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Highlands Today

What Does Your Plate Say?

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Lisa Bevins with the Highlands County Tax Collector's Office shows several of the 107 plates drivers can choose from for their vehicle's tag.

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: November 30, 2007

SEBRING — Back in the old days, parents and children used to play the license plate game. Rolling down the interstate on vacation, they'd spot a plate from Oklahoma, Wyoming, or even Alaska, and call it out.

These days, it's not as easy. Most states have specialized plates with Scout symbols, colleges, birds, fish and sail boats, so it's impossible to tell from the look whether a plate is from Georgia or New York.

Even Charles Bryan misses Florida's county plates. "When I'm on vacation in Tennessee, and I see Florida on a plate, I want to see if they're from Highlands County," said Bryan, the Highlands County tax collector. It's the job of his office to register vehicles. Motorists can choose "Sunshine State" or "Highlands" at the bottom of their plate.

What's the No. 1 specialty plate?

Florida and Florida State universities, Bryan replied.

"They both sell about equally," he said. Then office manager Cindy Weed appeared with an official state list. Turns out, Florida plates outsell Florida State, two to one.

"Oh, don't put that in there," Bryan winced. So, guess who went to Florida State?

Personalized Tags

Lisa Bevins, a tax specialist in Bryan's office, also sells vanity plates.

Her favorite: "6L EATER" for a genuine gas hog, a 6.0 liter diesel pickup truck.

Other clever plates: "EAT DEER" for a hunter, "HLTH NUT" for a broccoli hugger, "GROUCH" for a – well, no need to elaborate further.

A drive around town produced these: "CWBOY UP" on a Ford F-150 pickup, and "FIND" on the back of an Escape SUV, which also carried the stickers "I [heart] My Bloodhounds" and "I [heart] My Bassets."

Inside Petco was Barbara Clark of Sebring: "I used to have search and rescue dogs, cadaver dogs, bloodhounds and German shepherds," she said. "Find" is their command to start sniffing.

In Lake Placid, Ruthe and Bob Mullins have plates, "CG DAD" and "CG MOM," honoring their son, a bosun's mate stationed aboard an icebreaker in Port Huron, Mich. The Coast Guard

keeps open the St. Lawrence Seaway so ships can get to the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean.

Then there's Jim Klingensmith, also of Lake Placid, who displays the message "JK B-29" on an Air Force plate. Veterans of the wild blue yonder know what that means, for but the rest of us, it recalls JK's 20-year career as a B-29 flight engineer.

Finally, there's Doug Palmer of Avon Park.

"I have been professionally involved with insects since 1959," said Palmer. He majored in entomology at the University of Florida.

"In 1990, when I could afford my first Cadillac, I came up with the "BUGS PAY" license plate.

It has a double meaning: he teaches pest control courses. And the bad bugs who cross Palmer, his students and their clients?

"They pay with their lives," Palmer said. "So, the double meaning, BUGS PAY."

Looking For A Personalized Christmas Gift?

The Department of Highway Safety has issued gift certificates, which can be used to buy a specialty license place.

Certificates can be purchased from the state, or at Tax Collector Charles Bryan's office, in the Highlands County Government Center.

More info: 402-6700.

All 107 of Florida's specialty plates can be found at www.hctaxcollector.com.

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