New License Plates Coming In January
By The Tulsa World In Hominy ~ If the guys who make them are any judges, most Oklahoma motorists should like the newly designed license tags they'll be getting next year.
Inmates at the Dick Conner Correctional Center have already cranked up production of the new tags, churning out thousands upon thousands of them just in the last week. The inmates are expected to turn out 3.5 million of the new tags by the end of next year. They will be available to all motorists when they renew their registrations starting in January.
The redesigned tags are a world apart from the old ones, which were designed 16 years ago. For starters, the raised lettering on the plates will be gone. Instead, all the characters on the plates are digitally printed in place. Also gone are the green and white colors of the old tags. The new tags have a pearl-white background, and the tag numbers are maroon — not Sooner crimson. The new tags feature the name "Oklahoma" at the top, with each of the letters bordered in a gold color. The bottom of the plate has a narrow blue band running its length, with the words "Native America" printed in pearl white. At the lower right-hand corner is a white Osage Nation shield. The shield, in all its colors, had been in the middle of the old tags.
Meanwhile, there's a touch of Tulsa to the new tags. The left side of the tag features the Gilcrease Museum's "Sacred Rain Arrow" statue framed against a blue sky.
One other design change will be for local governments, schools and state vehicles, along with farm and commercial trucks. Those entities will get the same new tags, like everyone else, except the blue band with "Native America" will be replaced with whatever the specific designation is. Gone will be the white-background, black-lettered tags now used by governments.
The new tags are made out of aluminum instead of galvanized steel, keeping them free of rusting. The use of aluminum also makes the new tags lighter to ship in bulk.
The state hasn't yet come up with designs for specialty or personalized tags, including tags for the handicapped. Motorists who have those kinds of tags on their vehicles now can keep them on, but they must keep their new license tags inside their vehicles at all times, according to officials.
At the Conner Correctional Center, where inmates have been making state and tribal license tags since 1980, production of the new license plates is more relaxed in an almost printshop-like atmosphere. Large rolls of a plastic-like film, with the surface design of the new tags already printed on, are fed into a computerized machine that prints sequential numbers for each new tag. Each finished roll is then fed into another machine, which adheres the film to a continuous sheet of aluminum. From there it goes to a stamping machine, which cuts out each individual tag and drills the four holes needed for its placement on a vehicle.
The new setup allows the daily production of between 20,000 and 25,000 new tags, prison officials said. The goal now is to deliver 400,000 new tags to tag agencies across the state by January, said J.D. Colbert with Oklahoma Correctional Industries, which runs inmate industrial programs statewide.
Most of the inmates involved in the production of the new plates like the design. Phil Lykins, 57, who hails from Winchester, Ind., said the new design is very distinctive and will stand out among other state license plates. Alan Laman, 36, of Roland, said Oklahoma was overdue for a change. Besides, he said, the new design brings out the Native America quality of Oklahoma more effectively. "I grew up in Texas, but I had no idea how many tribes were located in Oklahoma," Laman said. William Dial, 51, and Donald Robinson, 38, both of Oklahoma City, shared one word for the new tag design — "prettier."
Not everyone was pleased, though. Scott Robinette, 42, of Garber, had a greater sense of nostalgia and liked the old plates because of their variations. But the inmates all said making the new tags is far easier than at the prison's metal-fabricating plant, where the old tags were stamped, painted and baked dry. The plant still produces some tribal plates and motorcycle license tags, which have not been redesigned.
There's one other enhanced feature of the new tags: They will be more easily read at night by police.
Inmates at the Dick Conner Correctional Center have already cranked up production of the new tags, churning out thousands upon thousands of them just in the last week. The inmates are expected to turn out 3.5 million of the new tags by the end of next year. They will be available to all motorists when they renew their registrations starting in January.
The redesigned tags are a world apart from the old ones, which were designed 16 years ago. For starters, the raised lettering on the plates will be gone. Instead, all the characters on the plates are digitally printed in place. Also gone are the green and white colors of the old tags. The new tags have a pearl-white background, and the tag numbers are maroon — not Sooner crimson. The new tags feature the name "Oklahoma" at the top, with each of the letters bordered in a gold color. The bottom of the plate has a narrow blue band running its length, with the words "Native America" printed in pearl white. At the lower right-hand corner is a white Osage Nation shield. The shield, in all its colors, had been in the middle of the old tags.
Meanwhile, there's a touch of Tulsa to the new tags. The left side of the tag features the Gilcrease Museum's "Sacred Rain Arrow" statue framed against a blue sky.
One other design change will be for local governments, schools and state vehicles, along with farm and commercial trucks. Those entities will get the same new tags, like everyone else, except the blue band with "Native America" will be replaced with whatever the specific designation is. Gone will be the white-background, black-lettered tags now used by governments.
The new tags are made out of aluminum instead of galvanized steel, keeping them free of rusting. The use of aluminum also makes the new tags lighter to ship in bulk.
The state hasn't yet come up with designs for specialty or personalized tags, including tags for the handicapped. Motorists who have those kinds of tags on their vehicles now can keep them on, but they must keep their new license tags inside their vehicles at all times, according to officials.
At the Conner Correctional Center, where inmates have been making state and tribal license tags since 1980, production of the new license plates is more relaxed in an almost printshop-like atmosphere. Large rolls of a plastic-like film, with the surface design of the new tags already printed on, are fed into a computerized machine that prints sequential numbers for each new tag. Each finished roll is then fed into another machine, which adheres the film to a continuous sheet of aluminum. From there it goes to a stamping machine, which cuts out each individual tag and drills the four holes needed for its placement on a vehicle.
The new setup allows the daily production of between 20,000 and 25,000 new tags, prison officials said. The goal now is to deliver 400,000 new tags to tag agencies across the state by January, said J.D. Colbert with Oklahoma Correctional Industries, which runs inmate industrial programs statewide.
Most of the inmates involved in the production of the new plates like the design. Phil Lykins, 57, who hails from Winchester, Ind., said the new design is very distinctive and will stand out among other state license plates. Alan Laman, 36, of Roland, said Oklahoma was overdue for a change. Besides, he said, the new design brings out the Native America quality of Oklahoma more effectively. "I grew up in Texas, but I had no idea how many tribes were located in Oklahoma," Laman said. William Dial, 51, and Donald Robinson, 38, both of Oklahoma City, shared one word for the new tag design — "prettier."
Not everyone was pleased, though. Scott Robinette, 42, of Garber, had a greater sense of nostalgia and liked the old plates because of their variations. But the inmates all said making the new tags is far easier than at the prison's metal-fabricating plant, where the old tags were stamped, painted and baked dry. The plant still produces some tribal plates and motorcycle license tags, which have not been redesigned.
There's one other enhanced feature of the new tags: They will be more easily read at night by police.
Labels: New License Plates
posted by Mike McCarville @ 12:02 PM
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