DOCKING MANEUVERS: Ventura County has more places...

DOCKING MANEUVERS: Ventura County has more places to tie up a boat than San Francisco, Monterey or Marin counties. But don’t look for more berths to be built any time soon--not with marina vacancy rates as high as 15%. . . . Ventura Harbor, with 1,500 slips, has room for about 60 more, but Port District Manager Richard Parsons said the adjacent land will have to be developed first. And Channel Islands Harbor has no plans to add to its 2,600 berths. . . . A 1,600-slip marina was once proposed for Ormond Beach, but the developer is now pushing a residential project. . . . Number of boats registered in Ventura County: 19,524.

AFTER NAFTA: The expected victory of NAFTA in a House vote today (A1) will help Ventura County businesses, Supervisor John Flynn predicted. “It’s good for Ventura County, absolutely,” said Flynn, who led a panel of Southern California leaders that studied the treaty. . . . Among the beneficiaries: Procter & Gamble in Oxnard, 3M in Camarillo and the county’s $166-million lemon industry--all of which stand to increase exports. . . . Flynn said he sympathizes with people who fear NAFTA: “This is the start of a global age, like moving from the agrarian period to the Industrial Age. And that’s frightening.”

SMOKERS OUT: Thursday’s Great American Smokeout--that one day a year when the American Cancer Society asks smokers to stop for 24 hours--is almost becoming moot in Ventura County: There are fewer and fewer places you can legally light up. . . . The Board of Supervisors joined the bandwagon Tuesday (B1), banning public smoking in unincorporated areas. . . . About 18% of the county’s population smokes, the cancer society says.

DEADLY COMBO: To the dismay of opposing football teams, Kevin Crook-to-Billy Miller has been one of the most potent passing combinations at Ventura County high school stadiums this season (C8). . . . On Friday, they lead Westlake High into the Southern Section playoffs.

Berth Centers

Number of boat berths in leading California counties: Los Angeles: 17,321 Orange: 10,367 San Diego: 8,133 Contra Costa: 7,091 Alameda: 6,491 Ventura: 4,783 Marin: 4,266 Sacramento: 3,759 Source: California Department of Boating and Waterways