People test the limits of personalized plates

By GEOFF DORNAN

gdornan@nevadaappeal.com

Tom Jacobs of the Department of Motor Vehicles says people can be very creative - especially when they're trying to sneak something past the department and onto a personalized license plate.

While the law gives DMV wide latitude in determining what is appropriate on a license plate, it is clear they can't be offensive or inappropriate. In the 40 years personalized plates have been in existence, DMV has compiled a list of 11,793 things you can't say on them.

The most common type of plates DMV has to ban are those dealing with sex. After that, Jacobs said, are drug expressions and gang-related slogans. Also off limits are plates with racial subject matter.

He said the majority of plates are innocent and have a special meaning to the driver. The plates are extremely popular in Nevada, which has the fourth highest percentage of personalized plates of any state - 12.7 percent of all vehicles registered. Nationwide, less than 4 percent of vehicles wear a personalized plate.

Jacobs said it's a lucrative business for DMV, which charges a base fee of $36 to create the plate and $20 a year to renew it annually. The money goes to buy and maintain the machinery that makes license plates.

He said the general policy is to approve the plate requested unless it has a specific inappropriate meaning. Often, he said, a plate's meaning doesn't become an issue until someone complains.

"If you've got a good explanation, they're probably going to approve it. But if someone does complain that the plate's offensive, it goes to a committee of five."

Jacobs, one of those five members, said it takes a unanimous vote to take a license plate away. In addition, if a plate is rejected, the committee has to explain why.

One plate recently rejected was by the owner of a hybrid vehicle who requested FU OPEC.

But Jacobs said the committee refused a woman's claim that the plate GATORB8 was a rude racial reference. He said that name is used by a Florida football team's fan club, as the name of a movie and in several other non-offensive contexts.

Jacobs said the general rule is that, if what's expressed on the plate is used in normal language in a non-offensive manner, it's OK.

"It's kind of like language in newspapers," he said.

Foreign languages are a challenge, he said. DMV is well aware of most swear words in the major languages such as French, German and Spanish. But he said someone could probably slip something past in some of the less common languages. But he questioned who that would offend: "If it's offensive in Urdu, is that an offensive plate here?"

"One of the things that makes our job difficult is that English is a living language," he said. "The example I use is in the 1950s if you said somebody was gay, you meant they were happy."

A prime example of that issue is currently before the Nevada Supreme Court. A woman who had the license plate XSTACY lost it after someone objected, saying it was a reference to the street drug XTC.

"Twenty years ago XSTACY would not be attached to a street drug," he said. "Now it is."

The department recently lost a case where it was sued for banning the plate HOE as slang for whore. The district court disagreed and directed the department to issue the plate.

He said one thing DMV won't accept is any area code on a plate because gangs have taken to identifying themselves with area codes.

But he said people keep trying. He said at one point, a Nevada radio station started a contest so see who could get the most offensive license plate through DMV. He said the contest was pretty quickly dropped since the winner's reward would have been the loss of that license plate.

He said those who disagree with a denial have the right to appeal, but not on First Amendment grounds.

"A lot of people think it's a free speech issue," he said. "We don't. A license plate is a government issued document."

Some readers e-mailed us stories about their personalized license plates.

"I have a vanity plate that reads TWN BOYS. I was in a terrible accident in 1979. I was 21, not married, no kids. I had some problems that prevented me to have any children. I was married in 1991, and, to my surprise, got pregnant, and the big surprise was with two! As soon as they were born, I ran down to see if I could get that plate. My twins are now 17, and seniors at Carson High."

- Debby Darr

"My plate is SARAMAK ... a lot of people think I do ceramics! It's actually a combination of my children's names ... Sarah and Michael Anthony King."

- Lynda King

"Years ago, when I moved to Carson City and commuted to Reno, I would often get flipped off by "Blue Plate" drivers that drive slow in the fast lane when attempting to pass them. As I never use this obscene gesture, I decided to give them a polite message once I got ahead of them. On my rear license plate it spelled out SAME2U and I would love to see their reaction. Some actually laughed about it, others were not so amused. I no longer carry the plate but have it hanging in my garage, along with other interesting license plates."

- George

"My mom's plates are

OBLKWATR (from the Doobie Brothers song). When I was a kid, we use to sing it together and harmonize to it. I'm 34 now and we still sing to it if we are together, or if we hear it on the radio we call the other person and play it on the phone."

- Angela