New York Harbor

It was a small matter, really, in the multibillion-dollar world of the Sony Corp. Seven shipping containers crammed with televisions, radios and electronic gadgets had disappeared from a terminal at the Port of Los Angeles. The incident happened nearly six months ago, but port officials were still jittery about it when they called on Sony officials here last week. "The numbers are insignificant," said Ezunial Burts, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.

The Port of Los Angeles has surpassed New York as the nation's busiest commercial gateway in a shift that symbolizes the burgeoning importance of Pacific Rim trade, the U.S. Customs commissioner said Thursday. The ascension of Los Angeles, after historical domination by the Port of New York, represents a milestone in an east-to-west realignment that has brought Southern California to prominence as a hub of international commerce.

About 27,000 gallons of heating oil spilled into a busy waterway Wednesday a few miles from the Statue of Liberty when the fuel was loaded onto a leaking barge at an Exxon Corp. terminal, the Coast Guard said. Exxon offered to help the Coast Guard clean up the spill but said the barge was not an Exxon vessel. The No.

Cannon blasts, band music and thousands of people lining the shores greeted 13 military ships as they steamed into New York Harbor on Saturday, heralding the start of weekend celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of George Washington's first inauguration. At night, a 20-minute fireworks display lit up a cloudy, gray sky. Today is the main event, a re-enactment of the 1789 inauguration, starring two Georges--a man from Philadelphia acting the part of Washington, and President Bush.

Seventy-six years before Frederick Auguste Bartholdi completed the Statue of Liberty, an unknown artist represented America in a mezzotint as an Indian princess wearing a towering feathered headdress. Flanked by two tomahawks and a rattlesnake, she rides in a chariot drawn by tigers. Opposite her sits Africa, symbolized by a similarly adorned black woman.

Re Mayor Bradley's idea for a Statue of Liberty West: 1--Many years ago I heard an even better idea on radio. I think it was Bishop Fulton J. Sheen who said, "Just as we have a Statue of Liberty on the East Coast to remind us of our privileges, so we should have a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast to remind us of our accompanying responsibilities. 2--It seems to me that the ideal location for such a monument would be on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. 3--Perhaps institutes or studies of liberty and responsibility could be established in appropriate locations, including on a number of university campuses.

What America needs as much as a Statue of Liberty is a Statue of Brevity. The pair of statues would guard New York Harbor like sconces, one symbolizing democracy's moral high ground, the other reminding us that enough is enough, that a flag can be respected and honored without being continually waved. The Statue of Brevity would appear to be drawing her finger across her throat like a floor director in a TV studio. And there would be a one-word inscription at her base: "Cut!" Fat chance.

While New York unwraps the renovated Statue of Liberty Thursday, the Newport Harbor Art Museum will stage its own red, white and blue ceremony to honor the historic event. The museum's "Liberty Celebration," which takes place from 6 p.m. to midnight at the Newporter Resort in Newport Beach will, no doubt, exhibit some of the showmanship of the New York festivities honoring the statue's centennial--but on a much smaller scale.

The Statue of Liberty, meticulously patched and fitted with a new flame, turns 100 this week. Through the years, the statue has been transformed from a symbol of fraternity between France and the United States into the pre-eminent symbol of freedom, a beacon for millions of immigrants and a patriotic symbol of unrivaled emotional intensity. It has inspired poetry and song, speechmaking and caricature.