Vietnam vets still waiting for state to issue license plate

TOPEKA — More than six months after Vietnam War license plates were to be available in Kansas, they aren’t. And the Kansas Department of Revenue says it’s not sure when they will be for sale.

“As soon as possible,” Revenue Department spokeswoman Jeannine Koranda said Friday.

Vietnam veteran Jim Gregory of Wichita is getting impatient.

“I’ve been checking continuously, and I know other Vietnam veterans are interested in this,” he said.

In 2010, the Kansas Legislature approved legislation requiring the Department of Motor Vehicles to set up the sale of Vietnam War license plates to veterans of that war.

The plates were to be made available starting Jan. 1 of this year.

Gregory said he thought that a nearly two-year lead time would have been sufficient.

But Koranda said the design of the plate wasn’t finalized until recently. Then, she said, 50 plates were distributed earlier this month, but it was discovered that the plates did not have the correct sequential numbers required by law enforcement.

“The plate has to match what is in the system,” she said.

So, she said, the corrections are being made.

“No way are we dragging our feet,” she said.

To which Gregory said, “It does seem to me that this has dragged on way too long and they always have an inventive excuse. I just wish they would get them out.”