The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 417

i REGIONAL NEWS WEATHER EDITORIAL PAGES SECTION Eos Angeles Slimes SUNDAY MARCH 7, 1999 VCCC illMillflil I Crime Falls for 7th Consecutive Year in 1998 1 7T. i if a Lia Vj i Analysis: Reported serious offenses drop 9.2 from 1997, with Moorpark emerging as the area's safest city. COUNTY REPORT Winning the Crime Wars By DARYL KELLEY TIMES STAFF WRITER Not since Ventura County was still an agricultural outpost, Neil Brooks, whose department patrols nearly half the county. "They tend to identify more with their communities and take a more active role in protecting them." But he worried the low crime numbers could make people less vigilant. "I'm afraid," Brooks said, "that this will make people apathetic about the real threat of crime in our community.

If you're a crime victim, you don't care about a falling crime rate." Authorities also cautioned against reading too much into the lower crime statistics. They be-t lieve that underlying all the good' news is a simple demographic; shift-. People are generally older today, and older people are less prone to lawlessness. 1 But the county also benefits; from an abundance of cell-phone; packing, flashlight-toting citizen patrols, and a trend toward get-! ting police out of their patrol cars and into the community. Further, some broad and welcome societal changes helping, officials say.

Youth; gangs are no longer as cool or; glorified the way they were a decade ago. And tough two- and three-strike sentences are! putting repeat criminals behind Please see REPORT, B6 Armstrong walked on the moon and hippies danced at Woodstock was the crime rate as low as it was in 1998. West. Reported serious offenses dropped to 20,131 last year, down 9.2 from 1997 and one-third lower than the all-time high eight years ago, a Times analysis shows. That means there were 10,000 fewer crimes including 1,100.

fewer homicides, rapes, robberies; and felony assaults in the county last year than in though 62,000 more people live here today. The reduction produced a Crime fell for the seventh crime rate of 27.3 offenses per 1,000 about half of the county's record high rate of 53.3. Sheriff Bob Brooks said the low crime rate is a product of an involved citizenry. "People move to Ventura County because they want a safe place to raise their families," said straight year, reaching levels not recorded since 1969 and adding luster to the county's reputation as the safest urban area in the TOP VIEW OF LADDER 750 Women Gather for Fish Ladder Basics Thousands of dams on rivers form impassable barriers to migratory fish, including the ocean-going steelhead.To help fish surmount dams, fish ladders divert water around the dam so fish can use it like a staircase to swim up and over the barrier. One is in operation on the Entrance: To steer adults to the ladders, flows at the entrance simulate those found at the base of natural waterfalls.

Santa Clara River and another is approved for the Ventura River. OUT ABOUT COMICS CONNOISSEUR: Andrew Hochman, above, produces weekly "Your World of Comics" cable show from his Thousand Oaks bookstore. Bll GALLERY DEBUT: A new Thousand Oaks venue will feature some masters of photography in its first show. Bll Their Day at TYPICAL FISH LADDER Exit I Hrl I JpfcW-- yr' I Direction of water flow Ca Fish ladders consist of a series of steps and aJjLp sSt I I 4 pools which provide a gradual upward climb over the dams. CN.

Xi Water flow vN'CUTAWAY OF I LADDER 1 8 keL 1 Steelhead Trout mwmmwmmmimmMmmmM 4 (Oncorhynchus mykiss) I would like to see more fish. The water we put through here could beputto other uses. We spent all this money, let's get some results, doggone it.5 Dana Wlsehart, United Water Conservation District, operators of the dam OPINION TIMES EDITORIAL: It's time to restore order to the way Ventura County manages mental health care. Clients deserve better and so do taxpayers. B18 TIMES EDITORIAL: Ventura County's no-nonsense attitude toward crime has created such a safe place that violent crimes seem especially horrifying.

B18 PERSPECTIVE: Recognizing the signs of an unhealthy relationship can be a step toward preventing domestic violence, writes Gina Giglio. B19 PERSPECTIVE: Student needs should drive the bureaucracy, not the other way around, writes Assemblyman Tom McClintock. B19 20 Inches Habitat and diet Steelhead require cool, clear water. At sea, adults are typically found close to the surface and prefer to eat squid, small fish and crustaceans. Size: Full-sized adults can measure 20 inches in length.

Northern strains can reach 40 pounds. Coloring: A steel-blue color, which distinguishes them from the multihued rainbow trout Sources: Army Corps of Engineers, Northwestern Division MARK HAFER Los Angeles Times Leap of Faith Freeman Dam Fish Ladder for Endangered trout Spawns Debate Over Water Use Cal Lutheran Conference: The participants at 20th annual event explore money management, yoga, osteoporosis and scores of other workshop topics. By MASSIE RITSCH SPECIAL TO THE TIMES THOUSAND OAKS-For the past five years, Jan Peyton and Julia Landstrom have had an annual ritual. The Camarillo women pack a lunch chicken salad in a whole wheat pita, fruit and vegetables and head to Cal Lutheran University for a day meant just for them. Peyton and Landstrom joined about 750 other women from throughout Southern California and beyond who spent Saturday exploring yoga, money management and osteoporosis, among more than 70 workshops offered during the 20th annual "Creative Options: A Day for Women." "It's our tradition," said Landstrom, who was attending a workshop on handwriting analysis, a Japanese tea ceremony and the popular "Unleash the Passionate Playful You." Five years ago, classes on personal finance and relationships would have dominated her and Peyton's day.

