
DATE: Tuesday, May 13, 1997                 TAG: 9705130287

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIKA REIF, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: HAMPTON                           LENGTH:   76 lines

DMV TO RECALL PLATE BEARING REFERENCE TO GAS USED BY NAZIS THE AGENCY CALLS THE PLATES ``SOCIALLY OR ETHNICALLY DISPARAGING OR INSENSITIVE.''

The Hampton man whose station wagon carries ``ZYKLON B'' license plates will be notified this week that he will have to replace them.

Zyklon-B, a gas used in Nazi death chambers in World War II, is now an unacceptable combination of letters for vanity plates, Jeanne Chenault, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, said Monday - and DMV will recall the tags.

It's questionable whether DMV can retrieve them, however. Ryan Maziarka, the Hampton man who identifies himself as the vehicle's owner, said Monday evening that the plates were stolen from his car earlier in the day while he was at work, The Associated Press reported.

Maziarka, 21, of the 1400 block of Oakcrest Drive, was convicted in 1995 of spray-painting racial and religious slurs on the New Bethel Cathedral in Hampton. For his attack on the mostly black church, he was sentenced to five years in prison, with three suspended.

The Anti-Defamation League filed a complaint Friday after hearing from a newspaper reporter on behalf of a citizen upset by the

plates. After a DMV committee meeting Monday, a letter was to be sent ordering the plates to be changed, Chenault said.

The committee is recalling the ``ZYKLON B'' plates for being ``socially or ethnically disparaging or insensitive,'' Chenault said.

Samuel Kaplan, director of the Virginia and North Carolina chapter of the ADL, said his organization finds the plate ``offensive and potentially traumatic.''

After hearing that DMV officials decided to recall the plates, Kaplan said Monday, ``We're delighted by their quick and decisive response to our request.''

Maziarka, reached at his home by telephone Monday night, said he enjoyed the attention he received from the license plate and knows the significance of Zyklon B to the Holocaust, which he said never occurred.

``I want people to ask me what it (Zyklon B) is, to tell them it's a big lie.''

The Associated Press reported that Maziarka confirmed for an AP reporter Monday evening that the license plates are registered in his name.

Maziarka has the right to appeal the license plate decision to a DMV hearing officer. Beyond that, he would have to take his case to court, Chenault said.

In an unrelated but also highly publicized instance of license plates being rescinded, the Northern Virginia holders of the ``2 DYKES'' plate have decided to appeal. Alexandria residents Alice Deighan and Scout - her legal name - say they plan to make their case before a hearing officer later this month.

After two years of driving with the ``2 DYKES'' tag, the lesbian couple received a letter from the DMV in April rescinding the tags. According to the letter, the message ``could be interpreted in a way which would make it obscene, profane or vulgar.''

The DMV then told the couple that a ``LESBIAN'' tag was available, something the two will consider if their appeal fails. Scout said the couple use the word ``dyke'' in a positive sense and said she believes the DMV's recall is based on homophobia.

Yet despite her disagreement with the DMV, Scout concedes that vanity plates are not a First Amendment right. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report.The Associated

Press contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Talk Back Tuesday

Should the state of Virginia place tighter restrictions on what

you can put on your license plate?

To cast your vote, call Infoline at 640-5555. Press 2004 to vote

yes, or 2005 to vote no.

Watch for the results of the survey tonight at 10 on Pilot 13

News. (Cox Communications channels 4 on the Southside, 8 in

Chesapeake and 4 or 25 on the Peninsula.) KEYWORDS: DMV LICENSE PLATES REVOKE