Motorist seeking U-turn in plate tiff

To Dennis Udink, his last name reflects a proud family tradition and speaks of his Dutch heritage.

To the state Division of Motor Vehicles, Udink's last name is vulgar and doesn't belong on a personalized license plate.

"When we run 'dink' through the programs we use, the term comes back as being vulgar and obscene," the DMV wrote to Udink about his license plate request.

Naturally, Udink was upset.

"I was kind of incredulous about it," the Price man said. "I couldn't believe they could say it could possibly be offensive. It's my . . . name."

Udink appealed the decision and has a hearing on the matter scheduled later this month.

Not entirely satisfied with that process, Udink wrote a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich, D-Price, who happens to sit on the legislative committee that has oversight of the rule-making process, which includes how the state DMV rationalizes rejection of personalized license plates.

"It is really an unfortunate situation because it is a pretty well-known family in this area. and no one thinks anything of it," Dmitrich said. "It's only offensive to people who make it offensive."

The matter will be heard in the Administrative Rules Review Committee in its Wednesday morning meeting, during which Dmitrich will pitch a rule change that gives the state agency more discretion when a red flag pops up on an application.

"I have a good friend whose last name is Hori. If you want to make that offensive, then it could be very offensive," Dmitrich said. "I agree that we should not allow certain things that are offensive, but this is his name."

The stink over Udink's name began in August after he bought a car and attempted to complete his request for a vanity plate on the Internet.

Udink said the computer system automatically rejected his application. So, he went to his local DMV officials, who accepted "Udink" without blinking an eye.

A week later, however, he received a letter from the state saying the "dink" in "Udink" had ran afoul of the state's system that crosschecks against vulgarities and other inappropriate references on license plates.

Jodi Monaco, the state agency's spokeswoman, said the DMV checks requested personalized plate information against 10 Web sites. If the word or numbers generate a "hit" on any of the sites, the request is rejected.

Out of the 6,000 requests the division receives each year, Monaco said only about 300 end up in the rejection pile.