Texas No Wimps Here, Podnuh

Texas is a state where men are men and good ole boys don't so much drive pickup trucks as aim them. And they don't cotton to being thought of as sissies. Somehow, the state highway commission failed to take that into account when it announced that the license plates on Texas' 13.5 million vehicles would henceforth carry not only a border of -- ugh! -- baby blue but also a limp slogan, THE FRIENDSHIP STATE.

That news stirred hailstorms of outrage. Friendship? What kind of macho was that? "Wimpy!" cried Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ann Richards, showing that she's one of the boys. The Houston city council signed a resolution urging the commission to reconsider, the Houston Post received more than 1,200 irate letters, and the fax machine in the Houston office of Highway Commissioner Wayne Duddleston spat out hundreds of furious protests. Said the befuddled Duddleston: "I had no idea the furor this would cause. I thought the plate was attractive, certainly colorful and highly readable, and that it would promote tourism. It never occurred to me that it was wimpy." At week's end the commission was considering alternatives.