PEACE TALK: At Ventura County temples, everyone’s...

PEACE TALK: At Ventura County temples, everyone’s talking about the breakthrough in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians (A1). “People are gathering for the start of religious school and the Jewish New Year, and it’s the subject of much discussion,” said Rabbi Alan Greenbaum at Temple Adat Elohim in Thousand Oaks. Most in his congregation favor the proposal, he said. . . . At nearby Temple Etz Chaim, Rabbi Shimon Paskow said the plan is worth a try. “You can’t Satanize everybody. Arabs are human beings too.”. . . Nidal Bakarat, one of about 200 Palestinians in the county, is less enthused. “They’ve just given us a token of what we’re entitled to. Peace still has a long way to go.”

QUICK VERDICT: They spent five weeks hearing the evidence, but jurors needed less than six hours to convict James Linkenauger of murdering his wife (B1). . . . Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. noted that he used to work under both the prosecutor and the defense attorney. Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew J. Hardy trained him as a prosecutor in the 1970s. He later worked under Louis B. Samonsky Jr. before Samonsky switched from prosecutor to defense attorney. . . . As a judge, Campbell, 46, has risen fast. He was elevated to the Superior Court in 1992 after only four years as a Municipal Court judge.

THEIR TURN? The boys cross-country team at Thousand Oaks High School has never won a state championship. That may change this season. The Lancers are ranked No. 1 in the state Division I preseason poll (C8).

FILMING FILLMORE: With the kind of downtown found mainly in Norman Rockwell prints, Santa Paula has all but cornered the small-town market for movie-making in Ventura County. Now, nearby Fillmore is getting into the act (B4). . . . An upcoming Patrick Swayze Western will include steamy scenes of one of the town’s major draws for filmmakers: the Short Line Railroad’s steam engine. . . . Since the privately owned line came to Fillmore two years ago, it has been used in a dozen productions.