Missouri quarter designs prompt a vote for change

Missourians began picking the design of their state quarter on Thursday, with Missouri first lady Lori Hauser Holden touring the state to show off five designs approved by the U.S. Mint.

The state will collect votes for the quarters at the governor's Web site and on paper ballots that can be cast at the governor's office. Mrs. Holden appeared at a library in Kansas City to unveil the final designs and promote the Web site voting.

The basic designs had been seen before, but the U.S. Mint modified them to adapt them for use on a coin, Mrs. Holden said. The new quarter is expected to be issued late this summer. Each state's quarters are issued in the order that they gained statehood, and Missouri was the 24th state.

All five designs reflect the state's 19th-century settlement. Two show wagons headed west, under the words "Gateway to the West." One of those shows an Indian watching from a hill above. Another design shows a river steamboat, while a fourth design depicts a rider for the St. Joseph-based Pony Express. The fifth design shows the explorers Lewis and Clark paddling the Mississippi River in a canoe with the arch in the background.

Southeast Missourians had their own opinions on which quarter they'd like to see selected. Of the 13 people who spoke to Southeast Missourian reporters, eight liked the arch design, two liked the steamboat, two liked the Pony Express coin and one liked the coin with the Indian. No one picked the wagons-headed-west coin.

Chris Glynn of Cape Girardeau liked the coin with the steam ship depicted on it. "We have two major rivers that go through the state so it would be appropriate," Glynn said.

Glynn didn't particularly care for the other coins.

"On the other one, who is that? Lewis and Clark in a canoe? What's up with that?" he said. "And the other one has the arch crossing the river and it doesn't."

'Arch says Missouri'

Many others preferred the coin with the arch for its universal appeal.

"What says Missouri more than the arch?" said Chris Clifton, 31, of Jackson. "It's a work of art. I think the arch ought to be on there somewhere."

Cape Girardeau resident Jack Kramer, who also liked the coin with the arch, said the coin with the Pony Express wasn't appropriate because it only lasted two years.

"I know that because I rode on it," joked Kramer. "But I like the arch one. The rest all are in the past, but at least this one has something on it that still exists and also represents the future."

Jason Hellmann, a 21-year-old Southeast Missouri State University student from Hillsboro, Mo., said that the arch is universally recognized.

"Everyone knows where the arch is," he said. "Instead of just saying 'Gateway to the West' like this other one, the arch is a symbol of the gateway to the west."

Paul Jackson, the original designer of the Lewis and Clark quarter, has disavowed the Mint's current version. He said the Arch appeared in his design as a vision of the future. He also said the shape of the Arch is wrong in the Mint's design.

Jackson has been battling the state and the Mint over the design.

The Mint has said it never promised to use designs without changing them.

The governor's Web site does not identify voters and does nothing to prevent multiple votes, or votes cast by non-Missourians. Mrs. Holden said the state would be counting on voters to be on their best behavior.

Southeast Missourian staff writers Bob Miller and Scott Moyers contributed to this report.