Retired Los Angeles History teacher Reads Declaration of Independence in Maine
Mood:  silly
SOUTH PORTLAND - Shortly before 11 a.m. Monday, Dick Bernard will don the 18th-century costume that his neighbor, Rommy Brown, tailored just for him. Then he'll grab the town crier's bell another neighbor, Max Brown, loaned him and an enlarged copy of a parchment document supplied by yet another neighbor, sign maker Jack Reckitt.

Bernard will then walk down the steps of his home at the end of E Street, make the short walk to Legion Square (ringing his bell all the way) and stand atop a platform before anyone who cares to witness a modern-day Thomas Jefferson reading, from start to finish, the Declaration of Independence.

All of which begs a question.

Why?