The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 432

Ills W.I 1 1 IIMI vc Saturday. is. B3 Ventura County News Roundup Simi Valley Thousand Oaks Moorpark Newbury Park Lake Sherwood Oak Park Bell Canyon Ojai Santa Paula Fillmore Oak View Casitas Springs Meiners Oaks National Forest 3 assemblyman's reelection efforts. His Democratic challenger, Ginny Connell of Thousand Oaks, said she has raised $25,000 this year and has $5,000 cash to mount her campaign. -KENNETH R.

WEISS NEWBURY PARK Ex-Pool Company President Indicted The president of a nowdefunct swimming pool company in Newbury Park has been indicted by the Ventura County grand jury on suspicion of misappropriating construction funds. Lewis Nelson Buratti, 62, of West Hills will be arraigned on nine felony and two misdemeanor counts Oct. 2 and could face up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine, said Deputy Dist. Atty. John L.Geb.

Between 1987 and June, 1989, Buratti ran Blue.HaVcn Pools West, a franchise that contracted with homeowners to build swimming pools, Geb said. Buratti is accused of charging homeowners for subcontractors' work and never paying the workers, he said, By diverting the payments, Buratti is suspected of costing homeowners a total of $40,000 because they had to repay'the subcontractors, Geb said. KIRSTEN LEE SWARTZ SIMI VALLEY Simi Valley, Piru Air Called Unhealthful Air quality in Simi Valley and Piru was declared unhealthful Friday when it exceeded federal standards. Officials had feared they would have to declare a first-stage smog alert and advise people with respiratory problems to stay inside. But a mid-afternoon sea breeze helped clear away some of the dirty air, said Kent Field, a meteorologist with the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District.

Air quality in Simi Valley and Piru is expected to be unhealthful again today. In other parts of the county, air quality is expected to be in the moderate range. So far this week, Simi Valley's air has violated federal standards four times. On Sunday, the air in Piru and Thousand Oaks was declared unhealthful. -TINA DAUNT SIMI VALLEY Caltrans Officials Reject Toll Road State transportation officials Friday rejected a proposal by a private firm to build a toll road linking California 126 with the Simi Valley Freeway.

Caltrans officials have accepted proposals for four similar projects in other areas of the state; two in Orange County, one in San Diego County and one in Contra Costa County in the Day Area. Caltrans officials said if any of the projects should fall through, the Simi Valley toll road would be one of four proposals considered as a substitute. Simi Valley officials had been interested in establishing a north-south highway through the city. City Traffic Engineer Bill Golubics said such a road would have provided an alternate escape from the city if an earthquake or brush fire blocked the Simi Valley Freeway at cither end of the city. The toll road proposal was submitted by Ebasco Services, a subsidiary of the Enscrch Corp.

of Dallas. It was one of eight projects submitted to the state Department of Transportation as part of a pilot program. The program was established by Assembly Bill 680, passed in 1989 to encourage private development of public transportation projects. CARLOS LOZANO SIMI VALLEY Worker Crushed by His Steamroller A 32-year-old Norwalk man, ending a workday of road repair in Simi Valley, was crushed and killed Friday by his steamroller when he jumped from the runaway machine, authorities said. Miguel Gonzalez, an employee of Imperial Paving Co.

of Whittier, was pronounced dead at the scene about 3:45 p.m., said Deputy Coroner Jim Wingate of the Ventura County coroner's office. Gonzalez probably died of a chest injury, although an autopsy will be performed today, Wingate said. Gonzalez and at least one other employee had finished work on Black Canyon Hoad in the Santa Susana area and wore driving their steamrollers up SANTA PAULA Absences May Lead to School on Saturdays Santa Paula High School students who cut class will find themselves going to school on Saturday under a new attendance policy. School officials started the new policy this year because 15 to 20 of the students were tardy and 6 to 10 were absent each month last year, said Assistant Principal Fran Meek, The district receives about $16 a day for each student from the state and loses the same amount for each unexcused absence, she said. Ten teachers met over the summer to work out the new policy, which puts the responsibility for attending school on the student, said Assistant Principal Dax Bryson.

On the first infraction, the student will have a conference with his teacher. A second absence will be punished by an hourlong detention and a telephone call to the student's home. The third time, the student will be referred to the assistant principal and assigned to Saturday school, Bryson said. If the student does not show up for Saturday School, an In-school detention will be assigned, he said. Detention duty requires teachers to give up their preparation periods to monitor the students, but teachers have volunteered to do it, Bryson said.

The final disciplinary step would be in-school suspension, which Bryson described as closely monitored detention. The advantage of in-school suspension, he said, Is the school still receives its regular share of funds from the state because the student is on campus. Teachers have gone over the rules with students and copies of the new regulations have gone home to the parents, he said. "There is plenty of fear and trembling and gnashing of teeth" on campus, teacher Basil Augustine said. "I now see students leaping toward their classrooms when they hear that bell." AMELIA CHAFFEE the winding road to their Vehicles, said Lt.

Tony Ditzhazy of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. Ditzhazy said Gonzalez jumped from his steamroller after it had apparently lost power and began rolling backward down the slanting road. He said that Gonzalez was then struck by the steamroller and that a co-worker found the body in the roadway. The steamroller fell into the bottom of the canyon, Ditzhazy said. KIRSTEN LEE SWARTZ THOUSAND OAKS North to Speak at McClintock Event Oliver North, who gained national fame for his role In the Iran-Contra affair, is scheduled as the guest speaker at a $125-a-platc fund-raising luncheon for Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks).

The Sept. 29 event will bo the second time North has campaigned for McClintock. His last appearance in 1988 sold out two weeks in advance. North, who launched a speaking career after his 1987 televised appearance before Congress, has agreed to give four speeches, allowing McClintock and three other Republican legislators to split his customary $25,000 speaking fee, said Greg Maw, McClintock's campaign manager. North will make his first appearance at a fund-raiser for a legislator in Northern California Friday night, another Saturday morning, noon with McClintock and finish Saturday night with an engagement in Newport Beach.

McClintock's luncheon will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Ventura, which scats 500 people, Maw said. Through June, the McClintock campaign had raised $91,265 this year and had $43,153 available cash for the OJAI Panel Told Sales Tax Could Speed Bypass Construction of a proposed four-lane highway around Casitas Springs could begin in six years instead of 27 if county voters approve a half-cent sales tax increase in November, a county planner has told a panel of Ojai Valley residents. Building the $30-million bypass could lift a ban on discretionary development In Ojai Valley, officials say. The County Board of Supervisors imposed the ban in 1988 on any development that would increase traffic on California 33 through Casitas Springs. The bypass, endorsed by the slow-growth Ojai City Council, would run along the Ventura River from Casitas Pass Road about two miles north to San Antonio Creek in Oak View, Daniel Kopulsky, a staff planner for the Ventura County Transportation Commission, reported on the bypass this week to the Highway 33 Improvement Committee, a citizens panel the supervisors appointed as an advisory group on highway issues.

Kopulsky said Measure proposing a half-cent sales tax increase, would pay for the bypass and other, highway projects in the county. It would generate about $25 million a year, or $500 million over the next 20 years. The Transportation Commission has ranked the bypass as the last of 12 new highway projects targeted for priority in the county. "We see the Casitas bypass as being controversial and that is maybe why it is not a higher priority," Kopulsky said. "The major reason it's on their list is because of the Highway 33 committee." -THIA BELL FUEL CflOWJSG OF CARPET 00 For Only L.

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For information, contact the county Cultural Heritage Board at 654-3967 or the city Historical Preservation Department at 654-7800. HISTORY: Built about 1872 by Josiah Keene, this house was one of the first grand residences built in the city of San Buenaventura after its incorporation in 1866. Originally the house faced east on Ventura Avenue but was moved around the corner to its present location on Bell Way between Ventura Avenue and Olive Street in 1927. The Keene House is both a lha spotlight 11 on the uiice l.iit. iiM.ii)) miy tu.ip.ire y.inl cupel is an tale, even Ihote sljr performm nude liom Aimi njlan to mist iMim, tail, st.ilic buildup.

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Ask salesperson for any.olhor roslrldlons. Famous Names in Window Treatments county and city landmark. The Keene 1 louse, a showplaco of its day, may bo the only remaining example of Second EmpireVictorian residential styles of architecture in the city of Ventura and perhaps in the county. apricot trees. "The women would go up there to see whore the men were working in the fields," she said.

The house was built about 1872 by Josiah Keene, a native of Maine who lost his left arm in the Civil War. He 6 MONTHS FREE INTEREST (O.A.C.) Shades Mini-Blinds Draperies Custom Mini blinds Wide selection of colors Easy to caro for unergy-saving Buy 1 Mini blind and GET 2 Mil FREE Ruy 1 mini blind al manufacturer' tuggoiteij (idee ami receive 2 FREE of equal or letter value. Linoleum Carpet City worked for the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington until he came to Ventura in 1871 for health reasons. After buying the Ventura Avenue property, he became a beekeeper.

In 1874, Keene married Lucy Monroe, a native of Massachusetts. Four of their five children were born in the house. One son, Herman Keene, became a well-known trapper of mountain lions and home-steaded in the Santa Paula area. The house had several owners between the Kcenes and the Rannigers, who bought it in 1969. "It was in bad shape," Grace Rannlger said.

"There were 15 railings out of the banister, windows were broken and the plaster was falling off. We redid all that but never changed the structure." She recalled using 26 gallons of paint stripper to clean the woodwork. When done, she was pleased to discover an ivy design carved into the moldings. The house is furnished with antiques that Grace Hanniger rofinished herself. "I've just always liked old things," she said.

Second Umpire, popular from 1864 to 1885, was a French way of enlarging living space without violating the height limitations of Paris. This was achieved by a steep mansard roof from which gabled dormer windows projected. The mansard or hip roof of the Keene House has a variety of shingle patterns, originally in different colors, but now in a natural wood tone, Both the living and dining rooms have bay windows on the front and east side of the ground floor. Victorian elements are seen in the elaborate porch entrance supported by turned columns and balustrades with spindle and spool detail under the roof. The house originally had a widow's walk on the third level, hut that was damaged by fire and removed around 1880.

Rumor was that youngsters were up there smoking, Grace Hanniger said. Inside, a narrow, steep staircase, now boarded up, led from the second story to the widow's walk, which had a view of the surrounding 18 acres of VENTURA 2006 E. Thompson Blvd. (80S) 647-6984 OXNARD 1660 South Oxnird Blvd. (805) 486-8887 NOW OPEN in CAMARILLO 267 ARNEIL RD.

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