County at Heart of State Celebration : Salute to Constitution Readied

In Buena Park, thousands of people--including California Chief Justice Malcolm M. Lucas and former astronaut Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr.--will sign copies of the Constitution in front of a replica of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.

In Irvine, 300 senior citizens in the Regents Point retirement community will hang American flags outside their apartments, feast on Yankee pot roast and apple pie and watch six of their neighbors perform in “Little Short of a Miracle,” a play about the adoption of the Constitution.

And that’s only the beginning.

Thursday is the 200th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, and next week bicentennial events that have been months or years in the making will unfold all across the nation.

Orange County will play a special role in California’s observances. Most of the major state activities will take place here, according to Bicentennial Foundation spokesman Ray Kabaker. That, he said, is largely because the Independence Hall at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park is an exact replica of Philadelphia’s historic Independence Hall.

“As you review those activities, we have everybody involved and we have outstanding community leaders,” said Susan Ambrose, Orange County event coordinator for the Governor’s Ball Thursday night at Knott’s Berry Farm. “That’s bound to be the highlight of autumn activity in Orange County.

“This is a tremendous effort on the part of all community residents, young and old, to celebrate the freedoms we have in America.

“It epitomizes all the energy and initiative and integrity that they as Americans demonstrate.”

The event involving Lucas and Aldrin, as well as the Regents Point celebration, will be Thursday. But the county’s observances will begin earlier in the week. The Orange County Bar Assn. is sponsoring tours of the Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday.

Most Orange County public school students will participate in observances Wednesday as part of the nationwide “Celebration of Citizenship,” spokesmen for school districts said. At 10 a.m. the students will recite the Pledge of Allegiance as it is said by President Reagan in a national broadcast. Former U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger, the chairman of the national Bicentennial Commission, then will read from the Preamble of the Constitution.

Thirty-nine students from Orange County and other areas of Southern California will re-enact the signing of the Constitution at Knott’s Berry Farm’s Independence Hall in a televised program sponsored by the California Bicentennial Foundation for the U.S. Constitution, the statewide organization coordinating bicentennial activities.

The students were chosen because they have the same last names as the signers of the Constitution, according to Kabaker.

In Buena Park the 3,700 students in the city’s elementary school district will wear only red, white or blue, Assistant Supt. Sandra Barry said.

At Rancho Canada Elementary School in El Toro, 584 students holding red, white and blue balloons will march onto the athletic field and form the U.S. flag, said Ann Chlebicki, assistant superintendent of the Saddleback Valley Unified School District.

Wednesday evening a public bicentennial kick-off reception sponsored by the Orange County Bar Assn. will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Plaza of the Flags in the Santa Ana Civic Center. Dressed in colonial garb, Superior Court Judge David Brickner, playing Patrick Henry, and Santa Ana attorney Mitchell Samuelson, in the role of James Madison, will debate whether the Constitution should be adopted.

During the two-hour ceremony, marching bands will play, free food and beverages will be served, and red, white and blue balloons will be released.

On Thursday, as the bicentennial is observed throughout the nation, many Orange County cities will be marking the occasion with speeches by politicians, pealing church bells and signings of copies of the Constitution.

The signed copies of the Constitution will be sent to the Bicentennial Foundation where they will be collected and used on the foundation’s float in the 1988 Rose Parade, foundation spokesman Kabaker said.

At 11 a.m., 100 people from 30 different countries will be sworn in as new citizens at Knott’s replica of Independence Hall by U.S. 9th Circuit Court Judge Warren Ferguson, Kabaker said.

From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., a patriotic musical show will be held on the lawn in front of Independence Hall. Chief Justice Lucas and Aldrin will lead the assembled throng in a symbolic re-signing of the Constitution, Kabaker said.

At 1:30 p.m., to coincide with the national bell-ringing ceremony, which will be led by President Reagan, 5,000 balloons will be released as the Independence Hall bell rings for 200 seconds, Kabaker said.

During the two-hour ceremony, which is free and open to the public, TV performers, singers, dancers and musical groups will perform, Kabaker said.

From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., 800 invited guests, paying $200 each, will attend a ball on the east lawn of Independence Hall to raise money for the Bicentennial Foundation, Kabaker said. Gov. George Deukmejian is to be the host.