‘They’re not getting my tag ... That is my name’

Muad Dib · Jan 15, 2010

‘They’re not getting my tag ... That is my name’

Theresa Titman and her personalized license plate “T1TMAN.“

Published: January 15, 2010

BRISTOL, Va. – Theresa Titman knows all the jokes about the last name she proudly displays on a personalized license plate, but she isn’t laughing over a state agency’s recent ruling.

Last month, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles notified Titman and her husband that they must surrender the tag she’s had for seven years – T1TMAN – because someone might find it “socially, racially or ethnically offensive or disparaging and used to describe intimate body parts or genitals.”

The tag was issued “in error,” according to the letter.

“They’re not getting my tag,” Titman said. “I was utterly – I don’t think any word could describe how I felt. That is my name. It has been my name for the 22 years I’ve been married and for someone to say it is vulgar is offensive to me.”

Titman said the state agency declined a request to issue the plate about 16 years ago because it was “offensive,” but relented several years later when they agreed to replace the “i” with the number “1.”

Displayed for years on a Jeep and now a Chevrolet Impala, the tag has generated some attention.

“I have people want to take a picture of it or they’ll say it’s the ‘coolest’ thing ever,” she said. “Not once has anybody ever said it was vulgar.”

Titman said she understands how someone might be taken aback by the plate if they didn’t know her name, but can’t understand the agency’s response.

“This state has closed all but two rest areas between here and Fairfax, they’re contracting out plowing the roads and people [in Richmond] don’t have anything else to do but worry about this? I just don’t get it,” she said.

Agency spokeswoman Melanie Stokes said the agency tries to catch offensive plates before they’re issued.

“The personalized license plate program is extremely popular. We have a computer program to catch inappropriate messages and we have eight criteria that we use. It sounds like this one did not pass the test,” Stokes said in a phone interview.

When told the tag has been in service for several years, Stokes admitted, “We definitely miss a few.”

Along with its Dec. 15 letter, the state agency included a new innocuous plate “XLU-3506,” but Titman has refused to install it on the car she drives daily to work every day as a dental assistant in Bristol, Va.

She also plans to continue displaying the personalized tag, even after it expires next month.

“I feel like the state is discriminating against me,” Titman said. “I pay taxes. I vote. I work every day. My husband works – he served 12 years in the Marine Corps – and I have a son getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan.”

Neither she nor her husband got any relief when they called the Abingdon and Richmond offices of the DMV to complain.

“I told the lady, ‘That is my name,’ and she said they “didn’t pay attention” to that,” Titman said.

This week, the couple submitted a letter requesting a hearing to appeal the ruling.

“I want a hearing as soon as possible and I also want to hear from the person who lodged a complaint against my family,” she wrote in the letter. “To discriminate against my family is criminal and, if a lawyer needs to be brought into this, I will do so and I can assure you I will win.”

Stokes, the DMV spokeswoman, said the couple has some options.

“If someone wants to keep a tag, we have an informal administrative hearing where the customer can explain all relevant information – i.e., it’s their last name,” Stokes said.

That information then goes to the DMV’s hearings office, which reviews the information and makes a recommendation to the agency’s commissioner, who makes the final decision, Stokes said.

That decision can ultimately be appealed to circuit court.

http://www2.tricities.com/tri/news/...not_getting_my_tag_..._that_is_my_name/39012/
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enlisted person · Jan 15, 2010

The people should have recourse to fire the person who's job it is to worry about license plate letters. In these times of government cutbacks, that is a job that can be eliminated immediately and help the state budget.

Muad Dib · Jan 15, 2010

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‘They’re not getting my tag ... That is my name’

Muad Dib Probably a Dual Deceased Member

enlisted person Black Swan

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‘They’re not getting my tag ... That is my name’

Muad Dib Probably a Dual Deceased Member

enlisted person Black Swan

Muad Dib Probably a Dual Deceased Member

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