Road rage? BYU fans get U-T-E plates

The Utah State Tax Commission has received few complaints from Brigham Young University fans who may have received a license plate with the letters U-T-E.

A total of 999 "UTE" plates were printed and distributed several months ago. They were standard issue, and the letters just happened to match the University of Utah's nickname, said Charlie Roberts, Tax Commission spokesman.

BYU and the U. have a well-known rivalry, but Roberts said the state has heard "not much of anything" from area Division of Motor Vehicle offices about the plates.

"We did have one lady call and want to know why in the world we would send UTE plates to the DMV office in Utah County," he said.

But that's nothing that would stop the plates from being printed. Numbers and letters are assigned to standard-issue plates at random, according to Roberts. Each standard plate receives a sequence of three letters, and then numbers are assigned from 001 to 999.

Combinations that could be offensive, such as SOB or KKK, are censored, but UTE doesn't fit the bill as something inflammatory.

Several months ago, the letters USA were printed on Utah plates. And people have reported seeing a license plate with the letter-number combination of: 666 CTR.

Brian Barnard, a Salt Lake City civil rights attorney, said Thursday that he didn't have any overriding concerns with the plate, but it could be offensive to more than just a BYU fan.

"How about if someone is a Navajo, and somehow they are issued a plate with UTE on it," he said. "That might rise to a different level of concern than a Cougar fan."

In terms of personalized plates, the state has several rules, including one that says a person cannot "express contempt, ridicule or superiority of a race, religion, deity, ethnic heritage, gender or political affiliation." Nothing vulgar can be on the plates, nor anything that makes reference to drugs, or suggests "endangerment" to the public.

Earlier this year, the state pulled the plates for a man with MERLOT on his license plates. Because merlot wine is an alcoholic beverage, the rules disallowed the plates.

In 2005, the state approved 6,299 personalized plates, and 183 were denied. Examples of denied plates include: KRACKER, BUDYZR, IH8U and WHO2TED.

Back in 2003, the state denied a personalized plate to Dennis Udink, a man from Price who wanted his last name on a plate. The state DMV said it was "vulgar."

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Contributing: Joe Dougherty

E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com