Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 29, 1990 TAG: 9007290143
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Thousands of Virginia motorists purchase vanity plates to declare their professions, express their interests, be obnoxious or make stabs at humor, however weak they might be, for $10 in addition to the $26 to $31 vehicle registration fee.
"We're selling one heck of a lot more plates [than other states]," said Kevin Dunne, administrator of vehicle services at the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. "Informal surveys that I do tell me that $10 is a lot less than other states."
In California, for example, the price of vanity is high. Personalized plates are $36 in addition to the $24 registration fee, a spokeswoman at the state's department of motor vehicles said.
Virginia has seen an increase in the number of vanity plates in the past year, Dunne said.
Of 5,145,710 registered vehicles in Virginia, 563,174 have personalized plates. Last year there were 536,286 personalized plates, Dunne said.
Virginia makes more than $5 million a year on these personalized plates, he said.
"It's a way to express themselves," Dunn said. "Virginians are very creative."
But Virginians can't be too creative. There are limits to what motorists can say on their license plates. Lewd and obscene words, as well as references to drug culture and deities, are prohibited.
A seven-member committee of DMV employees decides what's acceptable and what's not, said DMV spokesman Jonathan Mosher.
"But most objectionable CommuniPlates are stopped at the counter," Mosher said. A computer program borrowed from the state of California signals clerks on messages deemed unacceptable.
"When a phrase is typed in the computer, a red flag will go up if a no-no word is typed in," Mosher said.
Mosher declined to mention some of the more severe forbidden words, but he said some words that were harmless in the past now are unacceptable.
"Some things like `ecstasy' can't be used," Mosher said. "Now it refers to a drug."
But if questionable words or sayings pass the computer test, the committee takes a look at them.
Linda Mitchell, supervisor of the DMV's reserve license section, is on the screening committee.
"I am the first to admit I don't know all the street slang," Mitchell said. "Sometimes you don't know what's dirty and what's not."
Some other committee members are well-versed in black slang, Spanish and French, Mitchell said.
"We come from all different backgrounds," Mitchell said. "We're common individuals."
Mitchell said it is difficult to deny people something they think is harmless, and some applicants can get unruly. Many cite their First Amendment rights. But license plates are issued by the state, which can regulate them, she said.
"We have gotten verbal abuse when they don't get what they want," Mitchell said.
But being on the committee can be amusing, Mitchell said. "Sometimes it's fun because it's fun to be dirty together."
CommuniPlates are made by inmates of the Powhatan Correctional Center's license plate shop, Mosher said. The shop makes about 10,000 to 12,000 personalized plates each month.
by CNB