Did you find your way directly here? If so, you might want to start at the beginning of this saga.

Recalled and Stolen: NH Vanity Plate H8DCYF

Of course, this was quite distressing, as both my car and I have become attached to H8DCYF, I won't give up the plate without a fight. The DMV is somewhat confused, as the temporary paper plate referred to above is long gone. The permanent plate has been on the vehicle since October 20th. I sent this reply via certified mail.

November 19, 1999

Arthur S. Garlow
Department of Safety
Division of Motor Vehicles
10 Hazen Drive
Concord, NH 03305

Re: NH Registration H8DCYF

Dear Mr. Garlow,

I am in receipt of your letter dated November 16, 1999. You indicate that my plate is being recalled as being issued to me in error. This is incorrect. I specifically requested this plate. I am a Libertarian civil rights lawyer, whose main area of practice is the defense of child abuse cases, and the plate perfectly expresses my sentiments toward the Division for Children, Youth, and Families, who violate my clients' rights on a daily basis.

Upon receipt of your letter, I immediately consulted my Lexis CD-rom, looking under the statute for "vanity plates" and found the following:

§ 261:89. Vanity Number Plates.

The director is hereby authorized to design and to issue, under such rules as he shall deem appropriate, vanity number plates to be used on motor vehicles in lieu of other number plates. Such number plates shall be of such design and shall bear such letters or letters and numbers as the director shall prescribe, but there shall be no duplication of identification. Such number plates or a changeable designation of the effective period thereof, as the director shall determine, shall be issued only upon application therefor and upon payment of a special fee of $25, said special fee to be in addition to the regular motor vehicle registration fee and any other number plate manufacturing fee otherwise required by law for the particular vehicle. All special fees collected under this section shall be paid to the state treasurer and distributed as provided by RSA 263:52.

History

Source. RSA 260:10-a. 1957, 8:1. 1970, 38:6. 1974, 45:2. 1981, 146:1. 1982, 42:154. 1983, 469:104, eff. July 1, 1983.

Annotations

Amendments--1983. Substituted "$25" for "$15" in the third sentence. --1982. Substituted "$15" for "$5" in the third sentence and rewrote the last sentence.

I was unable to find in the CD-Rom any "rules" as the director deems appropriate that apply to the selection of vanity plate numbers. I would certainly like to maintain a vanity plate that properly expresses my anti-DCYF sentiments, but of course, I understand the need to stay within the Department's rules. Please forward me a copy of those rules, so I may properly choose another appropriate plate without running afoul of them. I believe this needs to be done quickly, as it appears from the rules I was able to find, that any person requested to turn in a registration runs the risk of having his plates lifted by law enforcement officers pursuant to a pick-up order that may be issued by your department. Of course, that particular rule does not indicate whether or not your department may issue such an order in the event that a registration has not been suspended. I am unclear as to whether or not my registration has been suspended. Perhaps you could clarify that point for me, and if it has been suspended, kindly inform me of the reasons.

You need to know with respect to rules of the Director, that any government action or rule that restricts political speech must have a compelling reason, or it will be held to be unconstitutional. So, while speech that advocate violence may be upheld (the reason I rejected "AXDCYF" even though "ax" is commonly used in political speech as a term meaning "get rid of"), rules that completely suppress particular political viewpoints may not be enforced.

I hope we can clear up this little matter soon. Thank you for your anticipated prompt response.

Sincerely, Paula J. Werme, Esq.

For non-NH readers, one well known legal precedent involving license plates reached the US Supreme Court. They concluded in Wooley v. Maynard that putting tape over the phrase "Live Free or Die" was Constitutionally protected Free Speech. It's amazing what some people will drag through the courts! The attorney for the state was one David Souter who is now a member of US the Supreme Court. It would be ironic if H8DCYF reaches them.

Steve Varnum of the Concord Monitor tried to look into why and who initiated the recall, but DMV officials were out to lunch, err unavailable, yesterday.

Lawyer's vanity plate recalled

The Division of Motor Vehicles has recalled the vanity license plate of a local attorney who defends child abuse cases. ...

Werme said she was told the plates were considered offensive. ...

No one at the Division of Motor Vehicles was available to comment yesterday afternoon.

I still haven't received a response to my certified letter. I get the feeling that the DMV thought the metal plate had not been issued and that they could simply catch it before it was sent. Once they realized I had the plate and wasn't letting go, I think they figured the best course was to ignore the problem and hope it goes away. However...

Alice Giordano of the Boston Globe decided to write a story for the Sunday Boston Globe of December 19th. She looked into other license plates that have been issued by New England states and found a WWW site of NH vanity plates. Her story was picked up by the Associated Press and carried in most of the major NH papers (and the Monday Boston Globe!)

The Globe doesn't keep their stories online for long, but some quotes follow.

N.H. 'hate plate' challenges license to free speech

The director of the Department of Motor Vehicles, Virginia Beecher, did not return numerous Globe phone calls to her office.

