Purrfect retraction: Man allowed to keep Arizona Wildcats license plate

PHOENIX — A Valley resident will be allowed to keep his University of Arizona license plate that mocks Arizona State University, the Arizona Department of Transportation said Wednesday.

“It says ‘LOLASU,’ laughing out loud of course, the text shorthand…which us Wildcats tend to do,” Joshua Miller said.

The MVD threatened to cancel Miller’s license plate and vehicle registration before backing down Wednesday.

“I kind of let out a bit of a ‘woohoo’ when I got that (email),” he said.

Miller has had the license plate for two years, but last September he received a notice from the MVD about an anonymous complaint.

“They cited some statute and said they were recalling my plate,” he said.

Under AAC R17-4-310 a personalized license plate cannot:

1. Refer to or connote breasts, genitalia, pubic area, buttocks, or relates to sexual or eliminatory functions;

2. Refer to or connote the substance, paraphernalia, sale, use, purveyor of, or physiological state produced by any illicit drug, narcotic, or intoxicant;

3. Express contempt for or ridicule or superiority of a class of persons;

4. Duplicate another registration number;

5. Have connotations that are profane or obscene

The University of Arizona alumni questioned if his plate fell into those categories but lost two appeals.

“When I got the original letter I opened it and I read it and I literally said to my wife, ‘are you freaking kidding me?'” he said. “It’s not vulgar, it’s not profane, it’s not obscene and any reasonable individual shouldn’t be offended by it.”

ADOT said it is reviewing the appeals process for denied plates.