Bells ring across America, CSULB

By Carrie Porche Jones, On-Line Forty-Niner

Thursday, September 17, 1998

Bells across America will ring eleven times on Sept. 17, 1:00 p.m. local time, with one ringing right here at Cal State Long Beach.

The simultaneous coast to coast ringing of bells will open Constitution Week, the official commemoration of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitution was approved by all 12 state delegations, and signed by 39 of 42 delegates on Sept. 17, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. This year marks the 211th anniversary of this historic event.

In 1955, President Eisenhower designated Sept.17 through 23 as Constitution Week with the passage of Public Law 915.

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution sponsors the national celebration.

"This is the first year that the bell on the CSULB campus will join in the annual bell ringing," said Laura Mayberry of the Point Vicente chapter of the NSDAR.

Mayberry said the local chapters of the NSDAR look for places with bells to participate in the event. Finding bells in this area of California is hard, however, on the East Coast and in small towns there are plenty of churches with steeples and bell towers.

"I am a student here and knew about the bell tower on campus. I called President Maxson and asked for permission to have the bell rung. He had to write a letter to the national office to have our bell included," Mayberry said.

The bell tower is located on Hardfact Hill, the area separating Upper Campus from Lower Campus.

Locally, other participants include the Salvation Army chapters of San Pedro and Long Beach, and the First Presbyterian Church of San Pedro, which houses one of the oldest church bells in the area.

The Queen Mary will blow its horn for five seconds and the Palos Verdes Estates Fire Station No. 2 will sound its buzzer.

The Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, Lambda Beta chapter, will be wearing bells at the tower for the ringing of the bell.