The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has rules forbidding certain kinds of vanity license plates. But despite all care, sometimes an offending one slips by — unless an alert person cares enough to complain.
The Chronicle was copied on an exchange of emails about such a matter that an Illinois resident (who does not wish to be identified) had with Mark Gottlieb, P.E., Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
The Illinois person wrote that while driving in Illinois the person saw a vehicle with a Wisconsin license plate that said, “SS PANZR.” The reference is clearly to German Nazi SS Panzer forces, responsible for committing many of the Nazis’ crimes against humanity.
“Beyond the disturbing anti-Semitic nature of these plates, both of my grandfathers served in the U.S. military during World War II, and I do not believe this type of Nazi-glamorization honors the sacrifice that they and many others made in defending American ideals,” the person wrote in an April 18 email.
“Wisconsin’s Department of Motor Vehicles has truly done a disservice to the memories of many who fought and/or died at the hands of the SS Panzers, by allowing a Wisconsin resident to glamorize Nazi ideals and continue spreading anti-Semitic messaging both within your state and any others he or she may choose to visit,” the person wrote.
Gottlieb replied on April 20, “The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is authorized by state law to cancel and order the return of any personalized plate with a message that the department determines may carry connotations ‘offensive to good taste and decency…’
“All personalized plate messages are screened by the Special Plates Unit in the Division of Motor Vehicles. It is their policy to refuse or recall any personalized plate message that is critical, derogatory, or implies violence towards a person or the public in general.
“Unfortunately, it appears that a message meeting the department’s criteria for an objectionable plate has slipped though the screening process. I can assure you immediate action will be taken to cancel this license plate, and to prevent further plates of this nature from being issued.”
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