Bonds still Weekend DIVERSITY DAY the buzz entertainment Community celebration planned ......................................Page 1 .............Page 6 ..............Page 3 INSIDE Mendocino County’s Obituaries The Ukiah local newspaper ..........Page 2 Tomorrow: Much cooler and may rain 7 58551 69301 0 THURSDAY May 18, 2006 50 cents tax included DAILY JOURNAL ukiahdailyjournal.com 16 pages, Volume 148 Number 39 email:
[email protected] WATCH WHERE YOU STEP Vehicle insurance Rattlesnakes costs may CAN BE JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE increase The Daily Journal Insurance plan brings When spring finally arrives each year, we all want to run out- BY THE NUMBERS outcry in rural areas side. By BEN BROWN So do snakes. According to the The Daily Journal California Fish and Game The cost of insuring a car in Department, most snakes you’ll Mendocino County may go up if a meet up with in this state are 800 new initiative from the California benign. But not the rattlesnake, Department of Insurance passes that California’s only native ven- The number of rattlesnake bites each year in California will reduce the emphasis on zip code omous snake. in determining payments California rattlesnake species The initiative is based on include the northern Pacific rat- Proposition 103, which California vot- tlesnake (in ers passed in 1989. Proposition 103 Northern 2 stated that insurance rates must be fair California), Rattlesnakes The average number of and should be determined using zip and the code, driving record, miles driven, Western deaths from rattlesnake bites in are found California number of years driven and other fac- Diamondback, tors. The proposed change would from sea Sidewinder, reduce the importance of the driver’s Speckled rat- location when determining insurance level to the tlesnake, Red premiums.