Pet Peeve -- Ohio Bicentennial License Plates

Ohio will be celebrating its bicentennial in 2003. Last September, Ohio began issuing Bicentennial license plates to help commemorate the occasion. They have red, white, and blue on them, which also makes it patriotic. These license plates have been a hit, especially considering the renewed patriotism in America. The designers of this license plate have had to make some changes in the layout to accomodate the additional information. One of these changes is the county where the license plate holder lives.

The Ohio Bicentennial license plate now has a small square county sticker with a number corresponding to the alphabetical order of the county in the list of all 88 counties. For example, I live in Dayton, Ohio, which is in Montgomery county. In the alphabetical list Montgomery is the 57th county. I often travel to Cincinnati and back, so I pass through Warren (83), Butler (09), and Hamilton (31). Now, below this large number is the name of the county, but it is in very small letters.

These numbers are fine and dandy if you've memorized the alphabetical list of the counties. But who in Ohio has done that? My guess is that very few, if any, know them all by memory. (Actually, this was something we had to memorize when I was studying Ohio history in junior high school. At the time, I didn't think I would need to remember.)

(Growing up, our family would often travel from Cincinnati to Toledo where my dad grew up. One of the ways we'd pass the time is to notice the license plates of the cars around us. We'd be interested in those from out of state and those from Canada (Ontario), and we'd also notice the different Ohio counties represented. This tradition is something we still whenever we drive. It was easy to note which cars are from which county because it was spelled out on the bottom center of the license plate.)

My fellow Ohioans don't appreciate me tailgating them to see which county they are from. So, what am I to do? Well, I have compiled the alphabetical list for me personally, and for whomever else is interested. So here goes:

01	ADAMS	45	LICKING
02	ALLEN	46	LOGAN
03	ASHLAND	47	LORAIN
04	ASHTABULA	48	LUCAS
05	ATHENS	49	MADISON
06	AUGLAIZE	50	MAHONING
07	BELMONT	51	MARION
08	BROWN	52	MEDINA
09	BUTLER	53	MEIGS
10	CARROLL	54	MERCER
11	CHAMPAIGN	55	MIAMI
12	CLARK	56	MONROE
13	CLERMONT	57	MONTGOMERY
14	CLINTON	58	MORGAN
15	COLUMBIANA	59	MORROW
16	COSHOCTON	60	MUSKINGUM
17	CRAWFORD	61	NOBLE
18	CUYAHOGA	62	OTTAWA
19	DARKE	63	PAULDING
20	DEFIANCE	64	PERRY
21	DELAWARE	65	PICAWAY
22	ERIE	66	PIKE
23	FAIRFIELD	67	PORTAGE
24	FAYETTE	68	PREBLE
25	FRANKLIN	69	PUTNAM
26	FULTON	70	RICHLAND
27	GALLIA	71	ROSS
28	GEAUGA	72	SANDUSKY
29	GREENE	73	SCIOTO
30	GUERNSEY	74	SENECA
31	HAMILTON	75	SHELBY
32	HANCOCK	76	STARK
33	HARDIN	77	SUMMIT
34	HARRISON	78	TRUMBULL
35	HENRY	79	TUSCARAWAS
36	HIGHLAND	80	UNION
37	HOCKING	81	VAN WERT
38	HOLMES	82	VINTON
39	HURON	83	WARREN
40	JACKSON	84	WASHINGTON
41	JEFFERSON	85	WAYNE
42	KNOX	86	WILLIAMS
43	LAKE	87	WOOD
44	LAWRENCE	88	WYANDOT