Fri 09|03|10

Marshals Museum coin now pushed in the U.S. Senate

Submitted by The City Wire staff on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 5:19pm.

Arkansas’ two U.S. Senators are now picking up the coin cause began in June by UU.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers.

U.S. Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark., have introduced legislation to mint coins in commemoration of the 225th anniversary of the establishment of the nation’s first law enforcement agency, the United States Marshals Service.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the coin will go to the Marshals Museum to be located in Fort Smith. The funds will be used for the preservation, maintenance, and display of artifacts and documents of the Marshals Service.

Boozman announced June 19 he had filed HR 2799 to issue a U.S. Marshals Service Commemorative coin. Boozman said at the time the coin could raise $5 million for the U.S. Marshals museum planned for downtown Fort Smith.

The U.S. Marshals Museum board of directors and staff are underway with what will be a $30 million to $50 million national fundraising effort. The roughly 50,000-square-foot museum will be built in downtown Fort Smith next to the Arkansas River.

The commemorative coin proposed by Lincoln and Pryor would be minted in 2014 to coincide with the 225th anniversary of the establishment of the Marshals Service, according to a joint press release from the two Senators. It would be available in two denominations, a $5 gold coin and a $1 silver coin, and would be the first commemorative coin to honor the United States Marshals Service.
 
The statement from Lincoln and Pryor included this note: “The United States Marshals Service has had major significance in the history in the United States and has directly contributed to its safety and preservation by serving as an instrument of civil authority used by all three branches of the United States Government. The first U.S. Marshals were appointed by President Washington more than 220 years ago. As Americans moved west in the 19th century, it was the U.S. Marshals that ensured orders and decisions by federal courts were enforced and that there would be some semblance of law and order in areas like Western Arkansas that were far from Washington, D.C.”