TARGETING DEALERS: Judging by the Yellow Pages,...

TARGETING DEALERS: Judging by the Yellow Pages, Ventura County has fewer than two dozen gun shops. So why do 610 county residents have federal gun-dealer licenses? . . . Most sell guns out of their homes or use the license to buy weapons wholesale for personal use, federal officials say. That number may drop dramatically if a tenfold increase in the license fee is approved (A10). . . . At Sportsmen’s Exchange in Oxnard, Tony Montemorra opposes the increase--as punitive, even though it could drive low-rent competitors out of business. . . . His plan to reduce the number of gun-sellers: “Turn their names over to the Franchise Tax Board. Let’s see if they’re paying taxes on those gun sales.”

CHUMASH RITES: Descendants of the Chumash Indians are upset about road work at what may have been a Chumash cemetery near Camarillo (B1). But disturbing graves didn’t bother their ancestors, said Jan Timbrook, anthropologist at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. . . . “When it came time to bury someone, they would dig up an old grave,” she said. “There wasn’t much concern about previous burials.”. . . When someone died, the Chumash believed the soul lingered a few days, then journeyed west to Point Conception for purification before crossing the ocean to the land of the dead. . . . Remnants of Chumash culture crop up often in Ventura County and the surrounding area. About 20,000 Chumash lived here when Europeans arrived.

HOMEWARD BOUND: He was born in Da Nang but grew up in Minnesota and Arizona. His only images of Vietnam come from the movies. So Cal Lutheran student Micah Reitan will soon head to Hanoi to get a taste of his native land (B4). . . . More than 2,300 Ventura County residents claim Vietnamese heritage, and nearly 1,800 speak Vietnamese at home.

DREAM TEAM: For Newbury Park’s football team, a dream season continues with the selection of three players to the All-Southern Section team--more than any other school (C6). . . . Westlake and Buena each had one player on the team, chosen by a panel of sportswriters.