Luke Judge

Published: Thursday, December 02, 2010, 10:30 PM

All 82 state Office of Motor Vehicles branches in the state will have the special New Orleans Saints Super Bowl license plates for sale by Dec. 8, motor vehicle officials said Thursday.

Agency spokeswoman Michelle Rayburn said her office is expecting a “large shipment” of additional tags from Prison Enterprises, the branch of the state corrections system that makes the plates. she said he did not know how many will be the batch set to be delivered to the Baton Rouge office Friday.

The first batch of tags went on sale Wednesday at 29 of the larger agency offices in metropolitan areas on Wednesday.

First-day sales from those locations totaled 658. The Metairie office sold 130 tags Thursday, but the entire number of plates sold Thursday will not be known until Friday morning, Rayburn said.

Besides the Metairie location, the other offices in the new Orleans area selling the plates are those in Harvey, Chalmette, Hahnville, Slidell and Mandeville.

A total of 4,400 plates were printed in the first batch. by law, the first 300 are controlled by the Saints organization.

Saints officials said Thursday that plates 2 through 99 will be sold through a special fund-raising auction to benefit Operation Homefront-Louisiana, a group that provides emergency financial assistance and other aid to families of troops and wounded service personnel.

The Saints organization will keep control of the first plates minted, said Saints chief spokesman Greg Bensel.

The 98 tags to be auctioned will be available to fans at nflauction.nfl.com starting Monday for Louisiana residents who want to sport the number that corresponds to their favorite player’s jersey and help military families at the same time, Bensel said.

The rules for the auction will be available on Monday at the National Football League’s auction website.

“The auction of the limited number of unique license plates for Operation Homefront-Louisiana is a wonderful opportunity for fans of the Saints to show their support for the men and women of our state (who) have sacrificed for the freedoms that we all hold so dear,” Saints owner Tom Benson said in a statement announcing the fund-raiser.

Non-auction Super Bowl plates are available for trucks at $81.50 and for vans and cars for $61.50, Van and car owners will also have to pay a registration fee that is based on the value of the vehicle.

Ed Anderson can be reached at eanderson@timespicayune.com or 225.342.5810.

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FOUR SUSPECTED members of a car snatching syndicate, Nana Ofosuhene, Kwaku Gyamerah, Kofi Karikari and Isaac Kwuku Ani, have all been arrested by the Accra Regional Police Command.

As part of their investigations into an alleged car snatching case, some police personnel posed as prospective buyers of a Toyota Corolla CE a businessman, Nana Ofosuhene, had put out for sale.

Even though the market price of such cars ranges from GH¢16,000 to GH¢17,000, Nana Ofosuhene was itching to sell it at a give-away price of GH¢6,000.

The Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Rose Bio Atinga, told newsmen on Thursday that her outfit was informed about the case, and quickly called for immediate investigations.

She said the police personnel made an initial deposit of GH¢3,000, with the intention to defray the remaining amount upon seeing the vehicle, but the businessman insisted they paid everything in full.

Subsequently, Nana Ofosuhene was arrested, and who also assisted the police to arrest his accomplices Kwaku Gyamerah and Kofi Karikari who are brothers staying at Tantra Hill, a suburb of Accra, as well as Isaac Kwuku Ani, who was keeping the said car.

Kwuku Ani had already used his ingenuity to register the stolen Toyota saloon car with a new number plate, GW 378-10, with forged documents to match.

According to the police, he is a car dealer and served as a link between armed robbers, who robbed victims of their vehicles, and some staff of the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) in Accra.

According to the police, Ani designed new number plates and forged documents for stolen and snatched vehicles, with backing from some officials at the DVLA.

She disclosed that Kwuku Ani had in his possession, three additional new car number plates, including GE 8832-10, GE 9074-10, GE 4457-10, with many road worthiness certificates, supposedly issued by the DVLA.

Meanwhile, on September 19, this year, at about 8:00 p.m., a KIA Avera taxi, with registration number GW 4279 Z, was also snatched from its driver at Gbawe, near the Presbyterian School park.

According to DCOP Atinga, the suspect, Bright Armah, 21, hired the taxi from the Mallam station to Gbawe in Accra.

When the taxi got to the Presbyterian School park, she said, Armah ordered the driver to stop, while Samuel Oduro, 22, and Samuel Quartey, 23, joined them from a hideout.

‘They attacked the driver with a cutlass, and took the taxi away to Domeabra, and sold it to one Emmanuel Antobam at GH¢600,’ she narrated.

Antobam, 39, a vulcanizer, made a part payment of GH¢10, and asked the group to return on September 26, for the rest of the money.

Even before selling the taxi cab to Antobam, the police said, the three alleged car snatchers had removed the wheel caps, side address, number plate, road worthiness certificate, and relevant stickers among others.

An informant hinted the police that Antobam had given the taxi cab to one Prince Allottey to work with at Domeabra. The police, however, said all four admitted to committing the crime upon interrogation.

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Bandar Seri Begawan – The role of educational institutions in facing challenges and opportunities will be the main agenda of the 15th International Conference on Education (ICE) 2010 to be organised by the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education (SHBIE), Universiti Brunei Darussalam next week.

Pg Hjh Jamilah Pg Hj Othman of SHBIE described the details of the upcoming event in a press conference held yesterday afternoon. She said the international conference will “provide a forum for comparing the rhetoric of educational reform with the reality of effective implementation”.

Carrying the theme “Challenging Models, Challenging Minds: Initiative Effective Educational Reform and Development”, the conference is set to be held at the Chancellor Hall, UBD, from May 24-27.

Over 549 participants – 255 local and 294 international -have registered to take part in the event. A total of 101 papers are to be presented by 22 international and 26 local speakers.

Various aspects of academic challenges and effective implementations will be discussed throughout the conference. Discussion and debates are expected and complemented with a set of international perspectives on the ongoing challenges faced by contemporary educators nowadays.

Particular focus will be made on the challenges of providing effective schools and schooling. Three overseas speakers have been invited to deliver keynote presentations in three plenary sessions at the conference.

Prof Ivor Goodson from the United Kingdom will be presenting his paper on –Professional Knowledge in Education and Health: Restructuring work and life between the state and citizens in Europe”.

Meanwhile Prof Malik Badri from Malaysia will deliver a presentation on “The role of Islamisation and indigenisation in reforming the theory and practices of psychology and education”. And Mr Jason Trump from Singapore will present his paper entitled “Personalised Learning – Are we there yet?”

Exhibitions will be set up at the event for two days from May 24-26 with over 10 exhibitors: Microsoft, Mona Flora Tour Operators, SMARTER, TA & Morgen, Cambridge University Press Singapore, TAIB, ETC UBD, BIBD, Arts & Exhibition UBD and SHBIE Conference Proceedings.

Educational visits are also being arranged for the international participants on the third day to visit departments under the Ministry of Education as well as some local schools. Registration for the conference is still open to the public. For international participants, the registration fee is US$300, while local participants are charged B$250. Local paper presenters will only need to pay BS150.

At present, there are still slots available for those who are interested in the conference. The deadline for registrations and payments is May 24, 2010. — Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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