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History, hot dogs hallmarks of July Fourth
(CNN) -- Events marking the 227th birthday of the United States on Friday featured hot dogs, history and a recognition of the trailblazing spirit of America. President Bush traveled to the Dayton, Ohio, area, where he delivered an Independence Day speech praising U.S. forces fighting terrorism around the world. "We will not permit any terrorist group or outlaw regime to threaten us with weapons of mass murder," he told a cheering crowd. "We will act whenever necessary to protect the lives and liberty of the American people." (Full story) The president's visit to Ohio also recognized the centennial of manned flight in the hometown of airplane inventors Orville and Wilbur Wright. Bush's address at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base came as coalition forces faced increasing fire in Iraq. In a neighborhood west of Baghdad, an explosion occurred after an Iraqi civilian truck pulled in front of a U.S. military convoy. One U.S. soldier was wounded by shrapnel, military officials said. (Full story) Museum honors ConstitutionAn event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, recognized another history-making moment. The National Constitution Center, a facility designed to increase awareness and understanding of the document that frames American government and citizens' rights, was dedicated Friday. Visitors to the interactive museum may take the presidential oath of office and see artifacts such as the inkwell that President Lincoln used to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. The event was disrupted when a frame holding curtains covering a mural fell onto the stage. Several people, including Mayor John Street, were slightly injured. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was on the stage but was not hurt, Philadelphia police said. O'Connor, who was in Philadelphia to receive the city's Liberty Medal, had just completed a speech. She signaled for dignitaries on the stage to pull strings that were supposed to part the curtain and expose the mural. Instead, the frame holding the curtain collapsed, police said. The mayor was taken to a hospital to have his arm X-rayed, a spokeswoman said. Joseph Torsella, president of the National Constitution Center, was hit on the head, the spokeswoman said. She said Torsella was conscious but also was taken to a hospital. Reading of Declaration of Independence
In Washington, D.C., actress Jane Alexander read the Declaration of Independence to a crowd at Union Station as part of a daylong celebration there. There were performances by the Congressional Chorus, the U.S. Air Force String Quartet and the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. Alexander, a former chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts, was introduced by John W. Carlin, archivist of the United States. The reading is typically held in the National Archives on Pennsylvania Avenue, but the building is being renovated. On display at the ceremony was one of the 25 surviving broadsides of the Declaration of Independence that were printed the evening of July 4, 1776, by Philadelphia printer John Dunlap. The original declaration, on a single sheet of parchment, is kept in the National Archives and is next slated for display -- with the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- when the building's rotunda is reopened September 18. Hot dog! Three-peat for Japanese champion
Farther north along the Eastern seaboard at Coney Island, New York, contestants competed in another July Fourth tradition. A mustard-yellow belt went to two-time defending champion Takeru Kobayashi of Japan, who downed 44 1/2 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the 88th annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. New York City train conductor Cookie Jarvis, 6-foot-6 and 420 pounds, ate 30 and 1/2 hot dogs and buns to take second place. Eric "Badlands" Booker had boasted earlier that he'd employ his "four bites and swallow" technique to dethrone the 145-pound champion. Booker ate 29 hot dogs and buns, good for third.
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