A campaign truck being used by Ivan Whitfield, a Democratic candidate for Jefferson County Judge, has been newly licensed.
The Commercial reported in its Sunday, May 6, edition that the tag on the commercial-style panel truck — apparently a 1999 model that had been listed with no value on Whitfield’s 2012 county personal property assessment — had expired in June 2008. Early voting began May 7 at the courthouse, and soon after the truck was spotted parked nearby on Barraque Street, a check by a Commercial reporter revealed it had a new plate with a May 2013 expiration.
Several efforts to contact Whitfield for comment afterward were unsuccessful.
Whitfield said in the May 6 article that the truck, which had recently been photographed in the parking lot of the old Food King store at West 16th Avenue and Cherry Street, had previously been parked because of mechanical problems. He said that after the truck was painted with his likeness and a political message, it had been parked outside his campaign headquarters on Old Warren Road.
“It was moved in an attempt to get tires on it and it quit at 16th and Cherry,” Whitfield said in an email response to a Commercial reporter’s written questions about the truck. Whitfield also said that a “reported sighting of the truck on Dollarway Road” resulted from “repairs.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Under Arkansas law, anyone purchasing a new or used vehicle from a dealership or individual has 30 days to license the vehicle. It is not necessary to license an inoperable vehicle, however.
Failure to meet the 30-day deadline may result in penalties, including $3 for each 10-day period after the deadline.
The Pine Bluff District Court’s standard bond for operating a vehicle with an expired tag is $155. The bond for operating an uninsured vehicle is $400.
Typically, an individual can obtain a vehicle and continue to operate it with an old plate already on the vehicle by transferring ownership of the tag, which is inclusive of updating the tag’s expiration. If a vehicle is operated with an old plate that isn’t re-registered in the name of the new owner, the new owner can be ticketed for operating a vehicle with a fictitious tag.