Cox comes through for girl, Eastbluff

Jessica Garrison

NEWPORT BEACH -- Rep. Chris Cox (R-Newport Beach) wasn’t able to

make it to Eastbluff Elementary School on Thursday, so it was all up to

Tess Crane.

Tess, 7, stepped up, and, in front of her whole school, presented a

folded American flag to Principal JoAnn Berbos.

“‘I felt kind of embarrassed at first,” Tess said. “I was so scared.”

With her mother’s help, Tess read a proclamation from Cox, and then

handed over the nylon flag he had sent to her.

That same flag, which will become an official Eastbluff flag, flew

over the U.S. Capitol on Aug. 30.

It came to Eastbluff thanks to a letter Tess wrote.

“Dear Mr. Cox,” she wrote. “My name is Tess Crane and I am seven. I

would like to request for a flag for our new school, Eastbluff

Elementary. Would that be OK? Please let me know. Thank you. Love, Tess.”

In between swimming and sunning and other summer activities, Tess and

her mother decided to do something fun and historical for their new

school.

So they fired off a little missive to Cox. Tess’ mother Carol added

her own note at the bottom, inviting Cox to personally deliver the flag,

but a representative in his office said he was in Washington, D.C., on

Thursday, conducting official business.

Tess sent her letter July 23.

But as everyone knows, sometimes things in Washington take a while.

The whole month of August went by, and nothing happened.

School started, Eastbluff opened, and Tess became consumed with the

demands of second grade: reading, math problems, and selling wrapping

paper for the school fund-raiser.

In fact, she was next door at a neighbor’s house when her father came

over and told her she had an official package from the U.S. Congress.

“He told me to keep selling Sally Foster, and I would see it when I

got back,” she said. ‘But I said ‘Now, now, now.”’

So she raced home, and there, folded in its box, was the flag and an

official proclamation.

Cox receives many requests for flags, said a representative in his

office, and has even designated not one but two staff members to handle

them along with their other duties.

Few come from constituents as young as Tess, however, and mothers at

the school Thursday congratulated her on her ingenuity.

Berbos said she knew nothing about Tess’ actions until the girl came

to her and told her about the flag Wednesday morning.

“I have just been amazed by all the things people have done for this

school,” she said. “I feel so honored to have everything that we have.”