Saturday, March 4

House Approves Louis Braille Coin, Now Its on to the Senate

Greetings. I received the following story a few days ago and thought it appropriate to post here. If you want to know more on this commemorative coin, then read the 2006 Washington Seminar Legislative agenda which explains it in more detail. Enjoy.

House Approves Coin to Commemorate Braille - Forbes.com

Louis Braille, the inventor of the most widely used reading and writing
method for the blind, will be featured on a commemorative U.S. silver
dollar.

Under a House bill passed by voice vote Tuesday, the U.S. Mint will issue
400,000 silver dollars commemorating Braille in 2009, the bicentennial of
his
birth. Funds raised from a $10 surcharge will go to the National Federation
of the Blind to promote Braille literacy.

"Blind people today would be far less likely to achieve the goals of
independence and productive living without the positive contribution of
Louis Braille,"
said Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, a co-sponsor of the bill.

The front of the coin would depict Braille, and the reverse would include
the word "Braille" written in Braille code.

Braille, born outside Paris on Jan. 4, 1809, lost his sight in a childhood
accident. He later built on a nighttime code used by the French Army to
create
the pattern of raised dots that is named after him.

Similar legislation introduced in the Senate earlier this month has 23
co-sponsors. This type of legislation requires 67 Senate co-sponsors,
according to
Senate Banking Committee spokesman Andrew Gray.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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