ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 22, 1994                   TAG: 9401220225
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

DMV TO ALLOW DEITY REFERENCE

The state Department of Motor Vehicles cannot refuse to issue personalized license plates that refer to a deity, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Richard Williams ruled that denying the Rev. Dan F. Pruitt Jr. a vanity plate reading "GODZGUD" was a violation of Pruitt's right of free speech.

The judge said the department allows references to religion on the plates, but not to deities. Such a policy discriminates "on the basis of the speaker's viewpoint," the judge said.

- Associated Press 


 by CNB