4/6/01 3:30 p.m.: East Coast time
This man was nervous, pacing back and forth (Waiting for the Right Time? Perhaps 3:30 Eastern Time instead of the 3:40 reported?) He had been staying at a City Center Hotel and had checked out that morning. From his statements, it was not his intent to hurt the bell but merely to 'ring it' to free the Bell's Spirit.

NOW, get this:
4/6/01/3:30 p.m. West Coast Time - The Bremerton Washington Hanford Nuclear Plant's Emergency Alarms went off! It created a huge stir, but was said to be a 'false' alarm. Someone set it off, by chance?

3:30 3:3
From East Coast to West Coast...
From Sea to Shining Sea...

Connection?...co-incidence?

By Joseph A. Slobodzian,
Julie Stoiber

and Thomas J. Gibbons Jr.
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
http://philadelphia.about.com/citiestowns/midlanticus/philadelphia/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Finq.philly.com%2Fcontent%2Finquirer%2Fhome%2F

A self-described "wanderer" from Nebraska pulled out a small sledgehammer during a tour at the Liberty Bell yesterday morning and struck the symbol of American freedom four times - shouting "God lives!" with each blow - before he was tackled by a park ranger and arrested.

"He was very nervous, moving back and forth. All of a sudden, he just started hitting. I thought it was an act, so I took a picture," said Tina Amantea, the mother of one of the schoolchildren.

"I saw him come around the back of the bell, and I saw him swing it," said Anthony Pressimone, a school chaperone, who described the tool as a sledgehammer with a black metal head and a wooden handle about a foot and a half long.

Upon hearing metal strike metal, a National Park ranger ran to the rear of the bell and tackled Guilliatt. David Negron, a New York City police detective on the school trip with his son, helped hold the thin man down while rangers pried the hammer from Guilliatt's hands.

Guilliatt told authorities that he had been born in Nebraska but was "a wanderer." He had been staying at a small Center City hotel and had checked out yesterday morning.

Dressed in green military camouflage pants and a black T-shirt with an etching of Jesus Christ, Guilliatt was charged in U.S. District Court with damaging U.S. property and damaging an archaeological resource, charges that carry a sentence of up to seven years in prison. A bail hearing was set for Wednesday.

Witnesses said Guilliatt also had brought a bamboo cane and a guitar case with him into the pavilion, resting them against a wall before he began hammering at the Liberty Bell. The 2,000-pound, three-foot-tall bell - housed on the mall bounded by Market, Chestnut, Fifth and Sixth Streets - draws 1.6 million visitors a year and is the city's most popular historic site.

Elaine Gross, a private tour guide, said she had heard Guilliatt complain after being tackled that "I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything violent."

His grandmother Bertha Guilliatt of Auburn, Neb., told the Associated Press that he had never been in trouble and was religious. "I was always worried that maybe he was a fanatic or something. He always said God would take care of him," she said.

"Every time he smacked it, he said, 'God lives!' " said Tony Dinome, another visitor who had just heard a four-minute talk on the bell from park ranger Kevin O'Brien.

Yet another, Patti Lapadula, said Guilliatt also had said: "Free the spirit inside the bell with God."

"We were stunned," said Marie Brady, a teacher from Our Lady of the Assumption School in the Bronx.

"We were in the back, and he hit it, and we ran in the front," said Victoria Monti, a fourth grader. "We were really scared."

Within an hour, a conservator from the Philadelphia Museum of Art arrived to make temporary repairs to the marks on the bell, which is made of a relatively soft metal that is mostly copper and tin with traces of lead, zinc, iron, silver, gold, nickel, arsenic and antimony.

The largest dent was oblong and about an inch by nearly three-quarters of an inch, while the others were crescent-shaped and almost an inch in length. The dents were about six inches above the bottom of the bell at the point where it begins to flare out.

The marks appeared white until the museum specialists applied a protective waxy substance with a pigment roughly the color of the bell. They also picked up minuscule shards of metal from the floor, evidently from the bell.

Though rangers do not encourage visitors to touch the Liberty Bell - and sometimes ask that they refrain from doing so - they do not sternly discourage it. Velvet cordons are placed around the bell, but it is easily within arm's reach, and many people do place a hand on the American emblem of liberty.

When the pavilion was reopened yesterday, access behind the bell had been closed off, and a park law enforcement officer was positioned there.

"I just hope we don't overreact to this and put it behind glass," said Ralph Archbold, a well-known Benjamin Franklin portrayer in Philadelphia who was at the Liberty Bell. "That bell has meant so much to many people who could reach out and touch it."

Yesterday afternoon, Guilliatt was brought before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. Faith Angell, who ordered a psychiatric examination to determine if he is competent for the criminal case to proceed.

Guilliatt observed the courtroom and proceedings intently, staring at the spectators and reporters who were staring at him and nodding at people as he established eye contact.

After Angell asked that a federal defender act as Guilliatt's attorney, Guilliatt responded: "I don't want a lawyer, and I won't let you appoint me one, either. I would like to thank my God for letting me have this hearing. I send peace and love to everybody from that God. I know love exists, though I have never personally known it."

He also told the judge: "We are all one in the body of Christ, and God is the judge over all of us."

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Joseph Slobodzian's e-mail address is jslobodzian@phillynews.com.