Missouri should get quarter design it wants

The design of Missouri's version of the commemorative quarter, scheduled to debut in August 2003, is in doubt again.

The designer, Columbia artist Paul Jackson, won an Internet contest among Missourians with a design featuring the Gateway Arch and Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The bicentennial of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery exploration of the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast begins next year.

Officials at the U.S. Mint rejected this design, saying they plan a dollar coin with a Lewis and Clark theme, and offered four final design options from which, they say, Gov. Bob Holden should choose.

Three of the four final design options show an outline of Missouri. One is overlaid with a settler's wagon, another with a steamboat and the third with a Pony Express rider.

The fourth design shows an American Indian on a bluff overlooking settlers' wagons.

The treasury secretary is expected to recommend one of these next month to the governor, who has the final say on which is chosen.

We encourage the governor to stick by the version for which Missourians have already voted.