STILL MOURNING: Wearing black ribbons, employees at...

STILL MOURNING: Wearing black ribbons, employees at the state unemployment office in Ventura went back to work for the first time since three of their Oxnard colleagues and a police officer were gunned down (B1). . . . To a county still stunned by the bloodshed, this may be some consolation: We probably won’t have to relive the massacre on some future movie of the week. . . . “I don’t think so,” said Ken Coffman, who produced “Ambush in Waco” for NBC. “Not every tragic story makes a good movie. In this case, there’s no protagonist.”. . . Another factor: An uproar over TV violence.

DAY OF INFAMY: First came the attack on Pearl Harbor, 52 years ago today. Two months later, a Japanese sub fired on oil installations near Goleta. Would Ventura County be next? . . . “There was widespread fear that the Japanese were about to come over the beaches,” said Carol Marsh, assistant historian at the Seabee base at Port Hueneme. Today, gun emplacements near the Ventura County Fairgrounds attest to that concern. . . . The Seabee base was founded to house supplies for the Pacific war. Today it employs 11,400.

NEW BOSS: Speaking of military bases, ever since the Navy began consolidating its weapon-testing centers at Point Mugu and China Lake, some have worried that Point Mugu might close. But the new commander, Rear Adm. Dana B. McKinney, sees no signs of a shutdown (B1). . . . While McKinney is stationed in California, his wife will be running a Navy station in London. “We have plans to see each other every few months.”

HARD SELL: With the advent of giants like Home Depot, neighborhood hardware stores are going the way of dime stores and corner markets. But the new owners of Holiday Hardware in Simi Valley are sticking to a time-honored formula: slightly higher prices, but better service (Valley Business, Page 4). . . . Frank Redlich of Westlake Village started the chain in 1946. Origin of name: jazz singer Billie Holiday, whom Redlich admired.