Bill of Rights Display Opens to Protests : Exhibit: Foes of smoking decry tobacco company’s sponsorship of tour showing original copy of 10 constitutional amendments.

An original copy of the Bill of Rights went on display Wednesday in Los Angeles amid complaints that visitors who come to see it are being sold a bill of goods.

The handwritten document’s five-day visit at the Shrine Exposition Center is part of a cross-country tour marking the bicentennial of the 10 constitutional amendments that protect Americans’ individual freedoms.

But the 26,000-mile tour is being sponsored by the giant cigarette maker, Philip Morris Companies Inc. Smoking foes say that the highly promoted tour is nothing more than a trick to sell cigarettes.

Philip Morris officials disagree. They say their $60-million promotion is designed to fire up emotions, not Marlboros.

Schoolchildren were at the center of Wednesday’s dispute. Anti-smoking forces lined youngsters up outside the Shrine auditorium to give speeches and sing rap songs condemning cigarettes.

Inside, Philip Morris workers lined them up for the tour of their glitzy 15,000-square-foot display and a close-up view of the Bill of Rights itself.

“Patriotism is indeed the last refuge of scoundrels,” grumbled William Rothbard, head of a group called Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights. He was standing beneath a 15-foot-tall replica of the Statue of Liberty that held a cigarette instead of a torch in its upraised arm.

Dr. Arnold Malcolm, chief of radiotherapy at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank chided the tobacco industry for trying to make cigarette smoking an issue of personal freedom. At the same time, he asserted, “the industry has continually fought to suppress your right to know” about the deadly effects of smoking.

Inside the hall, next to a ramp leading to two small rooms where the Bill of Rights document is being shown every three minutes, Philip Morris spokeswoman Taggarty Patrick accused the protesters of hiding behind a smoke screen of their own.

“This has nothing to do with advertising any of our company’s 3,000 products,” she said. “This is like a mini-museum. Look around--there’s absolutely no advertising in here. This has absolutely nothing to do with cigarettes.”

To Patrick’s left stood a brightly painted armored car which carries the bulletproof glass display box that holds the 28-by-34-inch sheepskin parchment. To her right were two small elevated viewing rooms where visitors can take an 80-second peek at the document.

A sledlike device carries the box back and forth between the two viewing rooms, where small elevators lift it through openings in the floor and rotate it for visitors to look at.

Patrick said the show travels between cities in a 17-truck caravan. She said the 65 workers who accompany the tour have become accustomed to the protesters, who tag along behind using a flatbed truck to tote their mock Statute of Liberty, dubbed the Statue of Nicotina.

The protesters are entitled to their opinion of Philip Morris’ motives, said Patrick. But she charged that they are guilty of “defacing one of the most significant” national symbols by displaying an altered the Statue of Liberty outside the Bill of Rights display.

Philip Morris’ involvement has been debated since the firm--which derives 40% of its profit from cigarette sales--borrowed the Bill of Rights copy from the state of Virginia. In exchange for use of the document, which is one of 12 that exist, the company made a $250,000 donation to the state.

Some believe that the public should not look a gift horse in the mouth since the display is free and many visitors are viewing the Bill of Rights for the first time. Others, such as the Boy Scouts of America, have been bothered by the tobacco company’s involvement. Scout executives have warned local scouting leaders against signing up as “co-sponsors” of the tour.

“It’s a lovely exhibit, a great exhibit,” Los Angeles anti-smoking protest leader Peggy Toy admitted. “We have nothing against it. We encourage people to come, but to be mindful of the irony of a tobacco company being involved.”

Tour organizers said they expect 6,000 visitors a day during the Los Angeles stopover. The exhibit will be open free to the public from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Saturday and until 4 p.m. on Sunday.

The sponsorship dispute brought smirks to some grown-ups in the opening-day crowd. But it was hardly a smoldering issue for the children.

“I heard a few sarcastic remarks from adults, such as, ‘Will we get complimentary cigarettes at the end?’ ” said Marie Ramirez, who brought 31 Whittier children to the exhibit. “But the children don’t comprehend it.”