KIDNAP CASE: Police say a kidnaping suspect...

KIDNAP CASE: Police say a kidnaping suspect has admitted taking the car of a Thousand Oaks woman missing since last week, but he denied any role in her disappearance (B1). . . . Kellie O’Sullivan is one of more than 4,200 people reported missing in Ventura County since 1992, but most were runaways who came back. . . . O’Sullivan’s case--like the 1992 disappearance of Nancy Huter of Thousand Oaks--has more sinister overtones. Both had jobs and families, and both vanished in the middle of a busy day.

POWELL HONORED: Colin Powell is retiring as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but he’ll remain in the public eye. A biography of Powell hit the bookstores this month, and in November he will be at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley to accept the 1993 Reagan Freedom Award (B4). . . . Still, Powell lacks the drawing power of last year’s winner, Mikhail Gorbachev. Tickets for Gorby’s award ceremony cost $5,000. For Powell, $2,500 gets you in. . . . Proceeds go to the Reagan Presidential Foundation.

COMING SOON: At local movie theaters this holiday season, expect to see a real horror story: the history of smog in Ventura County. Filming of the 2 1/2-minute trailer begins in mid-October as part of a $180,000 education project by the American Lung Assn. . . . The film will show how the Industrial Revolution, the automobile and modern factories affect our air, producer Steve Miller said. “The audience is there to be entertained, so we’re going to make it interesting.”