Wal-Mart Exec's Name Taken Off New Bentonville, Arkansas, Library

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2006abc/february2006a/coughlin.cfm

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Posted February 3, 2006.

Wal-Mart Exec’s Name Taken Off New Bentonville, Arkansas, Library

A Bentonville (Ark.) Public Library facility scheduled to open this fall will not bear the names of former Wal-Mart executive Tom Coughlin and his wife Cynthia, the BPL Foundation has decided. Cynthia Coughlin addressed the foundation’s board January 31, hours after her husband pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion stemming from his position as an executive vice president of Wal-Mart. The board had voted in February 2005 to name the new building the Tom and Cynthia Coughlin Library, the Springdale Morning News reported February 2.

No alternative names were considered after the revelation, so the new building will be called the Bentonville Public Library, board member Mary Baggett said. “The Coughlins are concerned that nothing detrimental happen to the library,” she added.

The foundation had raised $8.4 million of its $9-million goal for the new library, slated to open in October. The Walton Family Foundation and Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club foundations donated $4 million to the project last year, allowing the board to build the new facility all at once instead of in two phases.

“I think by using that name it reflects that it’s a library for the community, for the people,” Library Director Cindy Suter told the Morning News. “It helps support and reflect all donations received.”

The board plans to have a topping-out ceremony for the new facility in March, when people will be invited to sign a structural beam and take tours of the construction site.

Posted February 3, 2006.