TIES THAT BIND: Forging bonds with foreign...

TIES THAT BIND: Forging bonds with foreign towns has led to beautiful relationships for some Ventura County cities. . . . Thousand Oaks is holding an Oct. 16 concert to benefit Spitak, its Armenian sister city. Residents in Oxnard and Ocotlan, Mexico, regularly visit back and forth. And Fillmore is flirting with the notion of sisterhood with Osaka, Japan, after an Osaka delegation toured town last month. . . . But Santa Paula’s been out of touch with its sister--Obregon, Mexico--even though a park is named after the Mexican town. “Maybe they have a park named after us,” City Manager Arnold Dowdy pondered.

BATTLE LINES: Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) may be in for the fight of his political career in November as he faces a strong anti-incumbent tide and well-financed GOP challenger Richard Sybert (A3). . . . The race has attracted national GOP luminaries eager to help Sybert oust the congressman from the district that includes Thousand Oaks. But Beilenson’s campaign strategists say he’s not your average incumbent.

PASSING MUSTER: Anything less than a C average may not be good enough to earn a high school diploma in Oxnard (B1). . . . School officials are considering the policy to beef up standards. They’ve already increased the number of credits required to graduate from 220 to 230. . . . Oak Park High has the county’s highest credit requirement for graduation--students need at least 240. “If you have high expectations, kids reach those expectations,” Principal Jeff Chancer said.

LIGHTNING STRIKES: Naturalist Gretel Ehrlich reads tonight at the Ventura Bookstore from her account of being struck by lightning. . . . In Ventura County, a computerized system that will help fire officials keep tabs on such occurrences goes on-line within six months. It will enable firefighters to sort emergency responses by category. “We’ll be able to track more accurately the types of calls we get,” county Fire Capt. Alex Sanchez said.

Sister Cities

Four cities in Ventura County have sister-city relationships with towns in other countries, while Fillmore has been talking to Japanese officials about establishing such a tie.

Thousand Oaks Spitak: Armenia

Oxnard: Ocotlan: Mexico

Camarillo: Autlan: Mexico

Santa Paula: Obregon, Mexico

Fillmore: Osaka, Japan

Source: Ventura County cities