Government In Action

From the Post Standard (11/29/07) page A-8:

Garden City, NY, A retired police officer filed a federal complaint Wednesday to force the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles to drop its demand he return vanity license plates calling for the capture or death of Osama bin Laden.

Arno Herwerth, a 21-year veteran of the New York Police Department who retired as a sergeant, admitted he requested the "GETOSAMA" plates earlier this month to send a political message. He said he was surprised to hear, after receiving the plates, that the DMV wanted them back.

The agency, in a Nov. 15 letter to Herwerth, cited a regualtion that prohibits plates that can be considered "obscene, lewd, lascivious, derogatory to a particular ethnic group or patently offensive." Herwerth, 42, of Hauppauge, said in a telephone interview that it was important to him that the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror atacks, orchestrated by bin Laden, be remembered.

Oh come on. Does that mean that I can't get a plate that reads "THEALAMO" because some beaner will be offended? But I'll bet that the plates "GOABORT" are on some lib's car right now - no problemo.