BUTLER COUNTY - The kidnapping of history set in bronze was more widespread than originally known.

A total of seven historical markers, like the one highlighting the Venango Trail at the corner of Route 228 and Franklin Road in Cranberry Township and another pointing to the borough of Zelienople at the northern end of the Main Street bridge, had been snatched from their standards.

Demands for ransom were never received. Publicized pleas for return with no questions asked were met with silence.

And then, on Aug. 19, the purloined plaques mysteriously reappeared, and looking spiffy, too.

It turns out historical markers had been picked up and replaced by the Mercer County Association for Retarded Citizens. MCARC is under contract with Pennsylvania Industries for Blind and Handicapped and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to clean and repair the markers, repaint them if necessary and even repaint the poles on which they stand.

It was scheduled maintenance that comes around every seven or eight years. The maintenance program starts when the marker is erected and all the work is done by the developmentally disabled.

Case closed.

Joyce Bessor, executive director of the Zelienople Historical Society, didn't know where the Zelienople marker had gone or exactly when it departed, just like the Cranberry Historical Society's child, Venango Trial. Bessor started making telephone calls in pursuit of the town's nametag.

"I used to be a newspaper reporter," Bessor said. "You can ask questions when you're a reporter that you can't otherwise." It was she who tracked down the hideout in Hermitage, where the marker facelifts were done.

"They probably didn't know whom to contact," said Beverly Magill of the Cranberry Historical Society, the group that raised funds for the Venango Trail marker and was fretting over its loss.

"We wouldn't know who to call," said David Ferrand, production manager for MCARC. "We get a list from Harrisburg and go out and pick up the signs." MCARC does call the local state police before they start harvesting historical markers, however.

"We want them to know we aren't stealing signs," he said with a smile. They also leave tags attached to the beheaded standards saying the marker has gone for scheduled maintenance.

Zelienople must have had a tag, but while the pole is in a highly visible location, it isn't easily accessible. As for Venango Trail, the tag, like the plaque, was missing.

"We normally send something to local authorities to let them know," said John Robinson, Historical Marker program manager for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. "This year, we had some extra funds; Butler hadn't been done recently; they had the right amount (of markers for MCARC) to handle; and we added them at the end."

There are 14 markers in Butler County and more than 2,000 throughout the state. Distances between markers is just one of the variables that causes a group to be chosen in a given year, Robinson said.

"People often contact us to report on their conditions and that helps us decide which will be sent for maintenance.

"They don't wear out - bad things happen to them. They get struck by vehicles or moved during construction, sometimes laid aside and forgotten. It's a huge task to keep track of them," Robinson said.

The historical marker program began in 1946. Zelienople's was placed October 1947. Anyone can make a proposal for one, but it is often done by local historical societies. "It's a great program and people like to take ownership of the signs," Robinson said. "Historical societies often use them for a jumping off point for history talks."

Robinson recommends visiting two Web sites that have to do with historical markers. At www.phmc.state.pa.us, click on historical marker link and you can report on the condition of a marker, propose one, find out about the one you've seen and find out about ones you might like to drive by. Also www.ExplorePAhistory.com is a good place to visit, with many links to plan a trip through Pennsylvania's history.