NEIGHBORS / SHORT TAKES : Fighting It Out : The owner of Ventura’s Koei-Kan Karate-Do academy can do it all: teach, fight, act.

Thanks to Ventura’s Greg Duimovich, actress Julia Leigh can now bust a wooden board with her hand. She can also punch, roll and fall in true martial arts fashion.

Duimovich, owner of the Ventura Academy of Koei-Kan Karate-Do, has been working with Leigh for about two months, preparing her for the lead role in “A Vigilante with a Badge.” Leigh is the vigilante. And she’s not a happy camper. “The movie is about a female LAPD detective who takes the law into her own hands,” said Duimovich.

Duimovich himself will have an on-screen part in the film. “It will be my first speaking part,” he said, “. . . as a martial arts instructor. How original.”

The karate-do instructor has been in fight scenes in several movies. Last month he filmed one for a movie titled “To Be the Best.” It’s about an American karate team that fights a team from Thailand. Duimovich played the role of the last fighter to be eliminated during tryouts for the American team. He lost to the lead actor.

That’s show business.

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We recently received the January edition of “Shorelines,” the monthly newsletter of the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau. Judging by what we read, it looks like Ventura history buffs will have plenty to do over the next four months.

There will be presentations focusing on old-time bandits and outlaws, mysteries of Ventura, the old Ventura Chinatown and more. One that particularly caught our eye was an April program at the Ortega Adobe that the newsletter referred to as “Lost Treasurers of Old Ventura.”

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After today, at least one office of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department will no longer be lacking in the bare (make that bear) necessities.

The Thousand Oaks chapter of Good Bears of the World is scheduled to donate 200 teddy bears to the sheriff’s East Valley Station in Simi Valley, at a ceremony this morning. The stuffed animals were purchased with a $1,000 donation made by Edinburgh Imports of Calabassas.

East Valley Deputy Lynn Gentry said the department has a few bears now, but the supply is quickly running dry. The bears are usually stored in the patrol cars and given to children during traumatic situations.

“When we go on disturbance calls or are taking children out of their homes or they are in car accidents, we are able to give them the bears to comfort them,” she said. “We’re just trying to make them feel more secure, not only with us, but with the situation they’re in.”

More on the Good Bears people:

The Thousand Oaks chapter has been distributing bears to Ventura County and Conejo Valley organizations--including women’s shelters, convalescent homes and fire departments--since 1988.

“There’s just something about a teddy bear that seems to comfort, more than any other animal,” said Marilyn Lewis, chairwoman of the local group. “Kids of all ages look for something to hug.”

Lewis said her group always has two dozen or so bears on hand in case of an emergency.