On Saturday, March 13, 2021, Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles Registrar Charles L. Norman attended the Detachment of Ohio Midwinter Conference and made a big announcement. He told those in attendance that Ohio’s SAL plate was available for purchase and thanked everyone for their hard work for veterans.

The project began with PDC Jeff Vrabel, Sr. contacting the Don Manning of the Ohio House of Representatives about legislation to establish the plates. Mr. Manning, a member of Mahoning Valley Post 15 in Poland was excited to help and jumped on board to get this done. The legislation was submitted, committee hearings were held, and testimony heard. Everything was on track to pass the bill. Unfortunately, the legislation stalled last March due to COVID-19, and the untimely passing of Rep. Manning on March 20, 2020.

PDC Vrabel contacted the new State Representative, Mahoning Valley Squadron 15 member Al Cutrona to help complete the process. On October 20, 2020, the Ohio Senate adopted Senate Bill 163, and the license plate was created. After work with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the plate went on sale March 5, 2021. Proceeds from the sale of the license plates goes to the Ohio Past Detachment Commanders Club and will be used to support donations to the many programs the club supports.

As you order and receive your new Ohio Sons of The American Legion license plate, please take a picture and send it to me for use in future editions of The Ohio SALute, as well as other publications, promotional materials, and on social media. We want to see everyone’s plates, and hope that by showing them off, we will increase sales. Photos can be sent to jeffvrabelsr@gmail.com. Thanks!