Nevada DMV recalls 'GOBK2CA' license plate. The motorist is fighting to keep it

Alexandra E. Petri
·2 min read
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Las Vegas and Henderson, Nev. residents enter the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew vehicle registration and drivers licenses, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2013, in Las Vegas. The Nevada state Department of Motor Vehicles is working on rules to determine what kind of residency paperwork will be accepted from tens of thousands of people who are expected to seek state driver privilege cards for the first time after Jan. 1. The state Legislature passed a law this year putting Nevada among several states letting people who don't have legal U.S. residency obtain driver authorization cards. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Las Vegas residents at a Department of Motor Vehicles office. A Nevada license plate, which read "GOBK2CA" — shorthand for "go back to California" — was recalled after someone filed a complaint. (Julie Jacobson / Associated Press)

A Nevada license plate that was recalled for its message telling Californians to go back to the Golden State is winding its way through court to get back on the open road.

According to Nevada’s Department of Motor Vehicles, the personalized license plate, which read “GOBK2CA” — shorthand for go back to California — was recalled in May after someone filed a complaint to the agency.

The vehicle’s owner, who has been identified in local reports as Adam Steelmon, is appealing the decision and is set to appear in court Wednesday.

Steelmon could not be reached for comment.

Read more: The hidden stories behind the best — and weirdest — vanity license plates in L.A.

Steelmon posted a photo of the license plate to Facebook, where it received more than 80,000 likes, he told KOLO-TV in Reno. About a week later, DMV officials reached out to say they were revoking the plate, he said.

“I get a letter from the DMV saying, 'We don't feel we like your license plates,' and here's a letter saying we're recalling them," Steelmon told KOLO-8.

He had no issues with the DMV for the past two decades, he said.

The plate is believed to conflict with a state law that prohibits making defamatory comments to a person or group, said Eli Rohl, a DMV spokesperson.

“In this case, the defamed group is Californians,” Rohl said. “If we’ve been rejecting applications for other ‘back to California’ plates, then it’s not an equal application of the law to receive a complaint about this plate and neglect to take action on it.”

Read more: Commentary: California's ugly license plate doesn't reflect our great state

Personalized license plates that are flagged as suspicious are reviewed by a select committee within the DMV to determine if they violate the statute, said Rohl, who sits on the committee. It takes only one complaint for a license plate to be reviewed.

"Sometimes we find that a complaint has no merit and no action is taken — however, this is rare," Rohl said. "Most often, a complaint comes in about a plate that we made a mistake in approving in the first place."

The committee considers the context in the motorist's initial reasoning and in the complaint to determine if it is a "simple misunderstanding or if the complaint shines a new light on something we hadn’t considered before," he added.

The panel reviewed more than 700 requests for personalized license plates from July last year to March, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported. Among those that were rejected for being derogatory or profane were "HOLSHT" and "U 1D1OT."

Read more: Car owner uses art skills to fake vehicle's registration, unsuccessfully

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.