SMALL-BUSINESS OWNERS RILED BY U.S. MINT'S DEAL WITH WAL-MART

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark waited months and crossed half a continent before finding Sacagawea, and now small retailers and local banks are in a similar situation.

The retailers and banks are looking for the new gold-colored Sacagawea dollar coin which features an image of the Shoshone woman on its face. The coins, however, are in limited supply, due in part to a recent deal struck between the U.S. Mint and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. based in Berryville, Ark.

Under the terms of the agreement, 200 million of the coins will be shipped from the mint over from mid-January through February. Half will go to Federal Reserve banks which will distribute them to local banks.

The other 100 million coins are being sent to Wal-Mart and SAM'S stores for distribution.

Officials with the U.S. Mint have stated that the deal with Wal-Mart was made in an effort to promote the new coin in a way the Susan B. Anthony dollar never was.

"We've achieved something in the first week that the Susan B. Anthony coin never had a chance to achieve," said Philip Diehl, director of the U.S. Mint.

But some small business owners think the small business owner is getting short shrift.

State Rep. Jim Seigfreid, of Marshall, who owns Jim's IGA said he was unaware of the coin's release until some of his customers told him about it.

Seigfreid said he had nothing against Wal-Mart, but felt the deal between the company and the U.S. Mint was unfair.

"When the government offers something like this to one private industry over others, especially an industry as big as Wal-Mart, they ought to offer it to small businesses who are trying to compete," he said.

Seigfreid said he contacted U.S. Congressman Ike Skelton who said he was not alone.

"Wal-Mart is a fine organization, but there are also many, many small business that would like to participate in this," Skelton said. "The backbone of the American economy is the small business community. Why not let small businesses across the nation distribute these?"