Cali Woman Horrified to Get 'Satanic' License Plate

For reasons unspecified, you won't find the letters "I," "O," or "Q" in the first or third alpha positions of the alpha-numeric sequence on California passenger license plates, per that state's DMV. But there's nothing that prevents the system there from churning out plates with a "666" imprint on them, which Berkeley resident Bobbie Larkins recently discovered. "I could not believe it," she tells CBS San Francisco after receiving the plates for her new car from the DMV. "It sent a chill through my entire body." She goes on to explain for the uninitiated: "666 is symbolic of the devil or the anti-Christ. You know, it's a satanic number."

Larkins, who says she's a faithful Christian, adds she was so perturbed that she didn't even put the plates on her car when she drove them right back to the DMV. A department spokesman, meanwhile, tells the station that regular passenger plate numbers are randomly created and issued (custom plates undergo more-intense scrutiny), and that even though the DMV rakes in more complaints about the "666" combo than any other, it's not taking it out of the random-circulation circuit. The DMV also says it will waive the usual $20 replacement fee for Larkins, per CBS. (The Confederate flag on license plates has been getting a lot of press lately.)