The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V13 2010 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 13, Number 49, December 5, 2010, Article 18

OBAMA PARDONS MAN CONVICTED OF COIN MUTILATION

Rick Bottles writes:

Do you have any further information on the Pennsylvania Man that Obama just pardoned for mutilating coins back in the 60's?

President Barack Obama has granted the first pardons of his presidency, to nine people convicted of crimes including possessing drugs, counterfeiting and even mutilating coins.

No one well-known was on the list, and some of the crimes dated back decades or had drawn little more than a slap on the wrist in the first place — such as the Pennsylvania man sentenced in 1963 to probation and a $20 fine for mutilating coins. The White House didn't explain the charge, but tampering with federal currency is a crime.

The White House declined to give details on the cases or comment on why these particular people were selected by a president who previously had only pardoned Thanksgiving turkeys.

To read the complete article, see: Obama pardons 9 convicted of drug, other offenses (news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101203/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_pardons)

The article only says this: "Ronald Lee Foster, of Beaver Falls, Pa., sentenced in 1963 to a year of probation and a $20 fine for mutilating coins." But Dick Johnson found the answer for us in a different article on the topic published later in the weekend. -Editor

Dick Johnson writes:

There is hope for every coin dealer or collector who has mutilated a coin. You can eventually receive a presidential pardon even if you are caught, arrested and convicted. It happed this week to a 66-year old man who "sweated" cents to make them fit in dime vending machines in military barracks laundry, cigarette and soda machines 47 years ago.

In one of the most bizarre news items this week, President Barack Obama granted nine pardons, one of which was to Ronald Lee Foster of Beaver Falls, PA. As a U.S. Marine in 1963 he was fined $20 for reducing the size of cents -- the correct term is "sweating" -- to the size of dimes which he fed into nearby vending machine in the barracks where he was living. "Well, we were only making only $82 a month," said Foster in a recent interview. "We were using them in the washing machines, the dryers, the cigarette machines and the pop machines on the base in our barracks."

Foster, now 66, said he wasn't aware that he even had a felony conviction on his record until he applied for a gun permit in Pennsylvania five years ago and was denied. After getting out of the Marines in 1966, Foster returned to Pennsylvania and spent 27 years as a supervisor at a ceiling plant and also served on the local zoning board. He also spent 35 years as a volunteer firefighter.

His attorney had applied for the presidential pardon without his knowledge. Surprise! In a week where turkeys were pardoned at the White House, he also received the presidential reprieve.

To read the complete article, see: Obama pardons 9 people (www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/
ALeqM5juCUJ6mPbj8_p9jKSGetnpNYH8dA?docId=2ee4f5ad11da4081ba817db297e38887)

Wayne Homren, Editor

Google
 
NBS (coinbooks.org) Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V13 2010 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2020 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
coin