THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 12, 1995 TAG: 9504120403
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
For just $25, Virginia Beach residents or wannabes can now hang specially made license plates, bearing the picture of two leaping dolphins and the words ``Virginia Beach'' in block letters, on their car bumpers.
The first to order a set Tuesday were Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf and Del. Robert M. Tata, R-Virginia Beach, the man behind the legislation that created the honorary tags.
The two cheerfully wrote checks and filled out order forms as the City Council was about to go into formal session.
Until 998 more customers sign up, however, the craftsmen at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt won't be able to begin stamping them out for bulk sales. It all has to do with cost-efficiency in the workplace, said assistant city manager Robert Matthias.
While the council approved the manufacture of the plates in August 1994, production at Greensville was held up by a six-month prison lockdown, Matthias explained.
The wait will be worth it, said C. Mac Rawls, director of the Virginia Marine Science Museum, because $15 from the sale of each tag will go to support the museum's marine mammal stranding program. Tag sales could generate more than $200,000 a year to fund the program, which for six years has helped rescue or look into the deaths of whales, dolphins, seals, sea turtles and even endangered sea birds that have washed up on the city's shores.
``The marine science museum is probably the best ambassador Virginia Beach has,'' said Tata. ``What they (employees and volunteers) do cannot be duplicated in the city.''
The first 1,000 plates will be sold through the Virginia Marine Science Museum. After that potential buyers must order them through the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, just as they would any other state auto license plates.
Fairfax is the only other Virginia community to capitalize on legislation shepherded through the General Assembly in 1994 by Tata, said Matthias, although several others, including Chesapeake, are in the application stage.
It's probably too late, however, for most other cities to follow suit. The last session of the General Assembly eliminated the provision allowing localities to create their own special tags, Tata said.
The Virginia Beach plate's design, created by Judy Doyle's advertising class at the Virginia Beach Vocational Technical Center, bears the likeness of two dolphins leaping over the waves at sunrise.
The design was chosen over those offered by several local advertising companies, Matthias added. ILLUSTRATION: [copy of plates]
The plates, designed by an advertising class at the Beach's Vo-Tech
center, will be produced once 1,000 orders are received.
HOW TO ORDER
Anyone who wants to order a Virginia Beach license plate should call
the Virginia Marine Science Museum at 437-4949. Or they may stop by
the museum, 717 General Booth Blvd., to pick up an application.
KEYWORDS: LICENSE PLATE VIRGINIA BEACH by CNB