FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 2011
Contact: Caitlin E. Chamberlain
(207) 441-0501

Secretary of State Charles E. Summers, Jr. To Issue Gold Star Family License Plate Numbers Via Lottery

AUGUSTA, Maine – Secretary of State Charlie Summers will be conducting the first lottery to issue Gold Star Family license plate numbers on Wednesday, August, 17, 2011 at 10:30 AM in his office at the Nash School Building. 

Chipco International, located in Yarmouth, has donated custom poker chips to correspond with each plate number from 1001-1999. Each plate number will be randomly assigned by drawing a chip from a glass cylinder.  The chip will then be given to the recipient when they receive their set of plates. Forty-five applications for the Gold Star Family license plates have already been approved by the Bureau of Veterans’ Services. 

?I am extremely proud that we are able to offer the Gold Star Family license plates to the families of our fallen soldiers,? said Secretary Summers.? ?I wanted to come up with a fair and impartial way to distribute the plates while honoring each family equally.? I can?t thank Chipco?s owner, John Kendall, enough for donating the chips for this cause.? He and the employees at Chipco put everything else aside to make the production of these chips for the lottery a top priority?.?

For more information on who is eligible to receive a Gold Star Family license plate and/or to obtain an application, please contact the Bureau of Veterans’ Services at (207) 430-6035 or visit their website at http://www.maine.gov/dvem/bvs.

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Photo Caption: Sample Gold Star Family Commemorative Chip