NEW LICENSE PLATES

Beginning in January, Missouri will change the color of its passenger-car license plate from white-on-maroon to a three-color plate of white, light blue and green with blue letters. "Missouri" will be printed across the top in green, underscored by a blue, squiggly line to represent all of the water in the state. "Show Me State" will be in blue at the bottom.

The plate will be made of aluminum instead of steel, and the month in which it is purchased no longer will be a permanent fixture. Instead, the month of renewal will be displayed on a sticker that attaches to the lower left corner.

The change is long overdue.

Many Missourians may have been surprised to learn last week that the state was changing the color and design of its license plate. The proposed change received little media attention, other than an announcement that a special committee would hold hearings around the state seeking suggestions on colors and design. With little fanfare, the committee spent six months sorting through various designs. On Tuesday it announced it had chosen a plate designed by William O'Donnell, a Eureka artist who spent many of his lunch breaks at work sketching designs.

Missouri's white-on-maroon plate, which had been around since 1979, has worn out its welcome. It had been described by some as the least attractive license plate in the country. More importantly, law enforcement officers have complained for years that they can't make out the plate because of the dull, maroon background.

So disliked is the maroon plate that the General Assembly enacted legislation last year mandating what it wanted to be an "aesthetically attractive" plate and creating the committee to select one.

The new plate will mean a reduction of the number of license plate configurations. Missouri now has some 490 plate configurations. There are different colors for different types of plates, including vanity plates. which are black with gold letters. Vanity plates will be the same white, blue and green colors.

With the new, common color and design schemes, only 72 configurations will be available. And with the month of renewal not being printed on the plate, one plate will do the job instead of one for each month of the year.

Although a one-time charge of up to $2.25 per plate, in addition to licensing and renewal fees, will be collected to offset initial costs, in the long run the changes are expected to save money in the making of plates, which is done by state prisoners. Specialty plates will be of different colors, but the state charges the vehicle owner extra for those plates to cover the costs of custom-made plates.

Few states' license plates are of dark colors any more because they are so difficult to see at night. Missouri's new plate should show up well at night, which will help law enforcement officers carry out their duties.

The new plate is a vast improvement over the old one. It will be nice to see Missouri vehicles sporting an attractive, highly reflective plate -- one that should go a long way in helping to proclaim the Show Me State as one with valuable water resources, from the smallest creek to the largest impoundments and its two mighty rivers.