Old, Comfy Shoes

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Two Plates Please

As you drive around Ohio you will notice that almost all the cars here have front and rear license plates. This is because it is required by law to identify both ends of your vehicle. This dual identification aids our fine law enforcement personnel in catching you coming and going.

Occasionally you will see a car that doesn't have a front plate. These are either people who live in another state and are here visiting or people who have moved here and don't know the double plate law. This last group is generally comprised of Hoosiers and Kentuckians who somehow made it across the border.

Now one would think that when the license bureau gave you two plates, you would either ask why you got two or notice that every other vehicle around you has a front plate and follow their lead. But not everyone does this. Some consider the extra plate a gift or a souvenir. To quote my Pastor after he got he got ticketed for his singular license plate, "Apparently they don't just give you an extra one in case you lose one!"

Yesterday Tamara noticed that our friend Scott (who is from Kentucky) didn't have a front license plate on his jeep. We figured he probably didn't know that this was a mistake that could cost him quite a bit of money. So we decided that we would enlighten him.

Unfortunately he didn't believe us. It couldn't be the law because "they only gave me one plate." Tamara astutely guessed that he probably got two plates and put both of them on the back of his car.

No amount of arguing would convince Scott that he was breaking the law, so we had to go check out his car. Sure enough, there were two plates attached to the back of his jeep.

We brought him out to show him his mistake and in the process of pulling the plates apart I broke the license plate cover. I still feel really bad about that. But it didn't really matter because Tamara and I were right and Scott was wrong. Which means that all is right in the world. Plus I offered to glue it back together and he wouldn't let me.

Scott is convinced that the license bureau should have to hand you the two plates separately so they don't get stuck together and both end up on the back of the car.

I think they should just keep Kentuckians in Kentucky.

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