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DMV says ZZZ 999 is 5 years off It appears that license plates started at some time in Oregon with "AAA-000" and are proceeding to "ZZZ-999." I see that we are currently in the X's for the first letter of plates. How many more plates can be issued until we hit "ZZZ-999?" What will happen then? Will Oregon ever have to go to a seventh character, a la California? Also, what happens when the sequence of letters produces embarrassing three-letter words or acronyms like "ASS-000" or "LSD-111?" Does the DMV have a policy for skipping certain three-letter combinations? -- Frank P., Medford With more than 4 million registered vehicles in Oregon now, you've driven home some good points, Frank. But it'll be at least five years before the state serves up its "ZZZ-000" plate, said Kevin Beckstrom, spokesman for Driver and Motor Vehicle Services, an arm of the Oregon Department of Transportation. At that point, the "tree" plates, which make up 90 percent of those distributed, will be switched to numbers followed by letters, he said. "We've still got a couple of years -- at least five years -- left with the current configuration," he said of letters before numbers. "We don't have to worry about that for quite a while." The Oregon Trail plates already use the numbers first, followed by letters. The salmon plates include the letters "SL" and five digits. Nor does he expect Oregon to leave it up to California to set license-plate standards in the form of seven-character plates. "Not in the forseeable future," he said. "We could do that eventually, but we're not looking at that as an option now." Meanwhile, his staff keeps an eye out for any letter or number combination that is vulgar, offensive or threatening, he said. The department also forbids any plates that refer to drugs or alcohol, or can be construed as official, such as "FBI," he said. "We don't allow any of those," he said. (Send your questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; or by fax to (541) 776-4376; or by e-mail to: [email protected] Please include your name, address and phone number for verification.) Today's News Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA