Tuesday, July 20, 1999
Bell's upstream ride goes smoothly
BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ted Bushelman is getting anxious: “I can't wait for Cincinnati to see this bell. Just one thing: Don't call it your bell. Up and down the river, every city, all I hear is our bell. Our World Peace bell.”
Exactly what Northern Kentucky developers Wayne Carlisle and David Hosea had in mind when they got Newport's bell rolling in '97.
Mr. Bushelman, director of communications at Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, is on the Belle of Cincinnati, floating home with the bell, which is lashed to a barge being pulled by the Belle.
Since leaving New Orleans July 5, it has stopped in eight cities to show off the bell. There has been a steady stream of people, said Mr. Bushelman, on the phone from Osceola, Ark. “In Greenville (Miss.), we had a third of its 20,000 people on board.
Mr. Bushelman, acting as spokesman in many of the cities, thought he was going to be bored: “Nope. I vacuum the barge, clean up exhibits, make phone calls. Really, I'm having the time of my life. Where else can I play hookey for 30 days like this?
“Oh, and we eat. Mick Noll is the volunteer chef and he's making the most incredible food — German is his specialty — all from scratch. He goes to farmers' markets in every town.”
Most cities have had ceremonies (proclamations, singers) before opening the barge to the public.
“One woman in Baton Rouge was crying,” Mr. Bushelman says. “She told us her brother was killed in Vietnam. We needed peace then, she said. We let her ring the bell and she cried again. Until then, I thought it was just a hunk of metal.”
The bell is on its way to Henderson, Ky., then Owensboro and Louisville before hitting town July 31.
BIRTHDAY BUILDERS: It's four months after her birthday, but Mickey Kaplan is finally getting the gift husband Stan promised.
A house for somebody else.
When she turned 70 on March 9, Dr. Stan asked her what she wanted. Jewels? Furs? (Not a theater, they're already half the namesakes of the Aronoff's Jarson-Kaplan.)
She decided on “one of those Habitat for Humanity houses like Jimmy Carter helps build.”
Gift delivery was Saturday at a noon birthday party, where volunteers began framing the house. It will take 12 Saturdays to finish before Mary Proctor and her three children move into the three-bedroom ranch in Lincoln Heights.
Dr. Kaplan's $45,000 covers building materials for the $65,000 home.
LAST RIDE: Well dang, he did it. Troy Forman, we mean.
He's the former disc jockey who rode Americana's Screechin' Eagle roller coaster 12 hours a day for 10 days in June to raise $15,000 for Make A Wish. The money will be used to grant three wishes for terminally ill children: a trip to Walt Disney World; a home arcade system; and a day on the pit crew at a motocross.
Between pledges in the park, $1,000 from Americana and his employer (Cincinnati Bell Wireless), Mr. Forman raised $15,000.”
So how many rides does one get in 120 hours? “2,200. It could have been a few more, but I quit early that last day so I could go to a party Americana was doing for the kids.”
One more question: What do 2,200 rides do to the body? “I think I got shorter. It curled my back, but I guess it will straighten out.”
Knip's Eye View appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
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