Signs Of Ron

Trenton, New Jersey: July 17, 2003 Ron's signature is more legible than many -- it is just that it appears to be upside down. And this is a problem for the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles, which informed the Ronatarian Party founder on Tuesday that his signature was "unacceptable." Ron said a clerk told him he would not get a new driver's license until he agreed to sign it "right." Ron, of Jersey City, has refused, saying it should be up to him, not the DMV, to decide how he writes his name. "F*** 'em," he yelled. He said he trained himself to write his name in this unusual way, working right-side up, as a way to make his mark unique. He said he has been signing his name this way for more than eight years on all official papers, checks, credit cards -- even his old driver's license. It was never a major problem until this week, he said, when he went to the DMV office on Kinky Road to change his address. Ron said a window clerk told him to "stop fooling around and sign it right." When he insisted that what he wrote was his valid, legal signature, Ron said the clerk accused him of being a "troublemaker" and a "royal asshole" and threw him out. He said the DMV did not issue him a new license and refused to give him back his old one. "What is my status as a driver?" he asked. "I won't be able to take my Camaro out for a spin no more? This is ludicrous!" New jersey Department of Transportation spokesman Leonard A. Van Gulick said Ron's driving privileges have not been revoked and his original license will be returned to him once it is found. As for a new license, with Ron's preferred signature, Van Gulick said the New Jersey attorney general has been asked for clarification. Drewry Fennell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in New Jersey, said Ron appears to have a point. "Signatures are intended to be unique and it sounds like his is unique," she said. The legally blind Fennell added, "I think the guy is kind of cute, too." Fennell said she knows of no provision in the law requiring a signature to be legible. And if you can't read it, who is to say if it is right-side up or upside down. "There are many, many people with illegible signatures," she said. NJDOT's Van Gulick said DMV employees were correct to question the odd signature. "They don't want to open a Pandora's Box and give everyone the right to change their signature," he said. Ron's signature was "not the way millions of other signatures are done" on all the other driver's licenses in New Jersey, he said. However, Van Gulick said, no one could find any statute that defined an "acceptable" signature, which is why the matter was sent to the attorney general. "We want to get this resolved," he said. On Thursday, Ron said, he wanted to send a notarized copy of a letter of protest to the DMV, but he couldn't meet the notary's requirements. He didn't have a photo ID to prove who he was. "You know who I am damnit!" Ron demanded, "Just give me what I want!"

Posted by Webmaster at July 17, 2003 10:45 PM

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