DAUGHTERS DAY: While national “Take Our Daughters...
DAUGHTERS DAY: While national “Take Our Daughters to Work Day” was a onetime experience for most Ventura County parents (B1), Sarah Rye gets to see her daughter, Caroline, every day on the job at Oxnard City Hall. . . . Sarah is a custodian and Caroline works in the library. Before they joined the city a few years ago, the mother-daughter duo worked together at an Oxnard company for about seven years. . . . “We see each other all the time,” Caroline Rye said. “It’s a good feeling to work for the same company.”
FICUS FRACAS: There’s an old-fashioned political slugfest brewing over the fate of the ficus tree in downtown Ventura. . . . It seems that city leaders are torn over whether the ficus should be included in downtown revitalization plans. Councilman Gary Tuttle, who sits on a subcommittee studying the issue, so far hasn’t even been able to convince his wife and daughter that the ficus should go. . . . “I’m certainly in support of what the citizens support,” Tuttle said. “I’m not falling on my sword for this one.”
BASEBALL FEVER: Jeff Bennett’s passion for baseball has extended to late-night batting practice illuminated only by car headlights (C11). . . . “My mom hates it,” said the catcher for the Newbury Park High Panthers. “She thinks I’m obsessed. She said I need balance in my life. But I just like to hit.” . . . He is hitting .363 and leading the team with five home runs and 20 runs batted in, along with being among the area’s best catchers.
CRACKING DOWN: Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) continues to press his campaign to halt illegal immigration. . . . Gallegly met Thursday with U. S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and Doris Meissner, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Meissner promised a 40% increase in agents and resources along the border. . . . “While the attorney general and the commissioner did not say everything I wanted to hear, they said enough to make me feel that some of my longstanding concerns over illegal immigration are closer to being addressed,” Gallegly said.