''Rep. Virgil H. Good Jr. has asked the National Park Service to investigate the nonprofit status of the company planning to put a life-size statue of Abraham Lincoln in Richmond,

The private U.S. Historical Society intends to finance the project by selling 750 miniature bronze versions of the statue for $900 each, excluding taxes.

'Will these statuettes represent history or .the perpetuation of a fraud on unsuspecting donors around the United States?' Goode, R-Rocky Mount, asked in a Jan. 15 letter to Fran Mainella, director of the National Park Service.

'Should the National Park Service even be indirectly helping an activity such as this?'

The Park Service said it intended to respond to Goode's letter and his request for a meeting.

Goode also wrote: 'It appears that checks for these replicas are to be made payable to the United States Historical Society, an entity entirely different from the U,S. Historical Society. Is the United States Historical Society a 501(c)3 entity?'

Internal Revenue Service documents show the company has registered as a 501(c)3 nonprofit.

In an interview, Goode declined to say whether he objects to putting a statue of Lincoln in Richmond. He said he got involved after constituents contacted his office with concerns about the statue and the U.S. Historical Society. Some pointed out an anonymous Web site questioning the motives of the project.

'I'd like to know what they're going to do with the additional money,' Goode said of potential proceeds.

Martin J. Moran, president of the U.S, Historical Society, said the company is a nonprofit and uses the names U.S. Historical Society and United States Historical Society interchangeably.

The company reported to the IRS $148,948 in revenues and $255,202 in expenses for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2000. More current information was not available.

The company gets money by selling historical replicas such as dolls, plates and statues. Buyers are considered members.

Moran said State Corporation Commission records indicating the U.S. Historical Society and United States Historical Society are different companies with different addresses are erroneous and will be corrected,

The United States Historical Society and the U.S. Historical Society are listed, along with Glassmasters, as trade names for FKAO Inc., based in Richmond.

'That's old information,' said Martha C. Gibby, chief executive officer of Omnia Corp., which bought the Glassmasters assets of FKAO last fall.

Omnia, a for-profit company that makes stained glass and other museum reproductions, does business as Glassmasters.

Robert Kline, chairman of the U.S. Historical Society, once owned Glassmasters but sold it about eight years ago 'We have absolutely no connection to Omnia,' he said

The furor started last month after the U.S. Historical Society announced it had commissioned the statue of Lincoln and his young son Tad to commemorate Lincoln's visit to Richmond on April 5, 1865.

The statue will be placed at the National Park Service's Richmond National Battlefield Park Civil War Visitor Center on the. grounds of the Tredegar Iron Works, which was a major supplier of munitions to the Confederate army. The dedication is scheduled for April 5.

Goode said his 5th District has many needy projects, including the National D-Day Memorial, that could benefit from similar fundraising efforts.

'I question the policy of the Park Service promoting one nonprofit over another nonprofit,' he said.

His concerns stem in part from an anonymous Web site that questions the dealings of the U.S. Historical Society, calls for a criminal investigation and expresses support for Confederate soldiers buried near Tredegar.

Kline said any suggestion of impropriety is 'totally false.'

'I'm disappointed that some people are so vindictive and vengeful and will resort to any kind of false statement to attempt to destroy our efforts to put the statue here,' he said.'" (Will Jones, Daily Progress, January 26. 2003)