It started as a wonderful Wednesday morning for Bill Weaver from Salina. The Kansas Department of Revenue contacted Weaver to let him know his design won the state-wide license plate contest. "It was a lot of fun I was contacting my friends and thanking them for the support , it was a good day." Weaver said. His vivid plate of a Kansas sunset and windmill had crushed the competition, or so the Revenue office lead him to believe. It wasn't until a Wichita-Eagle reporter spotted a huge mistake made by the Revenue Department. It all went downhill from there. "She says your design doesn't match the one on the Kansas Revenue website. So I pulled up the website and there was my name all my information with the wrong design."
Within an hour of the first phone call, Weaver received another call to let him know he was not the winner but in fact a distant 3rd place. "It's like I was telling my friend doesn't it scare you that the people in charge of this website are they people in charge of your tax money."
Joan Wagnon, Secretary of Kansas Department of Revenue, wasn't available to speak on camera today but issued this statement. "She says "It is unfortunate that one of our employees mixed up the names on two similar entries. But, the amazing thing is that over 200,000 people cared enough to vote on what the next personalized license plate should look like.
The winning entry, and its look-a-like garnered 2/3rds of those votes. Kansans are going to love this plate with its sunset, windmill and state seal. We congratulate the winner, rick moon from Topeka. Weaver said he doesn't hold a grudge against the Dept. of Revenue for the mix-up. And when Rick Moon's sunset design goes on sale next year, Weaver said he'll be buying one. All he wants is a little color on his car.