ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 2, 1996 TAG: 9604020090
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
A cursory check of the Liberty Bell on Monday found no trace of taco juice on the iron, no Burrito Supremes in the crack.
No, Taco Bell didn't buy the Liberty Bell.
In an April Fools' Day joke, the fast-food chain took out full-page ads in eight newspapers announcing that it had purchased America's symbol of freedom to help shrink the federal debt.
The bell will henceforth be called, the ads said, the Taco Liberty Bell.
By noon - the traditional time for confessions - the company came clean. The bell will remain in its home outside Independence Hall, and the Irvine, Calif., company will donate $50,000 toward preservation and maintenance.
``We would never say we didn't need the money,'' said Martha Aikens, superintendent of Independence National Historical Park. ``But the word sale never came up.''
Legally, the federal government couldn't sell the Liberty Bell even if wanted to. The city of Philadelphia owns the bell (which a Taco Bell press release points out weighs the same - 2,080 pounds - as 11,093 tacos and would need 5,376 packets of hot sauce to fill it up).
The joke provided several hours of amusement - and amazement - before the truth came out.
``Get out of here!'' said Arthur Davis, 37, as he visited the bell. ``You can't just buy that.''
Janet Friedman, a teacher from Ann Arbor, Mich., was angry about the ``commercialization'' of the bell. But she admitted the ad was a perfect tool for her middle-school class' study of propaganda.
``I'm having enough trouble teaching my kids American history,'' Friedman said. ``I think my sixth-graders will eat it up.'' - Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB