THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408190238
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Mr. Roberts' Neighborhood
SOURCE: Frank Roberts
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Eventually, I'm going to have to pen a column about the rarity of license plates with three letters and three numbers.
The personalized jobs are becoming more and more popular. Right now, I have a list that could fill three columns.
Thanks to many co-workers and friends who have supplied names, particularly Susie Stoughton (as in ``dough,'' which she wrote a column about last week), who seems to spend more time writing down her license observations than looking at the road ahead.
And bless The Grateful Dead for inspiring Lee White of Franklin for TRUKKIN. He is in the trucking business, but that is not the reason for his plate.
It is a Grateful Dead song. The first line is on his bumper sticker - ``What a long, strange trip it's been.''
Kind of deep for this city boy with country tastes.
Speaking of the country, someone wants you to BUY COWS.
And, speaking of animals, there is ANIMLVR, GRND HOG, PORKEE, RABBIT, BUSI BEE, BABY DUC, TWO DOGS, 1 HOT HOS, HARE ART.
It is the cat lovers, however, who are really avid: HOTKAT, PUTE CAT (as in ``I thot I taw a - ''), KATZ-N-KAR, MEOW 82, MY CAT.
Segue, oh-so-cleverly, into food plates. And isn't that where food goes?
JAM EXP is actually the initials of Dr. Art Chambers daughters - Jennifer, Ashley and Maggie. If that counts as a food license so does CHEW GUM and CHOW CAB.
There's JULEP, TEA 4 2 and the other kind - TEE PRTY.
Golf? Did you say golf? Someone is sporting a plate 4 GOLF N. There's 18 HOLZ, and there's a phrase for any golfer with a high score - DERNIT.
Sports-related plates are popular. Witness this group, although I'm stretching a little: UVA TOO, BASKET KS (K's as in case), DEEPDIV (a cellar barroom?), COACHIN, RLLR SK8, GON BOLN, TOPSAIL and 2B SAILIG, DECOY, SKYDIV 2, FSHN GAL and 4 CAVS, which could be the University of Virginia or Lakeland High - or both.
Speaking of schools - segue-segue - someone is HI KLASS. Someone else is HY GLAZ.
Other education-related plates - some distantly related - are: WRYTE ON, 4READIN, TCH THEM and MTH TCHR, N2 BOOX and, what my teacher told my mom about my scholastic endeavors - SO BADD.
``Will you promote Frankie into the next grade?'' Momma asked.
NO KN DO.
Oh, wow, now we are into plates about the family. Lots of those.
There's GO MAMAA, MOMZ CAR, PROUD PA and MY POPS, MS POOO, MIS LUCY, 4-MY-SON and JUS BOYS.
There was the slow-driving ITS NANA, IM BABA, NOT MRS (whoa!), VA GAL and, one in front of the other - MR BC and MRS BC. I saw 4 BABIYS as well as TWINS N3. Here's a smaller family - 1 SM FRY. Or is that a chintzy cook at a fast-food place?
Speaking of occupations, he wrote, going into his umpteenth segue, here are a few:
OISING belongs to Gail Hinton-Copeland who, indeed, does - and beautifully.
There is a VDOT SEC. There's an AVIATRIX and another member of the Tidewater Soaring Society - SOAR HI.
Several personalized plates represent the medical profession.
A Ford pickup advertises the DR IZ IN. OLE DOC is in Wakefield as well as a WKFLD RX.
There is NRSRE RN and, to wind up this week's licensed episodes, one of my all-time favorites, I C GUTZ. It belongs to nurses Mary Luter and Vicki Johnson. Love it! ILLUSTRATION: Photo by FRANK ROBERTS
A Grateful Dead song inspired this license plate, which belongs to
Lee White, who just happens to be the owner of a trucking business.
by CNB