Time capsule unearthed

A page out of history stepped out of time and into the sunlight Saturday in Somerton - minus a bottle of brandy.

A small crowd gathered around the site of a time capsule that was buried in 1985 on Main Street to watch as it was unearthed.

Inside were letters from Somerton residents, photographs, an old VHS tape and a 1981 Time magazine with a picture of President Ronald Reagan on the cover.

Pancho Soto, now Somerton's supervisor for the Streets and Solid Waste Department, was part of the crew that buried it.

"The concrete gave us a hard time," Soto said of Saturday's unearthing. "Twenty-five years back, the concrete was probably better than right now."

Soto was excited to see the contents of the capsule but was puzzled by a missing item that was supposed to be inside.

"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."

The items that were present were put up on display later in the day at Joe Muñoz Park. Soto said one of the letters was from his manager in 1985, who has since passed away.

"The letter has my name on it, and some of my co-workers. Some of them aren't with us anymore."

The city of Somerton plans to create a new time capsule and fill it with messages and trinkets from today. It will be opened in 2035.

"We are going to do one this year," said 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."

Soto said he hopes to be there the next time the capsule is opened. "I'm going to try. I will be 75 by then."

According to Porchas, the new time capsule will be more technologically advanced.

"Hopefully we will make something a little bigger than this time capsule so we can fit more stuff. Someone from the college is going to make the time capsule that will preserve what we put in there. It is going to take a little bit longer. We were planning on doing it today but we didn't know what we were going to face."

Porchas said he hopes everyone who puts something in the new capsule will be back to see it again in the future.

"Definitely anyone who puts in something, we’ll keep track of them so we can try to get them back in 25 years. Who knows, maybe we’ll get future council members or future mayors who put stuff in there. You never know. It will be in 2038, which is a long time from now. Some of the council members today might still be here, we hope."

Porchas said Somerton has grown by leaps and bounds since 1985.
 
"Back then the population was about 3,500. We had at that time about nine police officers. Today the population is between 13,000 and 15,000 and we now have about 27 officers. It is a much bigger city. We have changed."

A letter in the time capsule said Somerton had 600 accounts for water services on the books in 1985. Now it has about 3,000.

Porchas said he was pleased with the day's events. "I just want to thank all the people who participated and attended here. I was expecting less of a crowd, but it was a good crowd."