Tuesday, May 18, 1999
Ohio censors license plates
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles has a message for those who request personalized license plates that convey hate — even of a football rival. NO WAY.
License plates considered vulgar or in poor taste have always been restricted, but the list of requests denied recently also contains references to hate or killing.
“We just thought we didn't need to promote hate. There's enough hate and road rage out there already,” said Jamie Bryan-Held, chief of the bureau's registration section.
Most forms of hate — unless part of a person's name — are not allowed.
THE REJECTS
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The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles turns down hundreds of requests each year for personalized license plates. Some that were denied last year include:
• GONAKED
• 2PSYCHO
• IDIOT
• NOCOPS
• GOT BEER
• IAMGOD
• TIE ME UP
• MAFIA1
• PROZAC
• WILD ONE
• US GOV |
Bureau officials started restricting the word's use last summer when requests for HATEGM and NUKEGM came in during the General Motors strike, Bryan-Hald said.
Registrar Franklin Caltrider, who has the ultimate veto power, denied the requests.
Other uses of hate or its license-plate form — H8 — are decided case by case.
In April, the state approved a Canfield, Ohio, man's plate that read H8TWRK (hate to work), but two months earlier denied an Ohio State University student's request for H8MICH (hate Michigan).
Shad Phipps, a business major, opted instead for BUKIFN (Buckeye fan).
Mr. Phipps said he wanted to wear the H8MICH plate around his neck at the Final Four basketball tournament in March.
“They said it promotes violence,” Mr. Phipps said. “I thought it was funny.”
Motorists also are forbidden from instructing those following them to “eat” anything.
In 1996, the bureau organized a six-member committee to review requests for personalized plates. They see about 275 requests daily. Ohio has more than 322,000 personalized plates.
The sayings, with up to seven characters, cost $35 a year extra, though motorists can use their three initials and one number for $10.
Clerks in regional bureau offices are allowed to approve personalized plates if they are obviously not offensive, Bryan-Hald said.
To decipher the meanings, the committee looks at the saying forward and backward, relies on a stack of dictionaries and stays updated on slang.
“One thing that's a constant is the requests for sexual sayings or those of drugs and alcohol,” many of which are not approved, Bryan-Hald said.
There are 48 three-letter combinations that generally are unobtainable unless part of someone's name. They include BUT, GAY, GOD, NUN, PEE and SEX.
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