Vehicle registry lists from other New England states show that Werme's so-called "hate plate" is in company with a variety of other messages including IKILU, which belongs to a Warwick, R.I., woman and HATEM, displayed by a Massachusetts motorist.

There are also plates in New Hampshire that could easily outdo Werme's plate in offensiveness. Examples of vanity plates that have been allowed by the state include TNA4ME, S-O-B, +COKE+, and SPNKME.

Cathie Curtis, director of vehicle services at the Maine Department of Motor Vehicles, says she would have a problem with Werme's plate, though she couldn't say if it would be rejected. "Anything that starts with H8 or anything that starts creating the intent of hatred," said Curtis, "we would look very closely at it."

On December 31th, I received the following from the DMV. It's essentially just a copy of the first, the key addition being the paragraph about requesting a hearing. So I FAXed it to Alice Giordano. :-)

December 29, 1999 Paula Werme 83 N Main Street Boscawen NH 03303

SECOND REQUEST

Dear Registrant:

Please be advised that plate H8DCYF issued to you on a 1993 Ford VIN ************ is being recalled as it was given to you in error.

Please return initial plate H8DCYF along with this letter to the nearest Motor Vehicle [sic]. You may select another initial plate at no further cost or obtain regular passenger plates. If you select the regular passenger plates the $25.00 vanity fee will be refunded you you.

Should you want to request a hearing regarding this matter please call 271-xxxx.

If you have any further questions pelase call 271-****. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Sherri L. Seabury
Counter Clerk III

cc: file/hearings

I finally got around to answering Sherri Seabury. I wonder if she knew what she was getting into. I sent this reply via certified mail.

January 4, 2000

Sherri L. Seabury,
Counter Clerk, III
Department of Safety
Division of Motor Vehicles
10 Hazen Drive
Concord, NH 03301

Re: Ford VIN ************

Dear Ms. Seabury,

I was quite surprised to receive a second notice from you regarding my License plate being recalled. This letter is virtually a copy of the original letter I received from Arthur Garlow, the Assistant Director of Motor Vehicles, with the exception that it indicates that I can request a hearing on the matter. It appears that they are sending things DOWN the ladder instead of up as is usual in cases where the respondent isn't cooperating. Perhaps they are having a problem deciding what sort of action to take in the matter.

I responded to Mr. Garlow's letter with my own certified letter, and in it asked him for a copy of the rules regarding the selection of number plates. To date, I have not received those rules. Until I have been given some notice of what law or rule I have broken, I see no reason to schedule a hearing, because I don't know what the hearing would be about.

I am very sorry if my plate offends the commissioner, however, that in and of itself provides no legal basis for recalling my license plate. Please cite the basis for recalling my license plate, and I will be happy to then request a hearing on the matter. I thought perhaps you might enjoy reading about your role in this little saga on our web site: http://people.ne.mediaone.net/werme/h8dcyf.html.

Sincerely, Paula J. Werme, Esq.

2000 June 11
The Concord Monitor ran an article on the front page of Section D titled Welcome to the vanity capital. One line from it is "... the "I am political" plates (FRBS2K; 4STARR; BUSH - and the infamous H8DCYF." It's nice to know I've left my mark in New Hampshire. Also - I've still received no reply from the DMV.

October 2000
I had no trouble registering my car, so it appears that the state has dropped the matter. Of course, they may well simply have no good way to flag a registration as "don't issue next year."

2000 Nov 9
Well! Between too much stress over the last few weeks and preparing for recent hearings, I really can't deal with a big bull moose passing a few feet from me just outside my office window. At least he left my saffron crocuses alone. An hour later a state vehicle drives up, two armed goons get out and come to the door to ask if I'm Ms. Seabury. I see they have a copy of a letter I signed, and foolishly correct their mistake. They then proceed to remove H8DCYF from my car! I'm so astonished I forget to kick them off the property with my copy of the Fourth Amendment, but do have the sense to grab the camera and record the act. They don't even give me a temporary tag!

After they left and I recollected my wits, I called the Boscawen Police to report that my plates were stolen by armed, uniformed thugs from the DMV. The officer wrote up a police report recording that he "Informed her to call Dept. of MV." Hey, I don't want anyone to point out that I didn't report the theft.

After alerting the rest of the world (I have good mail list), Steve Varnum at the Concord Monitor, writes a completely accurate and unbiased story that runs as the lead story Friday. (While the Monitor dropped it, it's still at a Free Republic forum.) Unlike last year, he is able to contact someone at DMV, director Virginia Beecher. He quotes Beecher as saying "We've waited a year for her to contact us and tell us what she wants to do and will do and that's more than reasonable." Ms. Beecher, if you're reading this, please go back and click on the references to certified mail above.

Unfortunately, on Thursday I forget that state offices were to be closed Friday for Veteran's Day so I can't deal with this until Monday! Court didn't get out until too late anyway. I thought Thursday was an odd day to act. It doesn't help my mood when a CASA worker overhears me joke about my close encounter with the moose. Apparently all she heard was my comment "I'll just have to get a gun" and felt threatened. Oh well, I'm sure all at DCYF will read the story with delight.

