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Purple Heart-Winner Denied “CIB-69” License Plate

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Because, in a nutshell, Utah state law has all the maturity of a sixth-grader in sex-ed

Purple Heart

Arnold Breitenbach of St. George, Utah, served the United States proudly nearly five decades ago when he fought in the Vietnam War as a gunner for the Army. During his service, his personnel carrier was struck by an RPG, leaving Breitenbach temporarily blind and permanently damaging his hearing. For these injuries, he was awarded with the prestigious Purple Heart.

This is the kind of personal history that should earn a man like Arnold Breitenbach the kind of latitude necessary to do pretttty much anything he damn well pleases. Not so, says the Utah Division of Motor Vehicles, who denied the vet’s request for a vanity license plate because it found the content objectionable.


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Breitenbach was hoping to obtain a plate reading CIB-69, indicating the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and the year in which he won the Purple Heart. Utah DMV denied this request because of the sexual connotation of the number 69, indicating that they are basically the equivalent of teenagers giggling helplessly at unintentional double entendres.

In a letter from Utah DMV audit manager Sherri Murray, it was acknowledged that Breitenbach had honorable intentions in his application, but that Utah law expressly prohibits ever putting the number six next to the number nine on a license plate. Because numbers.

Breitenbach spoke with the New York Post, saying that he can’t quite comprehend such antiquated and puritanical rules in the year 2015.

“They’ve got Viagra (ads) all over the place. I can’t imagine myself sitting on the sofa with my parents when I was a little kid having something like that on TV,” he said. “In today’s day and age, it seems like everything is out in the open.”

Breitenbach’s pleas for appeal were denied, and he instead opted for a regular plate with a Purple Heart logo.

The application of the freedom of speech when it pertains to license plates has been a hot topic of conversation of late, particularly with the Supreme Court considering the case of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Our suggestion to Utah: grow up and give the guy the license plate he wants. We have to think he’s earned it.


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News Source: New York Post