Safety ConcernsDr. Paul Russell, the county’s interim...

Safety Concerns

Dr. Paul Russell, the county’s interim public health officer, is taking a new, tougher look at the use of methyl bromide (B1). The concern comes in the wake of complaints by residents of an east Ventura neighborhood who say they were sickened when a nearby strawberry field was fumigated last year. . . . Russell would like to extend the buffer zones around fumigated areas while studies continue on the potency of vapors that drift from treated strawberry fields. “It is incumbent on us to err on the side of health,” he says.

Answer Man

Questions? Charles Johnson just may have the answers, if the queries concern Ventura County historic sites or people (B1). As librarian for the Ventura County Museum of History and Art, Johnson collects, indexes and then disseminates information on local lore. . . . But he’s better on the older facts than the newer. “We start getting fuzzy about 1945,” Johnson says. “As far as materials coming out of private collections, there is a 50-year lag.”

Ready to Wear

Shopping for school clothes does not have to be a painful ritual. By letting teens have more control, parents can make the annual trip a lesson instead of a chore (B2). . . . Eleventh-grader Courtney Brown flipped through racks of clothes last week with the sharp eye of a pro. But the final test will be bringing her choices home to mom.

Are We There Yet?

How do they measure the distance between Ventura and Oxnard, between Los Angeles and Detroit? If you officially enter a city at its border, why must you drive many miles farther to reach the city itself? . . . Street Smart (B1) wrestles with a Southern California conundrum: “There’s no there there.”