Cash Statue Ceremony Is Sept. 24 in Washington

RISON - A statue of Cleveland County native Johnny Cash is scheduled to be unveiled in a ceremony on Tuesday, Sept. 24, in Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The U.S. Senate formally approved the placement of the statue last Thursday, Aug. 1.The sculpture of Cash was created by Little Rock sculptor Kevin Kresse. It depicts Cash in a long coat with a ruffled shirt and a guitar hanging off his back. Cash is holding a Bible by his side in his right hand, referencing his faith.Gov. Sarah Sanders as well as members of Johnny Cash's family are expected to be at the unveiling ceremony. Udiscovermusic.com stated that Cash will be the first professional musician to be included in the in Statuary Hall collection at the U.S. Capitol. According to the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, the collection consists of 100 statues donated by each of the 50 states to honor notable people in each state's history. Each state contributes two statues.A statue honoring Daisy Bates, a civil rights leader, was dedicated for the Statuary Hall collection in May. Johnny Cash, called JR by his family, was born Feb. 26, 1932, in the Cross Roads community about three miles north of Kingsland. His parents, Ray Cash and Carrie Rivers Cash, were both natives of Cleveland County. His family moved to the Dyess Colony in Northeast Arkansas about three years after Cash was born to take part in a New Deal program that was designed to help struggling farmers during the Depression.In 2019, the Arkansas legislature approved a bill to replace the existing statues in Statuary Hall of Uriah Rose, a 19th century attorney and former Arkansas Senator, and Gov. James P. Clark, with statues of Bates and Cash.Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson held a press conference in Nov. 2020 announcing that a campaign to raise money for both statues had reached its goal of $510,000....