Province Just Says No

New Brunswick won't allow Sharon (Weed) Thorne to put her maiden name on a license plate.

Sharon Thorne has even brought officials a copy of her birth certificate, but they still refuse to allow her to attach a tag that says "WEED" to her beloved 2001 Mustang convertible.

"I am not promoting drug use," she complained this week. "I do not smoke marijuana, have never inhaled it even once, don't sell it, am adamantly against it and have no criminal record.

"I have always been proud my name was unique, and thought people would see the plate and realize they went to school with me, or knew my parents or something. It was meant to be a fun thing, but has turned into something really annoying." [Link]

Bay State OKs Pilgrim Plates

A bill has passed the Massachusetts Legislature that would allow Dexter Olsson of Plymouth to use license plates that read "1620."

The 1620 plates were given to Olsson’s father, George Olsson, by then-Gov. John A. Volpe in the early 1960s.

The family traces its roots to the Pilgrims’ arrival on the Mayflower in 1620 and William Bradford, governor of the Plymouth Colony. Volpe gave the "vanity," or "low-number" plates as a thank-you to the elder Olsson, who was a longtime Plymouth clerk of courts, chairman of Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., and a co-founder of Plimoth Plantation.

The license plate number remained with the family, becoming a symbol of the Olssons’ heritage and part of family lore, Dexter Olsson said. [Link]

Oregon Offended By Udinks

The state of Oregon wants a family to return their vanity license plates because their surname is offensive.

The plates, UDINK1 UDINK2 and UDINK3 are on the vehicles of Mike and Shelly Udink and their son Kalei.

Last summer, Kawika Udink's application for UDINK4 was rejected and the state ordered that the other three plates be returned.

The panel's ruling surprised Mike Udink, whose name is Dutch. He says it is a common last name in The Netherlands.

"Since when can a panel dictate whether your name's offensive or not?" asked Udink, a lineman for Pacific Power. [Link]

[Thanks, Nancy!]