Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 9, 1990 TAG: 9007070263
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ED SHAMY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But to judge Virginia's new license plate design, Mr. License Plate could not afford to cut corners. He - I - needed persons absolutely beyond reproach, individuals whose qualifications were impeccable.
This was weighty stuff, and very probably the future of the commonwealth rested on the decisions cut by the panel of seven experts gleaned from the community in less than an hour.
To their credit, the experts seemed unfazed by the pressure, which is what blue-ribbon panel members are not paid to do. Coolly, they sat back, called each other imbeciles, and stuck to the work at hand.
Here is the panel of experts, listed alphabetically, with a brief description of how Mr. License Plate's exhaustive research unearthed them as suitable blue-ribbon candidates:
\ Lt. William Althoff, Roanoke City Police, Traffic Division: No blue-ribbon panel would be complete without a police officer, someone who relies on license plates to differentiate between those of us who obey the law and those of you who do not.
Mind you, Althoff did not participate because he agrees that Virginia needs new license plates. He is mum on the issue. He participated because he is a good American and because he heard that there would be free food at the judging session. In the judging, Althoff filibustered against those entries that did not include legible letters and numbers.
\ Stephanie Green, secretary, Star City Bumpers, Roanoke: Where do you hang a license plate? On a bumper. What does Green sell? Bumpers. Get it? Her priority was to find a plate that could be bolted to a bumper, and she served as a calming influence among some of the hot-headed judges (see below).
\ Danny Johnson, apple grower, Thaxton: Selected because of his utter lack of artistic ability - as evidenced by his abstract attempts to sculpt of chicken wire and fiberglass the world's biggest little apple for his store in Thaxton. Johnson insisted an apple be used on the license plate and, finding none, grew belligerent. Finally succumbed to the voice of reason and voted for the designs I liked.
\ Forest Jones Jr., former and future tourist, Salem: Jones, a 1990 Salem High School graduate, lobbied hard for designs that would lure visitors and their wallets to Virginia. He was selected as our tourism expert because he has been, and will be again, a tourist. He knows how tourists think. He has walked in their shoes.
\ Sam Peters, owner of Fantasy Off-Road Center and manager of adjacent auto parts store, Daleville: Peters peddles parts - cars, trucks and motorbikes. A license plate is a part of a car, truck or motorbike, right? You have a problem with that?
\ Melody Stovall, executive director of the Harrison Museum of African American Culture, Roanoke: Art. License plates. Design. Flair. Panache. You mention any of them, and any Roanoker in the know will think of Stovall.
Unfortunately, she didn't like most of the designs I did, and she was nearly kicked off the judging panel for that indiscretion. Otherwise, she got along well with the other judges.
\ Mr. License Plate, Me: I thought up the contest. Had to test my parliamentary and human relations skills by serving as a judge and threatening to wallop dissenters.
by CNB