Digging up dirt on missing time capsule

POST FALLS — Reporting on cases of people and things gone missing is not unusual for me.

But what popped up Thursday was a missing case unlike any other I've written about.

This one was so unique that I was asked to go dig the dirt up on it — literally and figuratively — right away.

My assignment? Help West Ridge Elementary find the time capsule this year's high school seniors buried at the school on their last day of school when they were fifth-graders. The burial marked the end of West Ridge's first year as a school.

The unearthing of the time capsule is expected to be momentous occasion at 2:30 p.m. today as those senior students are invited to participate in a ceremony taking them back in time.

That’s if they can find it.

The Press's coverage of the burial indicates the time capsule is a large glass container and that a 2016 stepping stone was placed near the school's entrance as a way of knowing where the time capsule rested below. The photos, however, do not show exactly where the capsule was buried.

What happened to the stepping stone — whether it was stolen or became buried — is a mystery, according to school staff.

I first heard of the case of the missing time capsule when Managing Editor Mike Patrick texted me that Gale Adams, a former West Ridge teacher who thought of the burial idea and is now living in Vermont, had been contacted by school staff panicking because they couldn't find the capsule to make today's ceremony easier and wondering if she remembers specifically where it was buried.

I covered the burial ceremony on June 4, 2009, so I was also asked if I could help solve the mystery.

Feeling somewhat confident, I recalled that it was buried to the right of the main door of the school near or under a rock and not far from the school building itself.

Principal Lisa Hoffeld, who worked at a different school in 2009, then sent me an email asking if I remembered the location. I relayed to her my memory and busted out the door on the assignment.

When I pulled up to West Ridge, digging tools were waiting for me near the spot where I thought the time capsule might be. By the mole hills of fresh dirt, it was obvious school staff already made serious efforts to unearth the capsule.

They've been digging all week, Hoffeld said. A metal detector has been used. Memories have been tapped. Former Principal Mandy Surratt and teachers have been asked about the burial spot. Custodians are being called upon.

But, still, nothing.

My hunch about the time capsule’s burial spot quickly fizzled when I saw there weren't just a couple landscape rocks in that area of the school grounds, but seven or eight of them. After a half-hour of manning the shovel, I retreated because deadline was calling. (Thank goodness this time.)

Knowing that finding the time capsule is now a race against time — if today’s unearthing ceremony is going to be held as planned — school staff will take any volunteer help and suggestions that come forth. The school's number is 773-7291.

Items in the container include a class DVD slide show, map, computer game, journals, baseball mitt, photos, Nerds candy and whatever else the students thought of to drop in at the time.

The mystery has this year's seniors chattering about their recollection of the time capsule location.

But they may have to ramp their search up a notch if they are going to fulfill a commitment they made seven years ago.

"The students made a promise to return to the site in 2016 to unearth their time capsule," states a Press photo caption published June 5, 2009.

That return may mean bringing a shovel with them. One final senior project awaits.