Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.metro From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Virginia to aid Bay with new car plates Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 15:07:21 EST Message-ID: Lines: 57 \SE B;METROPOLITAN \SS (WS) \HD Virginia to aid Bay with new car plates \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT RICHMOND RICHMOND (AP) - Virginia's newest license plate will feature the Chesapeake Bay's blue crab and a few cream-colored oysters. Each speciality plate will cost $25 a year in addition to regular license fees starting Dec. 1, the Department of Motor Vehicles said. Part of the money from sales will be used to help restore the Bay and its tributaries. "I think the most significant thing, besides being beautiful, is that they will remind us of the Bay," said Delegate Harvey B. Morgan, Gloucester Republican, who co-sponsored legislation to introduce the Bay plates. The new plate will feature the crab, oysters, green marsh grass and the words "Friend of the Chesapeake" etched at the bottom. After the first 1,000 are sold, $15 of each sale will go to the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund, said Michele Riedel, spokeswoman for the state Council on the Environment. The council has used the fund to pay for Bay awareness decals for boaters and sewage pump facilities at marinas, she said. "People are always asking, 'What can we do help the environment, what can we do to help the Bay?' " she said. "This is a good opportunity to participate collectively to help the Bay, its rivers and future generations." The plate was designed by Cindy Parris, a graphic artist at DMV who also designed the scenic and heritage plates, DMV spokesman Shawn Garrity said. Virginians have bought about 330,000 of those plates in the five months they have been offered, he said. The heritage plate features a cardinal and dogwood blossoms, and the scenic plate features Virginia's mountains. They are available for a one-time $10 fee in addition to the regular license plate cost. The extra fee goes into the state's general fund, Mr. Garrity said. The department expects to sell 3,600 Bay plates in the first year, DMV spokeswoman Jeanne Chenault said. Mr. Morgan and Sen. Frederick M. Quayle, Chesapeake Republican, who sponsored the Bay plate legislation in the state Senate, will be presented the first two plates at a ceremony at the DMV's Hampton office on Dec. 1, officials said. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM