The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 33

LOCAL NEWS SECTION Ventura Comity THURSDAY OCTOBER 19. 1989 Jj HIGHLIGHTS I 1 4 Growers Plan to Eliminate Export Peril 1 i ftfAa Ml-0- Agriculture: Japan says it will not accept lemon and orange crops infested with the Fuller rose beetle or its eggs after 1990. i 1 By JOANNA MILLER TIMES STAFF WRITE! Threatened with the loss of the important Japanese export market, citrus growers in Ventura County and throughout the (tale are scrambling to beat a 1990 1 i ii i QUAKE BELIEF: The devastating earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area this week sparked relief efforts based in Ventura County. Local military bases airlifted personnel and supplies, and the Ventura County chapter of the Red Cross sent volunteers and a truckload of cots and blankets. J3 COSTLY PEST: Citrus growers in Ventura County were upset by Japan's insistence that growers eliminate a beetle on produce bought by that country.

The Fuller rose beetle wreaks havoc with bonsai trees, rose bushes and ornamental shrubs, but American growers say removing it from fruit bound for Japan will increase costs dramatically. Jl BRONZE STATUE: The figure of Junipero Serra outside Ventura's City Hall was no statue of limitations. Amid great celebration. Serra. in bronze, will be unveiled Friday, after a $100,000 campaign to replace the crumbling concrete statue.

Jl ARTIST REBOUND: Sometimes painting well is the best revenge. That was the experience of Richard Peterson, the Ventura artist whose paintings were stripped from the walls of an exhibit at the County Government Center after they were deemed too controversial three years ago. Peterson recently won a statewide competition in the Young Artist's Recognition Awards. Jl LOOKING SOUTH: Feeling pressured by increasing Ventura County residential development, some local agriculture figures were casting an eye to joint farming ventures south of the border. In what was billed as a trade conference last week, they courted the newly elected mayors of Tijuana and En-senada.

J8 ANNEXATION: The county's Local Agency Formation Commission has approved Thousand Oaks' annexation of Dos Vientos Ranch, setting the stage for a proposed S570-million residential project. More than 2,300 homes are to be built on the largest remaining undeveloped tract in the Conejo Valley. J10 HARVEST A BUST: Local marijuana growers set no records this year. As the time for harvesting the plant ends, law enforcement officials in Ventura County discovered only one-third the number of plants that they found last year. They credit drought and good police work for the low yield.

J10 SPORTS deadline to rid their crops of an insect with which they have coexisted for years. Japan, which annually imports about $100 million in oranges and lemons from Ventura County, has demanded that shipments be totally free of the live eggs of the Fuller rose beetle, an insect that does not harm fruit but feeds on ornamental plants such as roses, bonsai trees and shrubs. But U.S. growers have not succeeded in eradicating the bug after more than two years of effort The Japanese inspect the fruit when it arrives and fumigate infested loads. They charge California growers for the inspection and fumigation, then pay them less money for their fruit, depending on the amount of fumigation damage.

After 1990. California growers worry that the Japanese will reject infested shipments. That could spell economic disaster, said Pete Dinkier, packinghouse manager for Limoneira Associates in Santa Paula. "Our industry sells 30 of its lemon crop to Japan." Dinkier said. "They buy our best sizes and best grade, and they pay top dollar for it" But eliminating the beetle is expensive.

Growers say the required measures increase their pest control costs by 20 to 40. and even then don't do the job completely. "We've reduced the numbers over the years." said Ventura County Agriculture Commissioner Earl McPhail. "but I think it will be extrcmcmcly difficult to control them 100." Nevertheless, that's the stipulation. Representatives from both governments and the industry agreed during a 1387 meeting in Los Angeles to a phased reduction that would eliminate the beetle in exports to Japan by June.

1990. The VS. Department of Agriculture is now in negotiations with the Japanese government to determine whether the current eradication level which slate officials describe as 99 is acceptable. But eradicating the beetle seems like an unacceptable requirement to some growers, who claim that the Fuller rose beetle already exists in Japan. They view the restrictions aslitile more than a protectionist to limit imports and boost prices for Japan's own small citrus industry.