So, what's happened here? My best guess at this point is that DMV officials came across this affair while cleaning up loose ends recently and realized things were still open. After the events last year, it seemed obvious they just wanted the problem to go away, so its inexplicable that they have reopened the wound, poured salt in it, lied to a reporter, and opened the door to another court room license plate challenge.

The obvious first step is to take advantage of new information from the DMV that was referenced in the Monitor article, assuming we can get it. While Beecher will probably argue (if she replies at all) that the reports are confidential, she should realize that government officials are not legally persons and must provide the DCYF reference.

November 11, 2000

Virginia Beecher
NH Department of Safety
Division of Motor Vehicles
10 Hazen Drive
Concord, NH 03305

Re: Vanity Plate H8DCYF
RIGHT TO KNOW REQUEST

Dear Ms. Beecher,

I read in the Concord Monitor that some DCYF employee called the Department of Motor vehicles last year complaining about my plate, and another "private citizen" also complained to the Department. Please send me the names, addresses, and phone numbers, if available, of both complainants, as well copies of their correspondence or notes concerning their complaints that may be on file at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Also, please send me any legal authority, decision, finding, or ruling for which you claim the right to send two armed thugs to my property to remove my license plates.

Thank you.

Sincerely, Paula J. Werme, Esq.

I guess I need to see how fairly the state is treating other H8 plates. I think H82W8 is still out, but what of the rest?

November 11, 2000

Virginia Beecher
NH Department of Safety
Division of Motor Vehicles
10 Hazen Drive
Concord, NH 03305

Re: H8 Right to Know

Dear Ms. Beecher,

Under RSA 91-A, the NH Right to Know statute, please send me a listing of all NH License plates with "H8" ANY where in the configuration. Thank you.

Thank you.

Sincerely, Paula J. Werme, Esq.

One nice thing about driving a van is that there's a lot of room on the back for bumper stickers. And it's easy to make them with a computer. It's time to escalate the battle! The current crop says:

• Speak out on DCYF abuses! Find out how! http://nhdcyf.info/index.html

• ARMED THUGS TOOK MY PLATES [This includes the picture of the taking from the Concord Monitor.]

• Free speech and liberty of the press are essential to the security of freedom in a state. They ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved. Article 22, Part 1, NH Constitution

• NH Attorney General will not prosecute DCYF or police when they break the law!!!! http://nhdcyf.info/rsa169c38v25.html

• [Governor] Shaheen appoints foxes to watch the henhouse. DCYF and CASA Directors oversee NH Guardians ad Litem! [WWW page coming soon. This is new and scary.]

• [And the pre-existing] If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention [right above where H8DCYF used to be].

Clearly, these are best read in a parking lot rather than on the road. Where there should be a plate, I wrote "Stolen plate H8DCYF" with a permanent marker.

So far, police haven't pulled me over. :-)

This story has spawned three editorials we know of. One from Fosters Daily Democrat on November 11th is somewhat out of character and sounds like it was written by the thought police. I had thought better of them, as they often cover both sides of DCYF issues, even though they clearly side with DCYF and foster parents. For example:

Werme's license plate crosses boundaries. It is an insult to the state and to the people who are served by the New Hampshire government.

No doubt, the Division of Motor Vehicles was wrong to have issued the plates to Werme in the first place. It did the right thing by confiscating them.

Yet Fosters calls attention to the issue in a region where the plate rarely travels! It's often said that bad publicity is better than none.

On the other hand, the Concord Monitor editorial department fully understands what's going on. While they admit to a much better opinion of DCYF than I have, they understand the serious side of this too and commented on November 15th:

The whole episode might seem comic but for the serious issue of freedom of speech that lies beneath it. Any attempt by the state to censor political expression is cause for real concern.

The Monitor also takes the opportunity to link this to the DMV's right to dole out low numbered license plates to the politically connected. Owners of these plates will defend them as vigorously as H8DCYF and I think a Judicial Conduct complaint was filed against new Supreme Court Justice Linda Dalianis by a lawyer who felt intimidated one morning seeing her low numbered plate at court. The lawyer may have been Peter DeVere, who has carried on a campaign against low numbered plates.

The Union Leader's lead editorial for November 20th is titled NH's Thought Police: DMV: Give Paula Werme her license plate back. Never one to mince words, they extend our opinion of DCYF to the DMV:

A lot of people in this state - many of whom have contacted us with their gut-wrenching allegations against the Concord agency that inserts itself into family issues - share Werme's feelings about the controversial DCYF. We hope those people and civil libertarians from all over the state will join us in denouncing this discriminatory action by Beecher and the DMV.

What could I do? I was outnumbered and outgunned; it was two DMV officers armed with semi-automatic pistols and a screwdriver, against a middle-aged housewife armed with a camera and a pet rabbit!

Contact Paula Werme, Esq. or visit her Law Practice home page.
Contact Ric Werme or return to his home page.

Last updated 2007 April 4.