License plate pits man, lawmakers vs. Registry - New England Patriots Forums

Real World · 05-06-2010, 12:07 PM

What a waste of taxpayer money. Seriously, a license plate? Our legislators are passing bills, and wasting time, so some dolt can keep a bus plate on his Caddy. All cuz his daddy would want it that way. Gimme a break! Put the plate on a bus, or hang it on your wall. Sheesh.

A singular dispute - The Boston Globe

A singular dispute

License plate pits man, lawmakers vs. Registry

The license plate known as Bus 1 is at the center of an emotional tug of war among the Legislature, the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and Biff Michaud, whose large North Shore family founded Michaud Bus Lines in 1914. (Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)

By Michael Levenson
Globe Staff / May 6, 2010
MARBLEHEAD — Biff Michaud lifted the door to his garage, looked at the license plate on his black Cadillac Escalade, and began to weep.

In a state where drivers covet low-number plates, clamoring by the thousands for the few made available every year, Michaud’s is among the crème de la crème: He is the proud owner of the lowest possible bus license plate — “1’’ — which was passed down from his late father and which he believes is a rightful part of his family legacy. “My dad used to say, ‘This is the single most important thing to me other than my personal health and family,’ ’’ he said, choking up.

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Registry officials suspended Bus 1 last year, after they learned it was not on a bus, as required by law, but on Michaud’s Cadillac. Then House lawmakers, prodded by Michaud’s state representative, fought back, quietly passing a bill last month that would forever designate the Bus 1 plate for Biff Michaud and permit it on any type of vehicle he chooses — bus or no bus.

State Representative John D. Keenan, a Salem Democrat who knew Michaud’s father through the Rotary Club, sponsored the legislation, which is awaiting action in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. It is one of many bills before the Legislature, derided as special favors by critics, that would change state law to benefit a single person or entity. Keenan said he sees nothing wrong with making a law for Michaud, whose father, J. Alex Michaud, was a decorated Navy commander, co-owner of the Trailways Bus Company, and longtime member of the Governor’s Highway Safety Bureau.

***Wolfpack*** · 05-06-2010, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Real World

What a waste of taxpayer money. Seriously, a license plate? Our legislators are passing bills, and wasting time, so some dolt can keep a bus plate on his Caddy. All cuz his daddy would want it that way. Gimme a break! Put the plate on a bus, or hang it on your wall. Sheesh.

These vanity plate people are the biggest losers. Please don't get me wrong... I have no problem with vanity plates that say something about the driver, like "PATSFAN" or "GOSOX" or "KAYAKER" or whatever. But these morons who are obsessed with just getting the lowest number they possibly can, as if that says something about their status as a human being, are just pathetic.

***DarrylS*** · 05-06-2010, 03:31 PM

In RI low numbers are auctioned off.. never seen a bus plate on a car though.

Stokes · 05-07-2010, 09:44 AM

I would say why is the registry wasting time on this when the plate has been issued and on a Caddy for like 50 years.

full disclosure I know the family in question and the guy's dad was legitimately and awesome person.