In the dark

Another instance of dimwits working in local government. From the Miami Herald-

HOBE SOUND - (AP) -- Fifteen concrete lamp posts left over from Florida's 1925 land boom are missing from this Treasure Coast city, and officials are trying to track them down.

About eight feet tall, the posts are relics from the days after Henry Flagler brought his railroad through eastern Florida. They were built to mark street corners in the proposed City of Olympia, which covered most of what today is Hobe Sound.

The plan was to build Olympia to lure movie studios to the area. The name was changed to Picture City and plans were presented for a movie picture production center, according to the Hobe Sound Chamber of Commerce's website.

But the land boom ended after the destructive 1926 and 1928 hurricanes and the Great Depression, and the movie industry never came to Hobe Sound.

Some reminders of Olympia still exist: Greek-themed street names such as Zeus and Mercury; the former Apollo School, the first school in Hobe Sound; and the lamp posts.

Some of the posts are still standing on Dixie Highway, and others were being stored at J.V. Reed Park.

But County Commissioner Lee Weberman discovered the posts missing from their storage site after a call from The Stuart News seeking information about their whereabouts. Bill Frondorf, of Sewall's Point, had called the newspaper seeking help with his efforts to preserve the posts.

''They are county property and stood on county right of way, and I think they ought to be restored to remind us of the earlier days in Hobe Sound,'' Frondorf said.

Weberman said he can't figure out what happened to the lamp posts.

''Someone picked them up, but we don't know who,'' he said.

Two questions pop to mind- How long have they been missing? and Does Hobe Sound have any video surveillance of the area the posts were taken from?

I wouldn't see much of a market, even with collectors, for 80 year old lamp posts. Want to bet someone put them out with the trash similar to this story?

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