
DATE: Sunday, June 29, 1997                 TAG: 9706290072

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   82 lines

BEACH PLATE SPECIAL HAS ONLY DAYS TO GO THE CITY NEEDS TO HIT 350 ORDERS THIS WEEK OR SPECIAL HOMETOWN TAGS WON'T BE MADE.

You'd think that somewhere in a city of 425,000 residents there would be 350 who'd want to advertise their hometown on their license plate. Think again.

The road to a tag honoring the resort city has been rockier than the path to a Smoky Mountain hollow.

For more than two years, staffers at the Virginia Marine Science Museum have been accepting applications for a plate featuring a pair of dolphins, a stylized wave, a rising sun and the words ``Virginia Beach.'' If they can convince 1,000 citizens and other beach-loving Virginians to lay out an extra $25 a year for the plates, the museum's Stranding Team - the group that rescues stranded marine life - will get a $15 rebate for each plate in use.

Alice Scanlan, the museum's marketing director, figures there must be at least that many people out there who will order the plates once they start seeing them around. But before the first tag is even struck, the Division of Motor Vehicles has to have 350 applications - with checks - in hand.

Right now, the museum is holding about 250 of them. ``We still have 100 to go,'' sighed Scanlan, ``and July 4 is the deadline.''

So what's the problem?

Pick one. Things have not gone smoothly in the four years since Del. Robert M. Tata, R-Virginia Beach, convinced his fellow legislators to authorize the honorary tags.

First, production of all special plates came to a standstill. That was during a six-month lockdown at the Greensville Correctional Center in 1994.

Early in 1995, the inmates returned to work, production resumed and the museum started taking orders. But by that time the state had begun requiring localities to have at least 1,000 applications before they would make tags. That happened after 900 plates were made for the city of Fairfax but fewer than 100 were sold. The Corrections Department was not happy at having to warehouse the remaining tags.

Fast-forward to January of this year. In two years of trying to get 1,000 people to fill out applications and plunk down $50 checks ($25 for the annual fee, $25 for the special tag) the museum had only 275 interested buyers. That was the bad news.

The good news was that the state had lowered the requirement for production to 350. And applicants no longer had to front the money. All it took was filling out an application. Just a hop, skip and jump to success, city and museum supporters reasoned.

Wrong.

By early May, requests had reached the 300 mark. Then they began falling. ``Since it had been so long since we received the first requests, we had to start checking back with people to see if they were still interested,'' said Scanlan.

Quite a few, for good reasons, weren't. Some had moved, some no longer drove and some were dead. And there was more bad news. The DMV is back to requiring that a check accompany each application.

So, will the museum meet its goal by next Friday?

``We certainly hope so,'' said Scanlan.

Meanwhile, Fairfax has some hopes of its own. A reporter calling to ask how many of their plates had been sold was greeted with a hearty laugh followed by a sigh similar to Scanlan's.

``I just got done designing a new flier to send out with each (city) billing,'' said Armelle Purter of Fairfax's office of economic development. ``We're just trying to do something to convince people to be proud.''

In response to the question of how many special plates had been sold, Purter hesitated for a moment. ``Ah, 63,'' she said.

Still, there's no reason to believe that Virginia Beach can't do better. The resort city has 425,000 residents, and Fairfax has fewer than 25,000. Scanlan has strong hopes that 350 of those Beach residents will come forward with applications and checks over the next five days. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

DETAILS ON THE PLATE

How much: $50 a year for regular plates; $60 for personalized.

How to get them: Call 437-6002 to request an application. Return

the application with a check for the proper amount before Friday, or

stop by the Virginia Marine Science Museum and fill out an

application there.

What happens to the unexpired time on existing plates? That money

will be refunded once new plates are issued.

What if I pay and they never make the plates? The money will be

refunded once the deadline expires.