AUSTIN ? Melinda Haggerty stayed awake until 2 a.m.. so she could snag a personalized Oklahoma Sooner Texas license plate the minute they became available online last year.
Her TXN4OU Sooner plate from the State of Texas draws quite a few reactions ? and not all favorable.
Some Texans frown on the growing number of out-of-state colleges and universities showing up on Texas license plates.
Nearly 30 out-of-state university plates are now available for Texas license plates, because of legislative action several years ago resulting in an exclusive franchise agreement with Myplates.com to more aggressively market specialized license plates.
The state's general revenue fund gets 40 percent of each specialized license plate, which costs about $55 a year for a standard version or $295 for a 10-year plate. The costs increase for personalized letters and numbers. Universities get 10 percent from the proceeds of their license plate sales. And alumni ? although not nearly as many as in-state universities ? get to promote their favorite school.
There will be considerable interest among the 11,000 Michigan State University alumni living in Texas when their Spartans plate becomes available in mid-February, said Mary Lou ?Crazy MSU Lady? Moore.
?When you love your university, you stay loyal wherever you live. I am a proud Spartan and will enjoy displaying my spirit and loyalty in yet another way,? said Moore, a leader in Michigan State's central Texas alumni chapter.
Texans have purchased more than 73,000 specialized license plates since the My Plates program started in November 2009, netting about $7.5 million for the state.
But not all Texans are pleased, based on public comments offered at the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles website during public comment periods earlier this year for proposed designs of new plates.
?To have anything other than a Texas team or school is just plane wrong and you as legislatures and members of the department of transportation should be tarred and feathered,? one Texan wrote. ?If for no other reason than putting out an O.U. plate you should be ashamed.? Another Texan wrote: ?It is beyond me why we would want to allow out of state colleges to display on Texas License plates. Where is our state pride??
One Texan worried about where this might be headed: ?I'm all for the state generating extra revenue but we need to have some self-respect about this. What's next, Philadelphia Eagles plates??
Another popular theme among the critics: Folks should support their home state.
?I understand that not everyone went to a Texas school. However, they are obviously not working in those states. Texas is the state that is supporting their way of life and only Texas themed plates should be allowed,? another Texan commented.
The critics are getting worked up over nothing, said Haggerty, the proud Sooner.
?Be thankful that people are willing to pay the extra amount for their license plates,? she said.
More revenue generated by specialized license plates means fewer taxes, said Haggerty, who was born in Texas with ?deep tap roots in Oklahoma.?
She couldn't wait for the Sooner plates to arrive.
?I had a white Corvette with crimson interior. It needed an OU plate. It was calling out to me for an OU plate,? said Haggerty, of McKinney, north of Dallas.
Some motorists give her the thumbs up. Others offer a one-finger gesture, she said.
?I blow them a kiss because it has to come from a place of envy ? and all I can do is blow them a kiss and let them know I understand why they would be so envious,? Haggerty said.
Sports rivalries generate passion, said Kim Miller Drummond, public relations manager for Myplates.com.
?When you are a UT fan, you don't want to see OU on anything,? she said in an obvious understatement.
Brian Laine, president of the Houston alumni chapter for the University of Mississippi, describes the program as ?a financial blessing.? The primary purpose for Ole Miss Alumni groups in Texas is raising money to help students from Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio at the University of Mississippi.
?We now have a revenue source through the university plates to help all four of our (alumni) scholarship funds to send students to Ole Miss,? said Laine, who personalized his Ole Miss plate with ?COLREB,? short for Colonel Reb, the school's former mascot.
The school raised more than $3,200 in the first week the Ole Miss plates became available in September. So far, about 300 have sold among the 6,300 Ole Miss graduates living in Texas.
Myplates.com has been marketing specialty license plates for Texans since November 2009. The option for Texans to put special plates on their vehicle has become more visible ? and, increasingly, more popular.
?Word travels fast when it's delivered on hundreds of little billboards driving around the state,? Myplate's Miller Drummond said. ?Once OSU got theirs, OU was on it. Then Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, BYU, Nebraska, Kansas, bam, bam, bam.?
And that's what bothers some Texans.
?There should be nothing on license plates that is not about Texas and all that it stands for. Because people move here, we Native Texans should not have to look at plates with non Texas related material on them,? one critic commented on the state's website. ?Come on folks, being a Texan is a birth-right. Texas first, U.S.. second!!!?
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