The Nation - News from May 25, 1986

The new car intended as a prize in a Statue of Liberty essay contest was auctioned for $9,500 because the winner, Hue Cao, could not accept it without jeopardizing her family’s eligibility for welfare benefits. Money from the sale of the automobile is to go to a trust fund for the 11-year-old Vietnamese refugee’s college education. The girl, who lives in Honolulu, also won a trip to New York for the Fourth of July celebration marking the centennial of the statue, and White House officials have hinted that “something special” is planned for her there.