NEIGHBORS / SHORT TAKES : Ride On : A 50-year-old man will participate in a bike trip, taking him past the accident site where he was left partially paralyzed.

Thirty-three years ago, Lee Fitzgerald reached a turning point in his life. It occurred about halfway between Cuyama and Lockwood Valley.

Fitzgerald was one of four teen-age boys riding in a speeding pickup truck, trying to keep up with some people who had stolen their camping gear. Fitzgerald was in a sleeping bag in the back of the truck. He was the most seriously injured when the truck went off a cliff.

“When it hit the bottom, the truck fell on top of me,” the Ojai resident said. Fitzgerald suffered a broken back, a punctured lung and internal bleeding. At age 50, he still is partially paralyzed.

“What it did was make half of my (right) leg--the hamstring and the buttock--work some of the time,” he said. “I get chronic shakes and in the ankle there is no movement, only movement in the toes.” The calf muscle on his left leg doesn’t work either.

The paralysis makes Fitzgerald’s participation Saturday in a 100-mile bike ride sponsored by Ventura’s Trinity Lutheran Church a pretty serious challenge. It’s all the more significant when you consider the route, which will go from Buenaventura Mission to Mt. Pinos, past the spot of the accident.

“I viewed the place not too long ago and it really brought up some uncomfortable feelings,” he said. “I’m assuming I’m going to be crying, but they’ll be tears of joy. Nothing is impossible in this lifetime if we believe in ourselves.”

Fitzgerald, clinical director at the Primary Purpose Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center in Oxnard, said he rides his bicycle the 40 to 50 miles from his home to his office just about every day. So he’s more or less physically prepared for the ride.

But psychologically? “I’m going to take it one pedal at a time,” he said.

There have been rumblings lately about building a stadium in Oxnard for a minor league baseball team. According to reports, such a facility, if approved, wouldn’t be completed until 1994 at the earliest. But that doesn’t mean that it’s too early to consider a name for the hypothetical team.

The only possibilities I could come up with right off the top of my head were 1) the Oxnard Plains, 2) the Oxnard Strawberries (it would hardly strike fear in an opponent, but think of the great mascot possibilities) and 3) the Oxnard Naos. This last option, naming the team after Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi, might also be a good public relations move for the city. “Oxnard When? Oxnard Naos.”

Hey, it was short notice. Got any other suggestions?

If you’re thinking “festival” this weekend, you’re probably thinking Strawberry Festival in Oxnard. But that won’t be the only show in town.

Oxnard Buddhist Church will hold the Fujimatsuri Festival from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The event celebrates the birthday of Shiran Shonin, Buddhist Shin sect founder.

There may be few strawberries at the festival, but there will be traditional Japanese dances, flower arrangement, music and food. “After people go to the Strawberry Festival,” church member Helen Inouye said, “they can come to our festival and eat.”

As long as we’re on the subject of festivals, 800 students will get together Tuesday for the Conejo Valley Unified School District’s 10th annual All-District Band Festival.

The students, representing three high schools, four intermediate schools and 17 elementary schools, will be divided into four bands of about 200 each for most of the program. The entire ensemble will perform Handel’s “March From Scipio” in the finale.

And how many practices will it take to get the 800 students to mesh?

“Monday night is our one rehearsal together,” coordinator Carol Alexander said.

The show will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Westlake High School.