PESOS NORTH: What difference does NAFTA make...

PESOS NORTH: What difference does NAFTA make in the Valley? A lot, figures Packard Bell. The Chatsworth computer maker--which sold fewer than 10,000 PCs in Mexico last year, a mere 1% of world sales--is expecting a windfall. . . . The company has opened an office in Mexico City, plans to sell through Mexican Wal-Marts and Sears, and sees the free trade zone creating “a huge potential market,” an executive says. (A1)

TEARS OF RAGE: The water war bubbles on. Mayor Riordan warned a panel on DWP rates--which brought howls of rage from Valley residents whose summer bills hit $600 to $900--that its deliberations must appear fair to the public (B1) . . . That’s too little for Councilman Hal Bernson, who urged abolishing the panel, saying members called Valley protesters “crybabies.”

HANDING OFF: The official title is “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas,” but that doesn’t mean Burton--famous for “Beetlejuice” and the dark look of the “Batman” films--spent much time on the set. He handed off the directing job to Henry Selick (above), an old pal from CalArts in Valencia and Burbank night school. (F1)

ISLAND ROOTS: It isn’t in the name--Aimee Stone--or the look--a 5-foot-10 California blonde--but in the blood and the heart. Stone, a junior from Thousand Oaks on Cal State Northridge’s volleyball team, is half Cuban and spoke Spanish before she learned English (C10). “I feel American and love America,” she says, but also “I feel very Cuban.”