The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 762

LOS ANGELES TIMES- VENTURA COUNTY Week in Review B2 SUNDAY, JULY 14, 1991 VC JAMES RUEBSAMEN for Tho Times A formation of U.S. Navy Blue Angels streaks across the sky during the Point Mugu Air Show last weekend, The final $729-million budget will be adopted in August after the supervisors hold public hearings and consider specific cuts and staff layoffs in each county department. In addition to the 123 positions proposed for elimination in a summary budget released earlier this month, the 223-page document offers new details of recommended cuts: $29,300 from the county clerk's office by reducing the number of polling places from 470 to 387. $7,600 from the money the Ventura County Grand Jury uses to hire external auditors and investigators. $111,600 from the money the Municipal Court uses to hire extra staff for bookkeeping duties.

$899,100 from the Sheriff's Department by closing the Rose Valley Work Camp. The 60 to 90 inmates held at the minimum-security facility would be moved to other county jails. $46,500 from the county's Animal Regulation Department, which would include the elimination of two animal-control officer positions. $37,600 from the Public Social Services Agency, which would include the elimination of one child welfare worker position. The staff cuts recommended in the budget report were based on plans that each department head submitted to Wittenberg.

Several supervisors have said, however, that the board may adopt different ways of balancing the budget after members have studied the proposed reductions in each county program. During last week's meeting, Supervisors John K. Flynn and Susan Lacey suggested that some department heads may have offered to put popular county services under the budget ax in hope that supervisors would be unwilling to make cuts in those departments. Lacey warned department heads that they should be ready to live with the cuts they proposed. "If anyone has put forth proposals that they really didn't mean to support, I suggest they revise them," Lacey said.

Oxnard L.A. Raiders Open Training Camp Oakland, Irwindale and Sacramento have tried to woo them in recent years. Los Angeles still claims them as their own. But for the next 10 weeks, the Raiders belong to Oxnard. Those behemoths in silver-and-black uniforms returned last week to their summer training camp home for the seventh i consecutive year.

For the next 10 weeks, all newspaper, television and radio stories concerning the franchise will bear an Oxnard dateline. "We've been the downtrodden city in the county over the years; that's been our problem," Councilman Michael Plisky said. "Having the Raiders here, that's something to be proud of. It helps our self-image tremendously." The team's River Ridge training grounds, complete with two football fields, training equipment, locker rooms and shower stalls, are on city-owned property and the Raiders get to use the facility rent-free. Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi said that allowing the Raiders to use the field without paying rent is good business.

"Oh boy, they are one of the greatest public-relations instruments this city has ever had," said Takasugi, a longtime season ticket-holder. The Raiders say they feel right at home in this rugged, working-class city. "We definitely feel part of this community," Raiders' spokesman John Herrera said. "Our interaction is extremely positive, from the city officials to the business community to the guy on the street." If there is one complaint about the Raiders, it is that Oxnard residents don't get enough of them. Practices are closed to the public, and autograph seekers are routinely chased away.

On July 20, the Raiders will host Family Day at Oxnard High School, and the public will be allowed to watch team members work out and collect autographs. Other public appearances in Oxnard have been scheduled in the past, and more will be forthcoming, said Gil Lafferty-Her-nandez, the Raiders' community relations director. "Oh, they love us in Oxnard, it'sbeen a very endearing relationship," he said. Ventura Point Mugu Blue Angels Rise to the Occasion Grounded by clouds and fog a day earlier, the U.S. Navy Blue Angels roared into their starring role at the Point Mugu Air Show last Sunday, delighting a record crowd of 107,000 with heart-stopping formations at screaming speeds.

"It looks like they're going to drop right on you and they zip away somehow," said Tanesha Byars, 11, of Oxnard. "I just wish I had some earplugs." "I've wanted to see them for years," said Jane Pollock, 70, a retired high school teacher from Arcadia. "After all the buildup of the Gulf War, to see the stuff we heard about, it's something impressive to see." The air show drew a record 185,000 spectators over its two days, said Harry Lee, a spokesman for the Navy's Pacific Missile Test Center. Lee attributed the turnout to heightened patriotism after the Gulf War, the first appearance by the Blue Angels in three years and scheduling the show over the Fourth of July weekend. Petty Officer 1st Class Dave Taylor, who was at a recruitment stand, took the occasion to sell passersby on a Navy career.

