[s-cars] FW: [Audi-nw] LAC: Vanity plate on Audi shows formula for meth

[Nathan Belo]

New type of fuel. ;)
-- 
Nathan Belo
Associate Broker (Residential, Commercial, & Business Opportunities) &
Notary Public
Skyline Properties, Inc.
9709 3rd Ave NE, Suite 500
Seattle, WA  98115
206.686.8989 Accessline Voice/Fax


------ Forwarded Message
Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 07:32:58 -0700
To: northwest enthusiasts <audi-nw at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Audi-nw] LAC: Vanity plate on Audi shows formula for meth

By Susan Gilmore
Seattle Times staff reporter

A black 2002 Audi tooling around Seattle's streets has a vanity license
plate that appears to have gotten in under the radar of the state
licensing police.

The inscription, C9H13N, is the chemical compound for methamphetamine ‹
not that the general public would know that.

The plate appears to violate state law that bans vanity plates making
reference to alcohol or illegal substances.

The driver of the car, whose name was not released, told state
officials in his application for the plate that the series of letters
and numbers represented red food coloring, said Brad Benfield,
spokesman for the state Department of Licensing.

But according to the Chemistry Department at the University of
Washington, the compound represented on the plate is not the common
formula for red food coloring.

"This is a serious concern, if there is a license out there with
something on it that a reasonable person would consider related to an
illegal substance," said Benfield.

There's an outside chance that the plate may be legal because the
chemical compound is also the formula for amphetamine, which is used in
medicines.

Revoking a license plate is not a simple task.

First the state would send the driver a letter questioning the plate.
Then the case would go to the agency's Personalized Plate Review
Committee, made up of officials from the licensing department, the
Washington State Patrol, county auditors and vehicle-licensing agents.

Over the past 18 months, the committee has reviewed 17 questionable
plates, and four ‹ all with sexual connotations ‹ have been canceled.

Last week the state dismissed a complaint about a vanity plate
imprinted with JOHN316 ‹ a reference to a New Testament verse ‹ because
it wasn't deemed offensive.

About 83,000 vehicles in the state ‹ 25,000 in King County alone ‹ have
vanity plates, according to Benfield. That's out of 6.5 million total
vehicles registered. Owners pay $44.75 for the plate the first year and
$30 in subsequent years.

According to state law, the licensing department may deny or cancel a
vanity application if it falls into one of six categories:

€ It's offensive to good taste and decency.

€ It's potentially misleading.

€ It's vulgar, profane or sexually suggestive.

€ It's a racial, ethnic, lifestyle or gender slur.

€ It relates to alcohol or illegal activities or substances.

€ It is derogatory, slanderous or religiously blasphemous.

So how could this plate have been issued in the first place?

"It's pretty easy for something like this to slip through," said
Benfield. "With a series of letters and numbers, if you're not a
chemist it doesn't ring a bell."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/
2002286168_licenses24m.html
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