The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 18, May 6, 2007, Article 34

ARIZONA STATE QUARTER DESIGN CHOSEN

Tony Tumonis forwarded a press release about the new Arizona state
quarter design.  Here are excerpts from a newspaper article:

"And the winners are: the Grand Canyon and a saguaro.
"Gov. Janet Napolitano will announce today that she has chosen the
design for the new state quarter that includes perhaps the two most
recognizable features of Arizona.

"The design, also the winner in a public vote, will include a rising
or setting sun; not even members of the special commission that picked
the design were sure which it was.

"And should anyone be unclear about whose coin it is, it will include
the name of the state, the 1912 date it was admitted to the union, and
the motto 'The Grand Canyon State' emblazoned on a banner.

"Napolitano's choice also happens to be the top choice of the nearly
113,000 people who weighed in on the Internet and, to a lesser extent,
by phone, fax and mail, and through a Capitol suggestion box.

"The design gathered 49,516 first-place votes. Coin designs featuring
just the saguaro and just the Grand Canyon were far back at 24,262 and
23,526 first-place votes, respectively.

"And some ideas were rejected for political or other reasons. For
example, one commission member suggested a Hopi kachina might be an
effective way to represent something unique to Arizona. But that idea
was jettisoned, not only because it meant singling out one tribe but also
because of the belief that there were still a lot of raw feelings about
the partition of Navajo and Hopi lands and the forced relocations.

"And a suggestion to use Mission San Xavier del Bac, south of Tucson,
was dismissed because it remains an active Catholic church.

"Even the decision to select Powell making his way down the Colorado
River was fraught with concerns over political correctness. Committee
members insisted the inscription should say that Powell was 'exploring'
the Grand Canyon, because American Indians might take offense at the
suggestion he 'discovered' what they knew was there all along."

To read the complete article, see:
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/180918

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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