State law makes residency proof hard for elderly

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A new state law that requires people applying for a new driver's license to show proof of identity is making it difficult for some elderly Missourians who don't have birth certificates to prove their residency.

Since July 1, Missourians have been required to show proof of lawful presence, proof of identity and proof of residency when applying for or renewing a driver's license, state identity card or instructional permit.

The legislature passed the law last year in an effort to improve homeland security and thwart identity theft.

Lowell Pearson, deputy director of the Missouri Department of Revenue, said the changes have generally caused few problems. Unfortunately, he said, some older residents born at home or under circumstances in which a birth certificate wasn't issued have had difficulty proving their lawful presence.

One of those was Emogene Whitted of Columbia, who was delivered by a midwife in a rural Missouri log cabin in 1922. The 83-year-old retired Columbia school teacher recently waded through a two-month bureaucratic odyssey before finally getting her driver's license renewed. She said nothing could have made her feel more alienated than having to prove her citizenship.

"Senior citizens. Our heritage and freedom of life is being taken away," she said.

"Older people don't seem like the kind of people we need protecting from, but the law is the law," Pearson said. "The good news is, once you prove lawful presence, you don't have to do it again."

Whitted's problems began Sept. 26 -- 12 days before her birthday -- when she went to a state motor vehicle office in Columbia to renew her driver's license. She was asked for a birth certificate.

Born in log cabin

"I said, 'I was born in a log cabin with a midwife delivering the baby," Whitted said. "Birth certificate? I don't have a birth certificate!"

Whitted could prove her identity and place of residence because she had a valid Social Security card and a recent utility bill. But the makeshift birth certificate made by her father when she was in high school was lost in a 1940s fire at the Douglas County Courthouse.

Whitted was sent to the Boone County Health Department, where a clerk discovered that no birth certificates were on file in Jefferson City for residents born before 1930. Whitted filled out a sheet of paper and then drove back to the state motor vehicle office, where she was given more papers to fill out.

She sent those papers to Jefferson City. Two weeks later, Whitted received a letter telling her what she already knew: She didn't have a birth certificate. She took that letter to the motor vehicle office and was given a 60-day extension on her driver's license with instructions to return with a valid Social Security card, an insurance policy number, a marriage license and her only child's birth certificate.

The next day, Whitted took those documents plus the family Bible, where her mother had penned her daughter's name and date of birth. Whitted was told that the documents would be sent to the state license bureau in Jefferson City and she should have her license in a week.

By the end of October, Whitted had heard nothing. The Jefferson City office twice said it had not received her paperwork. Finally, Whitted contacted her accountant, who faxed the same documents to the same Jefferson City office. Six minutes after the transaction, Whitted called and learned the documents had been received.

She finally received her driver's license on Thursday.

It's valid through 2008.

Pearson said a panel was created to works with people such as Whitted who don't have proper documentation. Whitted said she was never told about the Show Me Proof Panel.

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Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com