Time capsule opened, brandy missing

SOMERTON, Ariz., March 15 (UPI) -- Officials in an Arizona town said pictures, a VHS tape and a magazine were retrieved from a time capsule buried in 1985, but a bottle of brandy was missing.

Pancho Soto, a member of the crew that buried the capsule on Somerton's Main Street in 1985 and now the city's supervisor for the Streets and Solid Waste Department, said the object unearthed Saturday contained letters and photographs submitted by residents as well as the VHS tape and a 1981 Time magazine featuring President Ronald Reagan on the cover, the Yuma (Ariz.) Sun reported Monday.

"The concrete gave us a hard time," Soto said after the time capsule was unearthed. "Twenty-five years back, the concrete was probably better than right now."

He said he was shocked to find an object missing from the haul.

"I was surprised when we opened it. There was a bottle of brandy, and right now it's not there. What happened? I don't know. When we buried it, the bottle was there. I thought it was going got be there and I told my friends and co-workers it was going to be there."

Somerton officials said they are planning to bury a new time capsule to be opened in 2035.

"We are going to do one this year," Mayor Martin Porchas said. "Not in the same spot but next to city hall. We are going to bury it in October, so we are going to get kids from the schools to write letters to future fifth, sixth and seventh-graders."