Arkansas scraps 981 licence plates lest letter's lineup give offence

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Noel e. Oman, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Thursday, July 24, 2008

LITTLE ROCK — Nearly 1,000 license plates have been pulled from a state revenue office after a vehicle owner complained the letters on the license plate suggested a racial epithet.

Alice Kunce of North Little Rock said the sequence of letters on the plate she was issued at a local revenue office - NGR - struck her as offensive.

“I can’t put that on my car,” Kunce said. “What kind of message would that send?”

Officials at the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration had no problem pulling 981 plates from further circulation even though it may have been a first. Each regular Arkansas license plate costs the state $1.46.

“We want nothing derogatory or inflammatory on our license plates,” Roger Duren, who heads the agency’s Office of Motor Vehicle, said Wednesday. “This may be one that got by us.”

The state typically purchasesbetween 300,000 and 400,000 license plates a year under a contract with Waldale Manufacturing Ltd. of Amherst, Nova Scotia. Waldale bills itself as the largest private license plate manufacturer in North America. It produces more than 500 types ofplates for 16 provinces or states in seven nations, according to the company’s Web site.

The state has almost 2 million registered passenger vehicles. People pick up plates when they register a new car.

Waldale and a state employee review each license plate series before the license plates are produced to ensure that the letter sequence isn’t inappropriate, Duren said. No plate contains the letters Q , U or V. For law enforcement purposes, Q’s might get mixed up with O’s, Duren said. The same goes for U’s and V’s.

Each license plate series is produced in increments of 999, he said. Kunce picked up the license plate, 018-NGR, on Tuesday afternoon, meaning 17 plates already had been distributed.

“There are some that are out there,” Duren said Wednesday. “We decided not to issue any more. We certainly don’t want anybody to be offended.”

Kunce said she may have made the connection with the sequence of letters and a derogatory term for blacks because of her background as a middleschool teacher.

“My mind is trained to think in different ways,” she said.

The state used the NGR sequence on 1988 plates when theletters preceded the numbers, Duren said. “No one noticed it then.”

Waldale officials also said they have used the same sequence of letters on plates in other states, Duren said.

But 20 years ago was a different era, said Kunce, who was 4 years old in 1988.

“Maybe we’re a little more sensitive now, for better or worse, with this sort of thing,” she said.

And anyone who has seen the plate has had a similar reaction to Kunce, who showed it to patrons and employees of the revenue office on Tuesday and at school on Wednesday.

“Everybody looked at it for a minute and got it,” Kunce said in an interview. “It wasn’t just me.”

Kunce was told she could purchase a new plate for $1.25.

“I’m supposed to be able to pick one up [today],” she said.

Kunce and her fiance moved to the area from Missouri about a year ago and are only now getting plates because her Missouri registration remains current.

“My fiance and I are happy here, but this is not quite the welcome I was expecting,” she said.

Ok...thoughts?

I think this is the PC Police over reacting. What's to be banned next, license plates ending in CNT or DCK or FCK? Or what about CKR, WOP, or KYK?

[JetsAndHeels]

It's PC police, 100 percent.

You can look anywhere out there and find something that will offend either you or someone else. People just need to get a thicker skin and get over it...there are far more important things going on in the world besides a stupid license plate.

[Jester]

The part that really gets me is this:

And anyone who has seen the plate has had a similar reaction to Kunce, who showed it to patrons and employees of the revenue office on Tuesday and at school on Wednesday.

“Everybody looked at it for a minute and got it,” Kunce said in an interview. “It wasn’t just me.”

Are you kidding me? Yeah, if some crazy person flashed it in my face and asked me "Do you see what I see?" I'd see it to, but if I passed by the car, I probably wouldn't notice. Seems like this gal made a mountain out of a mole hill.

[Wes]

Jester: I replied in the SC thread, but I'll reiterate my comments here for the benefit of the thread!

Well, no harm was intended -- and it doesn't look like there are any allegations of intentional racism, so I wouldn't say that the lady is making a mountain out of the issue -- but I can understand why someone wouldn't want a license that read "NGR"! And seeing as how the license plates are state-issued and all, it's probably best that the state does pull them and refrain from using those letters in that arrangement.

Anyway, the AK DFA gets a gold star from me for the quick and accommodating response -- almost any other organization would have argued over the point until Al Sharpton showed up with a bullhorn.

[JetsAndHeels]

Originally Posted by Jester

Seems like this gal made a mountain out of a mole hill.

The state of Arkansas should reserve a personalized plate for her, and it should read:

DRMAQUEN

[Jester]

It made CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/...ef=videosearch

[Cure]

NGR could just be short for Nigersaurus.

[Mecha Cow]

That's 'Africamericosaurus', you racist bastard.

[KROW]

Wow, that Kunce is a real CNT. Down FCK with her.

Kunce. *laughs like Beavis*

[A little *too* Raph]

Originally Posted by Mecha Cow

That's 'Africamericosaurus', you racist bastard.

Good call That made my evening.

[Sewer Bull]

Originally Posted by Mecha Cow

That's 'Africamericosaurus', you racist bastard.

What about those two countries in Africa, "N***r" and "N***ria"?

... "Afroamericaner" and "Afroamericaneria"?

And there's also the river.

[Buslady]

well i wont move there, I couldn't have my custom plate since it includes "VUE" in it.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Arkansas sucks balls. What can you expect? My friend who still lives there may loose his job because the governor slashed the education budget to fix a deficit (he works at a state college), but they flip out over license plates. Glad I'm out of that hell hole.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by ThirdMarioBro

Arkansas sucks balls. What can you expect? My friend who still lives there may loose his job because the governor slashed the education budget to fix a deficit (he works at a state college), but they flip out over license plates. Glad I'm out of that hell hole.

It wasn't UCA was it?

Hey wait....when our last governor left there was a surplus in the coffers....where'd that go....oh wait, the government had it...

[ThirdMarioBro]

Pulaski Tech.

[Jester]

Ahh, I ask because UCA's President recieved a $300,000 bonus recently, which he gave back because of how it looked.

[Warhorse]

Originally Posted by Jester

Ok...thoughts?

I think this is the PC Police over reacting. What's to be banned next, license plates ending in CNT or DCK or FCK? Or what about CKR, WOP, or KYK?

Hmmm, I never thought of it this way, but my licsense plate has CNT in it. Funny. Of all the sh!t to worry about in the world. People are becoming too thin skinned.

[Drtooth]

Originally Posted by Wes

Anyway, the AK DFA gets a gold star from me for the quick and accommodating response -- almost any other organization would have argued over the point until Al Sharpton showed up with a bullhorn.

Agreed. What would you rather see? A volentary recall from a responsible source, or a big annoying battle between a bunch of uptight groups, be it for race or the implied vulgarity? Nuff said.

[Jester]

I agree, Arkansas did the right thing by just recalling them with out incident, but one lady had a problem...just one. Seems a bit wacky to me.