Norm Mineta: A tale of a boy, a man and two bats
QOne more salute for Norm Mineta. This involves baseball. Most of us know the story of Norm as a 10-year-old boy boarding a train to be taken after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor to an internment camp. This was a very shameful period, when thousands of Japanese American civilians were rounded up and forced into prison camps because of their race.
For the trip to the camp, Norm brought along his prized baseball bat and glove. An Army guard confiscated the bat, saying it could be used as a weapon. That had to unnerve the young boy, having already been ripped with his family from his San Jose home.
But he marched on beyond that painful experience, becoming the mayor of his hometown, a congressman and the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
At one point, Mineta was given a bat autographed by Saduhara Oh, Japan's all-time home run leader. Mineta reported the gift to federal officials and was told he had to return it. “They took my bat a second time,” Mineta said, with a smile.
No matter how difficult internment must have been, he moved forward. I was truly in awe of him, and all his accomplishments and public service. — Mr. Roadshow, San Jose
QMy wife and I moved recently to Nevada. We don't miss Bay Area traffic, by the way. We just received our Nevada license cards and registered our vehicles. We submitted our change of address with the DMV. Now I am going to mail in our old plates, but don't see an address on the DMV site. Can you help me?
— Phil Ackerly
A Old plates can be mailed to: Department of Motor Vehicles
2415 First Ave, MS D238
Sacramento, CA 95818 Q While traveling to Texas, I realized that my RV registration was due to expire in April. I never received a notice from the DMV. Because we don't use this vehicle every day, I was a bit surprised. The day I returned home, I drove to AAA and was told that the registration had expired April 12, so I would have a hefty penalty. Whoa!
The person at AAA said that the DMV is way behind in mailing out registration notices and a lot of people are being assessed penalties. Is this the new norm?
— Sharon McCray,
Campbell
A
The DMV does not currently have a backlog on mailing out registration renewal notices. The DMV sends out renewals at least 60 days prior to the expiration date.
If there are no issues with the renewal after the DMV receives it, it typically takes 1-2 business days to process and mail the new registration and sticker back.