Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Question: I'm beginning to see J license plates on Oahu. I think H plates are reserved for Hawaii County and K plates are reserved for Kauai County. So what happens when we run out of J plates? Do we go back to A? Look for N’s to appear
on Oahu platesAnswer: The next letter in line would be N, since M is reserved for Maui County, said Dennis Kamimura, the city's motor vehicle and licensing administrator. (L and Z won't be used because they look too much like numbers.)
License plates are issued at the main office at City Hall, as well as at all satellite city halls. "Once we run out of a series (such as G), we go right to the next series," Kamimura explained. But "we are still issuing G plates at some satellite locations and some J plates at other locations."
Theoretically, there are a maximum of 9,999 combinations possible for each series, he said. But that number is never hit, because words, such as "God," are not normally allowed unless they are for specialized plates, he said.
His office also tries to filter out words that may be considered obscene.
The series will go through the alphabet, ending with Y.
Kamimura pointed out that law enforcement authorities want license plate numbers that are easily read and identifiable.
In other states, which deal with millions of cars, "they quickly run out of (license-plate number) combinations," Kamimura said. So officials on the mainland regularly change the design of license plates so they can start over with the same numbers. Some states also have started issuing seven-digit plates.
But Kamimura said there is no immediate plan to change either the rainbow design of Hawaii's plates or to go to seven digits.
The six-digit -- three letters and three numbers -- license plates are favored because they can be remembered more easily than seven, he said.
Also, at every mainland conference of motor-vehicle administrators that he's attended, the Rainbow plate, introduced in the early 1990s, is voted the "nicest," Kamimura said.
Not only is it aesthetically pleasing in depicting Hawaii, the letters and numbers also are clearly visible because there is nothing in the middle of the plate, he said.
Some states have taken their cue from Hawaii and removed designs from the middle and bottom of their license plates, Kamimura said.
Q: I am trying to find the Hawaii Visitors Bureau online but cannot locate their Internet address. I have some business contacts in Europe who were asking for a good travel/tourism site about Hawaii. Can you help?
A: Try http://www.gohawaii.com or http://www.hvcb.org or http://www.hvb.org to contact the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau online.
Mahalo
To Mr. E.D. Cheely of Kaneohe for sharing the very sad and unwarranted departure of his very special dog, Koa, in a View Point column on Christmas Day. The article prompted me to take our special BooBoo in to have an ID chip implanted last week.Auwe to those who exploded fireworks, making BooBoo tremble uncontrollably. We tried to be law-abiding and kept him fenced in, so why weren't the fireworks users not being law-abiding, too, waiting for the legal times to explode fireworks? Does it have to take something tragic to happen for you law-breakers to say, "I should have known better?" -- Grieving, too
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