poems and essays from Franklin Falls High School students. Mayor Morris Maglie randomly chose one of the poems and read it to the assembled throng.
Franklin Falls
by Jennette Silas (11th Grade)
I get home
Sink into my regular depression
Self pity, self loathing
Self analysis
What a wimp
I hate this life
What comes ahead
What was
What is
We are born to die
Go to school
Work for fifty years
Die
Another ant come and gone
That's all we are
If you think you're different
You're Wrong
If you choose optimism
Congratulations
I wish I could
I try, but my brain
Won't have it
Cursed to a life of self pity
Self loathing, pessimistic.
I hate this place.
by Jennette Silas (11th Grade)
I get home
Sink into my regular depression
Self pity, self loathing
Self analysis
What a wimp
I hate this life
What comes ahead
What was
What is
We are born to die
Go to school
Work for fifty years
Die
Another ant come and gone
That's all we are
If you think you're different
You're Wrong
If you choose optimism
Congratulations
I wish I could
I try, but my brain
Won't have it
Cursed to a life of self pity
Self loathing, pessimistic.
I hate this place.
The "Four Years of Greatness" celebration in Cap McCrarey Park, which included a parade and fireworks, was attended by about 40 people, Maglie said."The biggest surprise was the condition of the 4-year-old time capsule," Maglie said. "They did such a great job with that. Everything was packaged well and in great condition."
Contents of the 2004 time capsule will be displayed for public viewing, Walker said.
At that time, officials also will bury a 2009 time capsule, to be exhumed in 2013.
31 comments:
I hate that place. I'm never going back.
Don't they usually bury time capsules for twenty years or more? Four years seems like a very short time - of course they can bury what they will.
I want 3.7% unemployment back. That sounds real good about now. Four years does seem like a short time to keep a time capsule buried. But, with Obama as President this earth is probably going to be taking a beating, so four years sounds good.
I thought they were supposed to stay buried for 50 years at least. I can find a time capsule that old on the top shelf of my closet.
Opus, Me too.
I've always been told that 4.5% unemployment is the static number and is therefore considered Zero % unemployment.
3.7% would be negative .8% unemployment or .8 % Over-employment for our liberal friends.
LL, I'm beginning to have doubts about this story.
Terri, be careful. Those were the horrible George W. Bush years when our economy was in chaos.
I've got dust that is older than that time capsule.
Opie, I've got lint older than that in my pants pocket.
Kid, think of all those Americans unable to enjoy their funemployment.
Agreed, time capsules should be buried for most of a lifetime.
Banned, but then the people who buried it wouldn't be there to glory in the wonder of it all.
Nickie,
inspired by the story I've nailed together my own time capsule,but with a difference.
I've just sent a half eaten tuna sandwich sealed in a cling film capsule into the future using my microwave oven.
Well I assume that's what all the smoke was about, looking forward to disintering it next year at a land fill site. :-)
2004 was at the bottom of the "See Ya' Later Capsule" mania that characterized the John Kerry Era. Depression and ennui seized people who identified themselves as a Democrats.
I was alive then, and I remember that Howard Dean included a copy of Silas's poem with the living wills that the DNC mailed to its entire mailing list, and he even gave them to his terminal patients in Vermont.
We know that periods like the John Kerry Era are followed by free-floating hysteria, cosmetic surgery, dementia, compulsive foot-scraping and widespread pusillanimous wanking by Democrats, like in the Pelosi-Reid-Obama Era we're in now.
Conservatives are immune, especially when they've been exposed to Goomba genius.
Rhod, I have to agree with you this morning. Genius is always a good antidote for pusillanimous wanking.
Incoming, I'm looking forward to the worldwide End-Of-The-Decade celebrations. I've got a 5 lb. box of Raisinets in the freezer time capsule.
What kind of wine goes with Raisinets?
Rhod, you're too kind.
It was the best of times, it was the not-that-bad of times.
Opie... no comment!
"pusillanimous wanking." My goodness someone must have eaten the Twinkie that was put in the time capsule.
Hopefully little Jeannette Silas sought therapy somewhere.
TF... Twinkies have a half life of 200 years.
X... Jennette is now working as a Production Assistant for David Letterman.
Wow...a whole 4 years...what did they have A.D.D. or something that they were afraid they'd forget about it if they waited longer.
I can just open my foot locker from Bosnia or Iraq and have my own time capsule....but nobody would give a ....
Maybe they figured 4 years is the memory span of the average voter? My annual income tax return is a bit like a time capsule. I pop it into something called a `letter box` with the correct postage affixed. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs then take 3 times as long to send me any rebate yet manage to plunder me immediately for any under payment. Its a miracle.
P Wanker came from Nickie and DC's time capsule. That was the blog name for a lefty over at DC's.
It has almost nothing to do with Twinkies.
What, no singing frog?
Dude... The phrase 'delayed gratification' may have escaped them.
HogMan, at least you have the benefit of knowing that Inland Revenue carefully watches every penny and uses your money wisely.
Mike... I'm a fellow Warner Bros. fan.
There's a guy at my office who has had food containers in the refrigerator for longer than 4 years. It was a surprise that the time capsule was so well preserved? Should have just put it in somebody's closet instead of burying it 22 feet down!
WTH?!?!?!!! Let me get this straight...the time capsule is only 4 years old???? What????
Sounds like a colossal waste tax payer $$$$.
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