SPECIAL DELIVERY: Still waiting for your tax...

SPECIAL DELIVERY: Still waiting for your tax refund? The check could be in the mail. . . . Internal Revenue Service officials say they have been unable to repay more than $250,000 to hundreds of Ventura County taxpayers (A3). . . . IRS officials say 432 county residents were mailed refunds of between $1.34 and $5,038, but that they were returned as undeliverable as addressed. . . . In Southern California, the IRS says it is trying to return more than $11 million to about 17,000 taxpayers.

SPEAKING OUT: It’s Banned Books Week, and several Ventura County bookstores are celebrating the freedom to read. . . . For a $1 donation, the Ventura Bookstore is handing out “I Read Banned Books” buttons and bumper stickers. And Barnes & Noble in Ventura is sponsoring a “Read In” tonight at 6. . . . “I’m going to read a little bit of ‘Huckleberry Finn,’ ” said John McDougal, assistant manager at Barnes & Noble. Among books banned over the years: the Bible, “The Grapes of Wrath” and “Where’s Waldo?”

SECOND CHANCE: When Pete Roina landed at Gateway Community School in 1991, he was in trouble and running out of chances. . . . But with the help of the Camarillo continuation high school, the 16-year-old Santa Paula youngster is now the newest member of the Ventura County Board of Education (B1). . . . “It’s a second chance for the kids,” said Assistant Principal Jeanne Dukes of Gateway. “It’s a place where they can start over with no reputation and no history.”

GUIDING LIGHT: How tough are Fillmore’s light poles? Not even the Northridge earthquake could knock them down. . . . While the quake fractured Fillmore’s downtown district, the city’s light poles came through unscathed (Valley Business, Page 11). . . . John Reynolds, vice president of Ameron Pole Products & Systems, said the poles are reinforced with steel wires. “A lot of old-fashioned poles crumbled, but it’s hard to get public officials to acknowledge that it’s time for a change,” Reynolds said.