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License plates offer new avenue to show city pride
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| By: THERESE APEL, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
October 13, 2008 |
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Motorists who want to show their Brookhaven pride on their vehicles have an attractive and affordable new option available at the city clerk's office.
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The new shipment of white Brookhaven license plates is in, City Clerk Mike Jinks said, and are being sold for $5 in his office. The new license plate design differs from a previous one that was based on the city's original red flag, which has since been changed to a white background.
He said the new design came from a combination of factors.
"We needed to get away from the red flags because they faded so bad, so we took the idea we had for our city lapel pins and put that on the white background and put it on the flag," he said.
Jinks said the promotional tag idea came when he and Deputy City Clerk Marsha Fairman were going to the International Clerks Convention, where attendees often trade pins with others from all over the country and the world.
"At this point we discussed having a city pin, and the board approved that," he said.
Jinks added that he worked with the pin company to come up with a design, and incorporating the flag design just seemed to make sense.
When the city flag made its debut, it was immediately popular, but somewhat cost prohibitive for just anyone to have one, Jinks said. So that's where the idea of the car tags was born.
"This was pretty much public-driven from the beginning, we've had people asking for them for a while," he said. "People were still asking when we ran out of the red ones, so when we did feel like it was time to buy some more, we opted to match the flag again."
Jinks said the popularity of the tags is a good indicator that local people love their hometown.
"If they didn't have pride in Brookhaven, they wouldn't put them on their vehicles," he said. "We're glad to have them and we want to make sure the public is aware of them, and the same goes for the lapel pins."
The lapel pins, at $2 each, are a great gift that can become a collector's item in future years. Jinks said they're a good keepsake for children or grandchildren, but that he himself has enjoyed trading them at conventions.
"When we go to the international conventions, we have clerks there from all over the world, and we have pin swaps and stuff," he said. "Marsha and I have pins from all over the U.S. and some from overseas."
Both the tags and the pins are available at the city clerks' office.
"We're happy to see people have that much interest in the city," Jinks said.
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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