State agrees to replace 'demonic' license plate

The Nash County veteran who last week asked North Carolina officials to replace his “demonic license plate” was both shocked and satisfied by public reaction to his story.

The Telegram first posted an article online early Friday afternoon about Lenny Ruiz and his license plate from hell. The automatically generated plate number issued by the state read A666, which didn’t jive well with Ruiz or his Catholic roots.

Within an hour of the story’s posting, an official with the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles contacted Ruiz and offered to replace the plate, free of charge. Previously, officials in Raleigh said the Vietnam veteran either had to keep the plate or buy a new one.

“The folks at the DMV have been great all along,” Ruiz said. “They’ve been friendly, and they were just acting based on the policy they had in place. All I wanted was to get rid of that plate and get a new one. That’s the only reason I shared the story.”

Ruiz didn’t anticipate the outpouring of support and anger that followed. A number of people from across the Twin Counties called Ruiz this weekend, offering support.

One group of Tarboro veterans, Ruiz said, already had begun organizing plans to march on Raleigh to demand state licensing officials change their policy or make an exception for Ruiz and his Mark-of-the-Beast tag number.

“I had to tell them, 'Naw, you don’t have to do all that,’” Ruiz said. “'The DMV took care of everything; no need to march or anything.’”

Ruiz might even make a few dollars off the plate he scorned. A Mississippi license plate aficionado contacted Ruiz on Monday after reading the story online, offering to at least pay the $35 if Ruiz would allow him to add it to his collection.

For fear of public outrage, Mississippi hasn’t issued a triple-6 license plate in more than 25 years, the collector said. In addition, he added, anytime a plate number begins with the letter A and contains a triple digit, it’s of special interest to collectors.

“Someone wants to buy this thing off me?” Ruiz said after learning of the offer. “That’s surprising. Especially since I’ve been working so hard to get rid of the thing.”

Ruiz said he plans to look into the offer.

An official with the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles said a new plate should arrive at Ruiz’s home early this week.