"The Blue Angels are the biggest advertising tool we have," said Taylor, who normally works in the Navy's recruitment office in Ventura. Lt. Cmdr. Mary Backman, a nurse at the Naval Construction Battalion Center's medical clinic, said she took cover when she heard the roar of the passing high-performance jets. "The first time I heard it, I hid behind someone," Backman said.

"It scared the bejesus out of me." Ventura panel "sensed that the foundation lacked. real commitment" to building a successful arts program, said Gloria Woodlock, program manager for the state Arts Coun-" cil. "The present structure and commit-3s ment must be re-examined. Ventura tor John McKinney said. "We are concerned but not alarmed." Because of tough economic times, Treasurer-Tax Collector Harold S.

Pittman said he had been expecting an even higher number of delinquent taxpayers. "I was' pleased that it wasn't more than that," he said. The overdue payments represent a 4.66 delinquency rate for fiscal year 1990-91, contrasted with a 3.28 delinquency rate the previous fiscal year, the report said. The county had a delinquency rate of 2.7 in the 1988-89 fiscal year, according to the state controller's office. it forces law enforcement agencies to be more selective in deciding which prisoners to book.

Since the fees took effect in July, 1990, the number of prisoners booked into the County Jail has dropped by 46. The largest drop in bookings came from the cities of Ventura and Oxnard, according to sheriff's officials. In July of last year, Oxnard booked 355 prisoners into County Jail, compared to 99 in May of this year. The city of Ventura booked 227 prisoners in July, 1990, compared to 89 in May of this year. Erickson Kildee said the county could modify the fee by charging the cities only for bookings that exceed an average number for each city based on population and other factors.

She said such a change would continue to give the cities an incentive to be selective in booking prisoners but would also reduce the cities' costs. In May, the cities filed a lawsuit against the county over the booking fees and a separate fee that the county charges cities, schools and other special districts for the cost of collecting property taxes. Erickson Kildee said she did not propose the modifications to the booking fee to resolve the lawsuit against the county. In an interview last Monday, Camarlllo City Manager Bill Little, a designated spokesman for the 10 cities, said he is willing to meet with county officials. i School Board Rejects TV News Program The Ventura Unified School District board last week rejected Channel One, a news program for schoolchildren that includes commercials.

In its second consideration of the program in less than two months, the board voted 3 to 2 against the proposal to allow Channel One to be viewed daily in classrooms at Buena and Ventura high schools. Board members Barbara Myers, May Lee Berry and Vincent Ruiz voted against Channel One. John Walker and Terence Kilbride voted for it. The 12-minute news program includes two minutes of commercials for products ranging from candy bars to athletic shoes. Schools that sign up for the program receive leased televisions and other equipment.

Because of the commercial portion of Channel One, Bill Honig, state superintendent of public instruction, the California School Boards Assn. and the state PTA have opposed the program. Channel One has been discussed before the board for several months. When It first came up for a vote May 28, Walker moved to approve it, but his motion died for lack of a second. At last week's meeting, as at past meetings, some teachers and parents spoke strongly in favor of Channel One, arguing that it will make students more aware of current news events and other cultures and countries.

But other faculty and parents, including PTA leaders, argued vehemently against the program, saying it cuts into instructional time, takes away from teacher-student contact, and offers Information that students could get watching 'television news at home or reading newspapers or news magazines. Two bills before the state Legislature propose to ban programs that broadcast commercials into schools, said William L. Rukeyser, special assistant to Honig. Even without the bills, he said, state education officials believe that state law prohibits school districts from allowing commercials to be played in classrooms. Veteran Councilman Says He Will Retire John McWherter, the Ventura City Council's elder statesman, said last week that he will step down from the post he has held for nearly 18 years when his term expires in December.

McWherter, whose statement reversed an earlier announcement of his intention to seek reelection, cited a desire for more time with his family as the sole reason for his decision to leave the council. McWherter said he decided to retire after a recent trip to visit his great-grandchildren in Georgia. "We had to come back after seeing them for only three, days because I had to go to a council meeting," he said. "I decided that there are many other things in life than the City Council." McWherter, 76, considers himself one of the original slow-growth advocates in the city. His proudest achievement, he said, was his part in controlling growth as a member of the 1974 council.

