JACKSON – Lawrence County residents whose driver license has been revoked will now not have to travel as far to get it reinstated.

Tuesday, December 11, 2001

JACKSON – Lawrence County residents whose driver license has been revoked will now not have to travel as far to get it reinstated.

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles officially opened its Jackson Regional Service Center, located at 301 E. Huron St., Jackson, yesterday. A grand opening which will be attended by Lt. Gov. Maureen O’Connor will take place Friday morning. The center will serve 15 southern Ohio counties, including Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Perry, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton and Washington.

When an Ohioan loses their license, they have to go to a reinstatement center to fill out paperwork and pay their reinstatement fee. The BMV operates seven of these centers – the only places where reinstatement fees can be paid.

In addition to the new Jackson center, regional service centers are located in Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo and Youngstown. Prior to the opening of the Jackson center, Lawrence Countians had to go to Columbus or Cincinnati to get their license reinstated – a round-trip difference of approximately 150 to 200 miles.

"It will be much better for people here to go to Jackson (to get their licenses reinstated)," said Linda Herrell, the deputy registrar at the Ironton BMV office. "A lot of people don’t have the means to get to Columbus. It’s kind of a new thing – having something like this this close to home."

Drivers in Ohio can lose their license for a variety of reasons. Most fall under three categories – a 12-point suspension (accumulating 12 points on a driver license within a two-year period), a probationary suspension and a court-ordered suspension. In 2000, the BMV reported 28,901 12-point suspensions, 10,536 probationary suspensions and 500,851 court-ordered license suspensions.

Office hours at the Jackson center are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. For more information, call (740) 286-5683.