Anchorage Daily News

Gov. Sarah Palin unveiled a new Alaska license plate Thursday, kicking off a year of promised fun leading up to the 50th anniversary of statehood.

It's simple and straightforward. No grizzly bears or totem poles like the 1976 and 1966 plates, considered the best ever by many. No tiny ant-like creatures strung along a mountain like the 1998 plate, considered dreadful by many.

It's got the Big Dipper, a small silhouette of snow-covered peaks, a gold background, blue letters and, at the bottom, the words "Celebrating statehood 1959-2009."

We can love it, hate it or shrug our shoulders at it. This being Alaska, we'll probably still be debating its merits when the 100th anniversary rolls around.

"I like it," said Royce Williams of Anchorage, an ACS computer technician and unofficial historian of Alaska license plates. "It's simple and not too crowded."

The plate is being issued now in Anchorage and will be standard issue until the end of 2009, though some DMV offices in remote areas might give out the old, no-frills blue-and-gold plates until they run out.

People who already have plates can replace them with the new ones for $5, or $30 for personalized ones.

The plate was designed by Sitka artist Dean Potter, the winner of a statewide logo contest. His entry -- a vertical gold-on-blue rectangle with the Big Dipper at the top, the word Alaska in the middle and the number 50 at the bottom -- was chosen from 120 submissions. It appears on the left-hand side of the license plate.

Palin was all smiles as she unveiled a framed, personalized plate that says "HAPY50." The bad spelling comes courtesy of the DMV's six-letter limit.

The six-letter limit dashed former Lt. Gov. Jack Coghill's plans for a personalized plate. He wants one that says COGGIE#3 -- he's the third Jack Coghill in the family tree -- but said he'll settle for one that says COGG#3.

The commemorative plates are special to Coghill, 82, because he had a front-row seat as Alaska fought for statehood. He was one of 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1955-56.

Coghill and former state Sen. Vic Fischer smiled for photographers Thursday -- two of only four delegates still alive, links to a time when Alaska was a territory eager to gain statehood and the self-determination that came with it.

"We had a dream in fighting for statehood that we could control our own destiny," said Fischer, 83. "This makes me feel young."

Young, and still feisty. Between posing for photos and reminiscing with Coghill and others, Fischer collected petition signatures for a clean-election initiative he's trying to get on the ballot.

The initiative would provide public funding and prohibit private contributions for election campaigns, an idea encouraged by the bribery and corruption that has tainted current Alaska politics, he said.

Three former Alaska lawmakers have been convicted of corruption. And no, they won't be making special statehood license plates in prison. Alaska plates come from the Irwin-Hodson Co. of Portland, Ore.

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.

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PICTURES: Check out our growing gallery of vanity license plates.

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