From The Archives: Liberty Bell recovery rang through town

A crack came in one of Longboat Key’s biggest cold cases after nearly two years. It wasn’t a murder or bank heist.

It was the theft of the town’s Bicentennial Liberty Bell, stolen from Bicentennial Park in 1992. But the Aug. 4, 1994, issue of the Longboat Observer reported that police had finally retrieved the bell.

Police Lt. John Kintz received an anonymous tip about the bell’s whereabouts July 26, 1994, and asked the Longboat Observer for a picture of the $750 bell to use for confirmation. He then contacted the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, which flew over the yard where the bell was being held and took photos with a 35mm camera.

The department obtained a search warrant and contacted the owner to request the bell’s return.

Police couldn’t establish intent to steal the bell, and the case involved a domestic dispute implicating a former spouse, so no charges were filed.

No Longboat Key residents were involved with the theft of the bell, which appeared to be a prank.

+ The Colony dropped its ‘y’; was it an early sign?
At least one current Longboat Key commissioner has joked that he refers to the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort as “the Colonoscopy.”

Like a colonoscopy, discussions of the Colony these days are messy and uncomfortable.

That’s why, retrospectively, the resort’s historic sign seemed almost prophetic Aug. 2, 2004, when the “y” fell off the word “Colony” on the resort’s historic sign, meaning that it read “The Colon.”

It happened long before the resort became entangled in a complicated legal web that eventually forced the resort to close.

In response to a 2004 query from the Longboat Observer, longtime Colony owner Dr. Murray “Murf” Klauber wrote: “‘Y’ are you asking?’” By Aug. 3 2004, the “y” had been replaced.