FORT SMITH -- More than $3 million from sales last year of U.S. Mint commemorative coins will go toward the U.S. Marshals Museum planned for Fort Smith.
U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., and U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., on Saturday took part in a check ceremony for the $3,053,338 raised through surcharges on three coins sold through the 2015 U.S. Marshals Service 225th Anniversary coin program.
The approximately $55 million national museum project, still in the fundraising stage, is planned near the Arkansas River. Exhibits will describe the history of the oldest federal law enforcement agency in the United States.
Coins were produced and sold by the U.S. Mint for one year only, from Jan. 29, 2015 through the end of the year. The check represented surcharges from sales of a $5 gold coin, a silver dollar and what's known as a "clad" half-dollar, made up of layers of nonprecious materials.
Legislation enabling the U.S. Marshals coin program stated that a $35 surcharge for each gold coin sold would benefit the museum, along with a $10 per coin surcharge on the silver dollars and a $5 per coin surcharge on the half-dollars.
About 271,000 coins were sold last year as part of the program, according to online sales data published by the U.S. Mint. The museum purchased some coins to be resold later.
Boozman first introduced legislation to produce the commemorative coins and raise money for the museumin 2009 while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. Boozman, elected in 2010 to the U.S. Senate, and Womack succeeded in 2012 in getting the necessary sponsors from both branches of Congress to pass the legislation.
Commemorative coins made by the U.S. Mint support various causes -- this year, surcharges for a coin commemorating Mark Twain will support the Mark Twain House and Museum in Connecticut -- but only two such issues are done each year.
In the House of Representatives, 290 co-sponsors are needed for a coin bill to move forward, Womack said.
"It's kind of a race to see who can get to 290 signatures," Womack said.
Boozman worked to gather support in the Senate.
"You have to go and beg people to sign this thing," Boozman said.
But "the payoff was great," he added. Womack said he feels "great pride" in the coin legislation.
Jim Dunn, president and chief executive officer for the U.S. Marshals Museum, praised Arkansas lawmakers for collaborating on the project.
"Not once, not a single solitary time, was there the slightest hint of any political concerns with this bill," Dunn said.
He praised not only Boozman and Womack, both Republicans, but also former Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat who lost her seat to Boozman. Dunn said Womack also reached out to Mike Ross, at that time a U.S. representative, a Democrat who helped with the push for the coin legislation.
"They knew that this meant jobs for Arkansas. It meant economic growth for Fort Smith. And, most importantly, it honored the U.S. Marshals Service," Dunn said.
According to its website, about $29 million has been raised by the museum, a total Dunn said includes proceeds from the coin sales but not more recent fundraising efforts.
Dunn said construction could start next year on the project. He said architects and exhibit designers working on the project should have done enough work for an updated cost estimate by midsummer. After that, a timetable may be established for construction, he said. The museum could open by 2018.
Lenore Beard, 92, said she is looking forward to that day. Her deceased husband, Larry Beard, served as a U.S. Marshal in Oklahoma, and she said a curator had visited her home to go over keepsakes from his career.
"I want to walk into the museum and see something that my husband had," said Beard, now a Fort Smith resident who, according to media reports, was the first to purchase the commemorative coins at an event in February of last year.
Metro on 05/08/2016