"It is hard to believe thai it doesn't exist there, but I can't say for sure one way or the other." said Curl FImm BEETLE, J4 lv fcf LAWRXNCIK HO UiwrtaTM Jeff Williams, pest control manager at Limoneira As- trunk to trap Fuller rose beetles before they can reach sociates. applies sticky, nonpoisonous liquid to tree tree's fruit. Growers favor liquid over pesticides. GOLDEN MOMENT Twenty-five years ago, Mike Larrabee won a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. Ventura High School's stadium was named after Larrabee.

who is an alumnus. J10 Artist Scorned by County Wins Recognition By CAROL WATSON iiMEsmrrirru Three years after local officials judged his paintings offensive and removed them from county walls. Ventura artist Richard Peterson has won statewide recognition for works that confront such issues as abortion, obesity and drug abuse. He is one of two California visual artists to win the first Young Artist's Recognition Awards. The contest sponsored by Dewar's Scotch, honors artists between the ages of 25 and 45 in the categories of visual arts, dance, literature, music and theater.

"After the troubles Fve had with the county getting my works shown, it was an honor to be nominated." Peterson said. "It was just a total thnlL" In 19S6. 15 of Peterson's painUngs were hung in the Hall of Administration at the County Government Center as a reward for placing third in a competition sponsored by the Ventura County Historical Museum, now known as the Ventura County lluseum of History and Art They were scheduled to hang for eight weeks. But county officials took the paintings down about two weeks into the show after employees and residents complained that the artwork was in poor taste. The works that Mr.

Peterson exhibited were not ones that would be enriching to anyone's lives, but rather were social commentaries." said Sandra Sanders, administrative assistant to the county Arts Commission. "What may be appropriate or unobjectionable for a museum is not necessarily appropriate for a facility of this kind." Sanders said. "Many people felt it was actually an abuse of the right to hJ FImm ARTIST, J7 Father Serra's Statue Gets New Life in Bronze Landmark: The unveiling will conclude an at-times controversial $100,000 campaign to restore the memorial to its original glory. By BOB POOL TIMES ST AFf WIITEt For 53 years, there was something concrete about Father Junipero Serra's standing in Ventura. The priest who colonized Ventura by founding Mission San Buenaventura in 1782 was commemorated by a 9-foot, 4-inch cement statue that stood a lonely vigil overlooking the downtown business district.

That came to an end six weeks ago when the statue-ravaged by weather and by vandals was taken, crumbling, from Its stone pedestal. As of Friday. Father Serra will be lonely no longer, however. When a long-sought rcplacemenl statue is unveiled in front of Ventura City Hall. Serra will be memorialized in bronze.

Not to mention wood. wax. paper and the original cement. The 7 m. ceremony concludes an al-limes controversial three-year.

100.000 campaign by Ventura residents to restore the landmark to its original glory. The event will honor a learn of carvers that spent 10.000 man-hours fashioning a wooden replica of the statue and a group of student artists from the California Sculpture Center in Palm Desert who used it to mold a new bronze casting. It will honor Ventura County residents who raised money for the project by buying T-shirts and hats, and local artists ho aided the effort by producing lS-inch copies of ine statue and lithographed posters that depict IheortgmaL And it will honor sculptor John Palo-Kangas. the Meiners Oaks resident who hauled sand and grarcf from the Ventura River to create the original statue in Tit ST A TV E. JS 1 L.t hi ON THE RECORD The Japanese market is vital to our business.

If we didn't have that market, we wouldn't be able to survive very long." Pete frnuer. pacJungouve manager for Umonera Associates i Sanu Pauu. Jl INDEX Calendar J2 Volunteering J2 A Look at Art JS Roll Call J6 Sports JIO Digest Jll Cover hides he reptacement statue of Fatner Junipero Serra. which win be unveiled Friday at a special hour-long ceremony in front of Ventura Crty HaJL.