Hatch helps kids get Lincoln coins

PLEASANT GROVE (AP) — It took the intervention of Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch for a group of Utah schoolchildren to get their hands on the new commemorative Lincoln pennies.

A teacher at Pleasant Grove's elementary school says she got no help calling banks and regional offices of the U.S. Mint and Federal Reserve.

First-grade teacher Shirley Stevenson says she finally learned that because Utah had a supposed penny surplus, it wouldn't see any of the new penny collection.

So she turned to Hatch, R-Utah.

On Tuesday, Hatch's state director Melanie Bowen delivered a basket of 13 penny rolls to students at Pleasant Grove's Central Elementary School.

Bowen said the pennies were straight from the U.S. Mint and hadn't been touched by anybody.