Dear Icon:

From the banks of the Riley on the west edge of Pandora,

Good to see you this AM in passing at the Post Office. The fellow who owns the 600 ZB plates is Leland Badertscher. He isn't related to Maynard. He has had the plates for "15-20 years." The 600 isn't special.

I mentioned to him that that was likely the number which had rotated up and was available that day. The plate numbers for ZB and YZ were available for purchase in numerical order.

I remember standing in line with my Dad until the 368 number became available when he wanted that number when we lived at 368 South Jackson Street.

All Ohio license plates expired and had to be renewed on one date each year, was it March or April 1st? I remember as an Ohio State student that there were always long lines out the door and around the corners at the deputy registrar offices in Columbus on the day new license plates came out, on a weekday ... people had to get off work that day just to get their new licence plates.

Every year the State of Ohio came out with a different color scheme. I do not believe that you were able to reserve your number for the following year. That's why Dad had to stand in line each year to wait until the 368 ZB number to become available. He had to ask the other local residents who were also standing in line, waiting for their own plates, if he could have the 368 plate. I don't remember if the ZBs were available before the YZs, or vice-versa.

The village deputy registrars in Bluffton were the Millager brothers. They (Robert and Richard) were registered in different political parties, one was a Democrat and one was a Republican so that one or the other would be appointed by the Governor of Ohio every two years. (The Ohio Governors had two - year terms back then.)

If the Governor was a Republican, he would appoint Bob to be Bluffton's Deputy Registrar. If the Governor was a Democrat, he would appoint Dick to be Bluffton's Deputy Registrar.

The bureau of motor vehicle offices are somewhat less crowded (at times) now that license plate renewals are on one's birthday. I can't recall why the BMV office (now I have to go over to the one on "Warren G" Highway, Harding Highway at Lima) can't expire on my September 28th birthday. Somehow, one vehicle expires on September 8th and the other vehicle on Septemer 28th.

I believe they told me that I had to send notarized copy of my birth certificate to the BMV office in Columbus plus copies of five other IDs to change the expiration date from September 8th to September 28th. If the Millager Brothers were Deputy Registrars today, this could have easily been changed by one stroke of the pen.

Dr. Darrell Groman