North Carolina woman's efforts to keep 'FART' license plate losing steam

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — An Asheville woman's clash with North Carolina's Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to keep her custom license plate might be stalled.

Karly Sindy's license plate was on her truck for Sunday’s event, but her effort with the DMV to keep it there permanently has apparently run out of gas.

More than a dozen gathered at Richmond Hill Park in Asheville on Sunday to support the Friends of Asheville Recreational Trails, better known as the "FART" club.

The effort was formed when Sindy went on Reddit for suggestions she could give the DMV for keeping her custom "FART" license plate after someone complained. Sindy said she registered for the plate in the fall of 2021 as a joke and was surprised when the DMV approved it. The plate recently arrived in the mail.

“There’s a lot of really cool people out there that just want to hang out and have fun and be silly,” Sindy said Sunday, as she greeted each person who arrived.

The club is united by -- of all things -- Sindy’s custom license plate.

“Oh this is a great surprise,” said Sindy, laughing. “This has been fun, this has been definitely cool to do.”

After the DMV received a complaint about Sindy's license plate, it said the plate was erroneously issued, as the word "fart" is on the list as one of its 9,000 banned texts.

The DMV then gave Sindy 30 days to appeal their decision to revoke the plate. Despite the effort, and a previous group meet up, the DMV recently notified Sindy she can keep the plate -- but just as a commemorative token.

“They said that I can't keep the plate on the truck, but I can keep the plate in my possession and do what I want with it, and they said that since they refused 'FART' for other people, they couldn't allow it for this,” she told News 13.

“I was really hoping they would just take FART off the list because it’s not a bad word, but you know that didn’t happen,” said Sindy.

Instead, the license plate has stirred interest and national support from Jimmy Kimmel Live to Debbie Mulvey who came out to Sunday’s club meet-up.

“Just, I’m an old fart,” said Mulvey, laughing.

She was there supporting Karly and the humor of it all.

“It sounded like a good group of people,” said Mulvey after learning about the meet up on NPR’s "Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!"

Sindy’s daughter, Etta, said she agrees the whole process has been fun.

“I love that all of the people are coming together, and I really love people all different people,” said Etta Sindy.

The North Carolina DMV told News 13, Sindy can keep the plate for official club business, just not on her vehicle.

“It had a short life, but it deserves an epic sendoff,” said Sindy with a laugh.

The next meet-up for the FART club will be a chance for members to create a little more fun with the entire experience.

“I hope we can continue to meet and maybe do a little celebration for a little memorial service for the license plate at a local bar or something,” said Sindy.

If nothing else, the license plate has sparked new friendships with proceeds from the official merchandise benefitting Read to Succeed Asheville.

“I love being able to get together with people and be outside and hang out -- and that’s what I hope we can continue to do,” said Sindy.

The NC DMV sent News 13 a list of more than 9,000 banned text. Much of the list is too profane or inappropriate to post. Here is a sampling of some of the banned text.

Below is a list of just a few more terms and phrases banned from state-issued license plates:

• ASSASSIN
• BIGHT ME
• B0MB
• CRAP
• CRUNK
• C0MMIE
• DEVILMAN
• DRUG MAN
• D0PE
• EB0LA
• FACEB00K
• FART
• GANGSTA
• G0DLESS
• HATEDUKE
• HATER
• HAULNSHT
• HELLUR??
• HELRAZER
• HIT&RUN
• HITMAN
• IHATEPPL
• JER29:11
• KILLER
• LMA0
• L0C0
• L0SER
• NUKE'EM
• N0THIGH
• OLDFART
• PASSNGAS
• SATAN
• SHERIFF