Posted on 02/16/2023 10:43:39 AM PST by nickcarraway
It’s a long and twisting saga that has lasted years. It involves a lawsuit, a stolen car and a polarizing point of view.
And it’s all over a Hawaii license plate.
The City and County of Honolulu approved a set of specialty Hawaii license plates in January 2021 bearing the letters “FCKBLM,” an acronym that can be read as “F—k Black Lives Matter,” referring to the social movement. Since then, Honolulu has tried to reclaim the two license plates because of the expletive, but its owner refused to return them.
Seven months after issuing the plate, the county contacted the owner, Edward Odquina, to recall it, according to court documents. First by phone, then letters the following month, threatening vehicle citations, penalties and seizure.
“Your personalized special license plate has been determined to be publicly objectionable due to an implied expletive in the first three combination of letters on the license plate,” the City and County of Honolulu’s licensing administrator wrote in a letter to Odquina.
SNIP
He responded by taking the issue to court. In September 2022, Odquina filed a lawsuit against the City of Honolulu and the state attorney general in federal court, claiming that his freedom of speech under the First Amendment was being violated. Honolulu County filed a countersuit asking for the return of the two plates.
“Odquina’s messages include one that is strong, personal, and others may find it offensive and the first amendment protects messages that are strong, personal and that others may find offensive,” Odquina’s suit says.
SNIP
The court documents also reveal how Odquina’s plate was originally approved in the first place.
The city says it “mistakenly” issued the plate. The license plate violates state/city rules, which assert that specialty plates shall not have letter and number combinations that are “publiclyobjectionable."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Good for him and to hell with the DMV.
Flack Bureau of Land Management
Fight them to the bitter end.
the “fbi” allegedly stealing the offending license plate is pure genius. ideally it would result a the state of hawaii subpoena for the us fbi for a hawaii “FCKBLM” license plate. a work of art.
If Hawaii actually has a rule against profanity on plates, or if it can be shown to previously have consistently refused to issue plates with profanity on them, then it should win. Those are facially neutral policies, not dependent on the viewpoint being expressed.
On the other hand, if it has ever issued a plate containing profanity and not insisted on its return, then this becomes viewpoint discrimination, and the car owner should prevail.
They issue it and then Seven months after issuing the plate they realize (somebody tole them) that it was objectionable supposedly. Nice work DMV, as Trump said, they aren’t sending their best and brightest.
Cause he’s like, “FCKEM”
How is that objectionable, are they mind readers?
So, in Hawaii, the letters ‘F’, ‘C’ and ‘K’ in that order are ‘objectionable?
The only thing missing is ‘YOU’.............
Hawaii never should have been made a US State in the first place.
and the auto is an ugly red gas guzzling iconic pontiac firebird, icing on the cake.
Can he request a temporary plate while he fights this? It can be “FCKDMV”
I like the “gravitas” and “sharp elbows” or Mr. Odquina.
You go, bro! ; we’ve got your back.
Odquina has a USN sticker on his car. If he’s in the Navy, I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten any flack from the brass yet.
The state issued it, and has no right to issue vehicle citations and penalties for it. It can invalidate it and send the owner a new one.
Threatening penalties indicates that Hawaii is a fascist dictatorship.
There would have never been Hawaii Five O.
WTH? Is he wearing a bag over his head?
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