"If we had continued growing at the rate we had in 1973, we would have more than 200,000 people in the city today," McWherter said. "We stopped runaway growth, and we were able to preserve our way of life in Ventura." Former City Council member Pat Ellison said McWherter was the fourth and crucial vote for such progressive policies on the 1974 council as slow growth, establishing new parks, planting trees, adding low -income housing to the city and preserving historic landmarks. "I wouldn't change any of my time on council for the world," McWherter said. "All nine separate councils and 21 council members have been wonderful." McWherter said he takes with him a host of good memories and two main regrets, the fact that the city has not yet imported water from a state pipeline to serve its residents, and the city's loss of the proposed four-year California State University at Taylor Ranch just west of the city limits. Councilman Urges 'Adopt-a-Curb'Plan Ventura City Councilman Todd Collart proposed last week that the city create an "adopt-a-curb" program with local businesses to make Ventura more accessible to handicapped residents and visitors.

The program would ask local businesses to pay for installation of concrete ramps in curbs at intersections in exchange for a bronze plaque installed at curbside acknowledging the donation. Some older areas of the city have no ramps, presenting the wheelchair-bound with an 8-inch-high obstacle that forces them into the street to compete with traffic. "It's not a problem for me in the daytime," said Yolanda Orta, a 28-year-old Ventura resident born with a spinal defect. "But at night, it can get kind of dangerous." In addition, handicapped parking in city lots may be inadequate for the number of handicapped residents in the city, officials say. Like cities in the rest of the county, Ventura requires all new commercial and public developments to be fitted with bathrooms, sidewalks and parking spaces that are accessible to the handicapped, Ventura Redevelopment Director Miriam Mack said.

City Engineer Ron Calkins said Ventura Countywide State Denies Funding for Arts Organization The Ventura County Arts Alliance, set up to boost cultural activities in the county, has been denied state funding and warned that it suffers from poor organization and weak commitment to promoting the arts. In an evaluation disclosed last week, California Arts Council officials cut the Arts Alliance out of $1.48 million in grants distributed statewide and gave the group the lowest ranking possible in the council's State Local Partnership program. "It's tough news," said Patricia Olney, a member of the Arts Alliance Board of Directors. "There are going to have to be some immediate decisions made." Only five of the state's 58 counties were judged unworthy of support: Glenn, Kern, San Luis Obispo, Solano and Ventura. Orange County also did not receive state funds but did not apply.

The grants, awarded annually, require that recipients raise a matching amount in contributions. This year's awards varied from $5,000 in Butte, El Dorado, Mariposa, Placer and San Mateo counties to $78,354 awarded to the Yuba-Sutter Regional Arts Council. From 1980 to 1988, the Ventura County Arts Commission served as the county's contact agency with the state in the grant program. The Ventura County Arte Alliance was created three years ago by the private, nonprofit Ventura County Community Foundation to take the commission's place in fund-raising efforts. The decision to withhold state funds was the first time in 11 years that no Ventura County arts agency was selected for a grant under the program.

In its evaluation of the Ventura County grant applicant, the state Arts Council's has been gradually adding handicapped ramps in curbs, at a cost of $1,000 to $2,000 each. Newer cities such as Simi Valley have fewer problems because the codes i requiring access were in place when much of the city was developed, said Brian 'J Gabler, assistant to Siml Valley's city manager. Linda Galbraith, a board member ov Countywide Delinquent Tax Bills Up $7.5 Million Delinquent property taxes in Ventura County totaled nearly $20 million In the fiscal year that ended last month an increase of $7.5 million over the previous year, according to a report by the county tax collector. The owners of 8,077 parcels failed to pay their property taxes by June 30, contrasted with 6,360 the previous fiscal year, according to the report. Almost 19 of the delinquent tax dollars in 1990-91 were from tax bills of more than $25,000, the report said.

The $19,931,345 in late taxes represent; the second consecutive year that the county's delinquency rate has increased. Officials said it indicates that the downturn! in the economy has continued to affect the ability of landowners to pay their taxes. "This is confirmation that the recession is here," Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collec Independent Living Resource Center, which has offices in Oxnard and Santa Barbara, said Camarlllo and Simi Valley Countywide Talks Set on Disputed Booking Fees at Jail County officials will meet with the mayors of the county's 10 cities to discuss prisoner booking fees, which the cities have refused to pay, the Board of Supervisors decided last week. The recommendation came from Supervisor Maggie Erlckson Kildee, who said the $120-per-prisoner fees beneficial because stand out in the county for their hand! Ventura County Supervisors Back 5 Cuts to Balance Budget The Board of Supervisors last week unanimously backed a recommendation for 5 across-the-board cuts to balance Ventura County's 1991 -92 budget, ft capped accessibility. Ventura and Oxnard are improving their handicapped access, but still fall short of what is needed, Week In Review Is complied by JampE.

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