Alum fights to create, keep Georgia Gator plate
After 10 years of failed attempts, President-elect of the Atlanta Gator Club Carla Klepper, JM 1970, recently secured the approval of a commemorative UF Georgia license plate.
With the help of Jeff Hester, who received his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from UF in 1995, and UF Director of Marketing Dan Williams, Klepper first received permission from the Georgia Department of Revenue to print the plate in 2007. But the state’s Legislature threatened to pass a bill banning its production.
A flood of calls and e-mails to legislators recently killed the bill, which would have required reciprocity between states offering higher-education vanity plates, allowing the tags to be used for display purposes only.
Klepper, an educator and philanthropist, wondered if the Dawgs’ angst from losing 16 out of the last 19 football games to Florida had anything to do with the bill’s conception.
The rhetoric around the bill struck both ways. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), president pro-tem of the Georgia Senate, wrote to Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham to express his displeasure with the plates: “A Gator tag will cause accidents. Gator fans cannot drive or read traffic signs. A car up on blocks cannot move. It will lower our quality of life.”
Klepper will continue to be involved in funding scholarships for Georgia residents who plan to attend UF. She and the Atlanta Gator Club, which holds annual golf tournaments, auctions raffle tickets during Gator football and basketball games, and participates in Toys for Tots, can also celebrate the 3,000-plus Georiga cars sporting the Gator head and UF moniker.
This article was originally published in the Fall 2008 issue of communigator.
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