When I first heard the state's new license plate would feature the slogan, "Back Home Again," I thought the words seemed appropriate enough.
After all, the plate's image of a farmhouse in a grassy field could have easily been drawn in the small community I'm from - a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of town in the middle of acres and acres of corn fields.
As it would seem, I wasn't the only one who felt the phrase was a good one.
The design, created by Indianapolis artist Douglas D. David, was the hands down favorite in a 2001 statewide contest where Hoosiers were asked to vote for their favorite choice. David's design received more than 71,000 of the 158,000 votes cast - twice as many as were received for the second choice.
So what happened to the sappy words that were to be scrawled across the bottom of our license plates?
It seems BMV Commissioner Gary Gibson thought they weren't a good enough marketing tool for the state. In a last-minute decision, the words were replaced with Indiana's Web site, www.IN.gov.
A crummy Web site? The state is boring enough without it.
Even better is the fact the Web site is one many Hoosiers - excluding politicians and journalists - will rarely use, let alone one they need to see on every car stopped in front of them.
Besides, aren't most people Internet-savvy enough to know they should hit up a search engine if they really need to know something about Indiana? From the looks of it, state officials don't think so.
Then there's the question as to whether the Web site will drum up more business for the state. Do these same officials really believe some company in need of employees is going to get its inspiration from the back of a Buick? I seriously doubt it.
The truth is, we may miss a license plate motto more than we might think. Think about it - you see so many of the same plates every day, you may not even realize you long ago memorized the design. Can you remember what the current "Crossroads of America" plate looks like? What about "Amber Waves of Grain"? It's easier than you'd care to admit.
But back to the new design. Not only is the stolen motto a weakness, but the faded coloring of the farm scene makes the plate look like it's sat out in the sun a little too long. In their defense, the state said the setting was lightened to increase readability.
The plate's obnoxious blue letters and numbers, however, are a different story. At three inches tall, they're big enough and bright enough for your grandma to see, but look as if they've been swiped from your neighbor's hideously tacky mailbox.
While I know my impression of these "imposter" plates isn't a big deal, I will say it gets old noticing how ugly they are - especially when you multiply that number 5 million times (the number of estimated vehicles the BMV says will receive the plate between 2003 and 2008.)
There may not be much we can do about it now, but maybe there's hope for mottos of the future.
Right now, "Come Feel Better About Your State" is sounding pretty good.
Write to Gail at glkoch@bsu.edu
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