"We've done all the heavy classes," Peyton said. "We have fun now." "Creative Options" began in 1980 as a way "to help women recognize their own potential, but then it was also a way for women to help other women," said Kath-ryn Swanson of Thousand Oaks, who has helped organize the past 13 conferences and attended her 16th on Saturday. Cal Lutheran's Women's Resource Center and the Thousand Oaks branch of the American Assn. of University Women are the chief sponsors of the event, the proceeds of which benefit a Cal Lutheran scholarship fund for women going back to school. About one -third of the women attending Saturday came from Ventura County, with another large portion traveling from the Please see OPTIONS, B4 COUNTYWIDE CHILD SUPPORT: The district attorney's office is asking residents to help with enforcement by using a toll-free number or the World Wide Web.

B3 mm i For Saturday, March 6 SUPER LOTTO Winning Number 9-19-20-25-33-45 Jackpot $15 million FANTASY Winning Number 6-7-8-23-25 DAILY 3 Winning Number: 1-5-4 DAILY DERBY By GARY POLAKOVIC TIMES STAFF WRITER With the push of a button inside the control room at the Freeman Diversion Dam near Saticoy, thousands of gallons of Santa Clara River water gushes through the dam's fish ladder. In the eight years since it was built at a cost of $2 million to help save the endangered southern steelhead trout, six adult fish are known to have passed through the concrete and steel contraption. That is $333,000 per fish, not counting the value of the water that could have gone to houses and farms on the Oxnard Plain, instead of washing out to sea. "I would like to see some results for the loss of the water," said Dana Wisehart, who works for the United Water Conservation District, which operates the dam. "I would like to see more fish.

The water we put through here could be put to other uses. We spent all this money, let's get some results, doggone it." Fish ladders like the one at Freeman Diversion Dam the only ladder operating in Southern California have been considered important tools to help fish reach spawning grounds blocked by impassable dams. Just last month, the Casitas Municipal Water District agreed to build one at a cost of $2.3 million at the Robles Diversion Dam on the Ventura River near Ojai, also to i Winning Horse: (7) Eureka (9) Winning Spirit (4) Big Ben Race Time: 1:40.90 To win the grand prize, ticket-holders must match, in exact order, the first-, second- and third-place horses and the winning race time. Lesser prizes are given to ticket-holders who match horses or the race time. STEVE OSMAN Lot Angela Ttmea Upstream view of Santa Clara River, path to steelhead habitat in Southern California.

Freeman are stoking a debate over who should get the water, people or fish. "We are somewhat concerned about the ladder. It's not operating as efficiently as it Please see TROUT, BS benefit the steelhead. But the high cost and marginal benefit of the Freeman ladder serve as an object lesson in how difficult it will be to bring steelhead back to Southern California streams. The problems at Ventura County Roundup B3 Reading B2 Today's Agenda B5 Obituaries BIO Weather B12 Regional News B13 Editorials B18 Commentary B19 Auctions B20 The Long Shadow of a Relentless Stalker "I died when they told me," said Melissa, who now lives in Thousand Oaks.

"I couldn't say anything." They had dated for only three months but, for Melissa, that was enough. The man was jealous and had a temper. He had a way of engulfing her with his fury, his penitence and even the larger-than-life thing he called his love. The day after one of their frequent arguments, he phoned her more than 50 times at the San Fernando Valley store where she sold Please see STALKER, B4 history of violence toward her and was actively stalking her. This was deemed to pose a risk to clients." The man had made her life hell for 14 months.

She had lived like a nomad, changed her name several times, fled the state, peered out at the world from behind the living-room curtains of a shelter for battered women. She had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, hospitalized, and placed on medication. With her new job she was reassembling her life, but her stalker cast a long shadow; never showing up at work or even contacting her there, he still got her fired. In many respects, Melissa (one of the many aliases she has used in the last two years had landed the ideal job. The money wasn't terrific but she got to live and work with people who needed her at a training center for the developmentally disabled in the rugged hills near Agoura.

She loved it, and in her few months on the job received a commendation for her efforts. That is why she was shocked when orders came from the group's Pasadena headquarters to fire her. The reason, as outlined in the clipped language of an Employee Separation Report: "(Melissa) was victim of stalker who had vehtura County LIFE STICHAWKINS On the Record "If you're a crime victim, you don't care about a falling crime rate." Sheriff Bob Brooks, discussing Ventura County crime trends. Bl.