Don’t care for these quarters? Consider the alternatives

The fun, 50-state quarter program has finally rolled around to Washington.

Residents are being asked to vote on their favorite design this year. The Herald has been conducting its own poll – look for the results in Saturday’s paper. People can give the state their opinion this spring; the coin is due out in 2007.

The dilemma faced by the creators of Washington’s quarter is the embarrassment of riches the state offers for potential designs. If you live in South Dakota, for example, your quarter is going to feature Mount Rushmore. Period. No debate, no worries. Same with the Georgia peach. And Indiana’s Indy 500 race car.

But Washington has so many wonderful, wildly different places/things that make this state unique, it can’t be pigeonholed. A committee went through hundreds of entries and came up with three finalists.

We urge readers and the state to go with version No. 2, which includes a salmon, Mount Rainier and our motto “The Evergreen State.” Quarter No. 1 has its heart in the right place, with apples representing the other side of the mountains, a salmon, Mount Rainier and the motto, all inside the outline of state. The problem is, Mount Rainer looks like it’s in the North Cascades, threatening to cross the border into Canada. The third, the orca, on its own, simply doesn’t say “Washington state.”

If you aren’t happy with any of the final three, consider some of the rejected choices:

* A ferry, hydroplane and a jet ski.

* A Boeing airplane, a Nordstrom shoe and a Microsoft Windows logo.

* A geoduck. With an asterisk explaining what it is, or, what it is not.

* A husky and a cougar on either side of the Cascade range.

* A latte, a bottle of wine and a pile, nay, a mountain, of lentils and peas from the Palouse.

* Clams, mussels, crabs, oysters, scallops, salmon and sushi and the aforementioned lentils, or wheat, or something.

* Soft rain, slugs and a micro beer. Alternate version: Driving rain, mold and a bottle of anti-depressants.

* Mount St. Helens erupting and the Kingdome imploding, under a hail of ash and ceiling tiles.

* A publicly funded sports stadium, a $30 license tab and a geoduck collecting signatures for an initiative to have the quarter be shaped like a clam.

* J.P. Patches, Bigfoot and a parachuting D.B. Cooper. (Must be Washington native over 30 years old to carry this one.)

* An outline of the state, divided into geographical thirds, with a houseboat, a ski lodge and an RV.

n The first coin with color: Half blue Seattle and half red Spokane.

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