No IRISH need apply for license plates

Jim Colgan
Irish Voice

A SIMPLE application request for a license plate has turned into a crusade for one Vermont woman intent on having the word "IRISH" on her car.

Carole-Anne Martin of Wallingford, Vermont had her application for a vanity plate denied by the Department of Motor Vehicles last year as they considered it a violation of its rules on offensiveness. An appeal to the State Superior Court last week was rejected, upholding the views of the DMV.

The department struck a blow to the second-generation Irish American woman who believes declaring her heritage does not offend anyone and feels she should be entitled to the plate.

"This has been a personal quest for me to stand up and say I'm Irish because that's what I am. I'm no better or no worse than anyone else," Martin told the Irish Voice.

Comparing her claim to racial slurs such as "Mick" and "Nazi," a court ruling against the denial said it could not be permitted as it "might be offensive or confusing to others."

Martin has appealed the case to the State Supreme Court and is pursuing whatever means she can to obtain the IRISH license plate.

Offensive

It's not the first time Martin has applied for such a plate. A number of years ago, she received a plate saying "IRISH1" as "IRISH" was taken by another Vermont motorist. She eventually relinquished this plate as she could not afford the cost, but reapplied for one last June only to be denied on the grounds it was offensive.

"My husband got some money at the time. I said I'd love to get my plate back. It was a hoot having it. I was always proud of walking away from the car with it and even the cops would say 'nice plate' when they gave us a ticket," she said.

The difference between then and now is that a law was subsequently passed in an attempt to legally clarify what is permissible for such plates.

This arose out of a case where a plate saying "SHTPNS" was allowed to public outrage and the state legislature wished to enact a means of confiscating the plate.

Martin now feels the countermeasures have gone too far the other way, restricting innocuous claims such as her own.

"I do not believe this was offensive or confusing," she explained. "They're supposed to separate the offensive from the non-offensive, but they're not doing that. They're lumping them all together."

Martin is a woman openly proud of her Irish ancestors. She already has a shamrock tattoo and was instrumental in changing the naming of her street to "Irish Lane."

"I'm not implying that my nationality or race is superior. This is a simple fact that I am who I am - Irish," said Martin, who holds dual citizenship.

Boston case

The story is reminiscent of a case in Boston last year where the housing authority there asked residents to remove shamrocks from developments throughout the city. In that situation, the authority also drew parallels with Nazi possibilities.

Martin, a 44-year-old postal clerk and mother of four, has since recruited the help of her state senator, an attorney, who is also fighting the case in court.

Senator John Bloomer (R-Rutland) took on the case for free in January this year and is looking at options to change the legislature to allow the plate.

In a list the Superior Court Judge Mathew I. Katz drew up, the words, "Celtic," "Mick," and "Irish" were bunched with "Nazi," "Hun" and "Jerry." In his ruling, Katz said it doesn't matter what a person's intent is, rather it's what others can interpret the word as.

For example, he said William O. Peterson could not have the plate, "WOP," due to obvious racial connotations regardless of the original intent. It later emerged that the judge had vanity plates of his own with the word "MIK" designating his initials, in what Martin sees as blatant hypocrisy.

Although she argued that the plate she was seeking was not harmful to anyone and vastly differed from the examples authorities referred to, Martin was asked if she honestly believed no one would find the word "IRISH" offensive.

"I had the plate all that time and never found one person who was offended.

The Court asked us, 'What are you saying, everybody in the world loves the Irish?' They're waiting for people to say they think this is offensive but no-one has done so yet," Martin recalled. "What's offensive about being Irish?"