ELECTIONS / RANCHO SIMI PARK DISTRICT : Arming Rangers Emerges as Dominant Issue in Race : Campaign: Five candidates for two seats are split on the question of whether guns should be carried on patrol.

Whether Simi Valley park rangers should carry guns has become one of the key issues in a race among five candidates for two at-large seats on the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District board of directors.

The park district, which includes Simi Valley and Oak Park, is in the process of reviewing a request from rangers that they be equipped with weapons. The final decision will probably not be made until after the two top vote-getters in the Nov. 8 election are sworn into office in December, district officials said.

In the meantime, first-time candidate Gene Hostetler is making safety in the parks--and arming the rangers--the cornerstone of his aggressive campaign.

“They should carry guns,” said Hostetler, 45, a detective with the Simi Valley Police Department. “When you’re working in that kind of job, you can come upon the same kind of stuff that police officers do.”

But park board member James Meredith, a retired mail clerk who is running for his fourth term, said the issue of safety has been exaggerated by Hostetler and others.

“We had over 1,200,000 visits from people in our parks during 1993,” Meredith, 64, said. “There were only 45 arrests in our park. This year, up until October, there were 40 arrests. People are talking about how we are having Los Angeles park problems. That is not true at all.”

According to park records, there were five weapons violations in Simi Valley parks from January to June, including incidents with BB guns, pellet guns and knives. Four people were arrested on felony charges during the same period in Simi Valley, one person in Oak Park. There were 30 narcotics violations and arrests as well.

Mark Johnson, a 45-year-old high school math teacher who is running for his second term on the board, called the safety issue overblown.

“Our parks are still very, very safe,” Johnson said. “Everybody would like to be able to go out and take a walk at midnight, but I think those days are 30 years gone.”

Johnson said he is not opposed to arming the rangers, all three of whom are retired Los Angeles Police Department officers, but he has reservations about establishing a policy that may be expensive to maintain in the future.

“I’m a little leery of arming all the rangers down the line,” Johnson said. “The rangers that we have right now have a combined 100 years of service with the LAPD. I don’t have a problem with these rangers carrying weapons. But what are we going to do with the next set?”

*

Although some state and federal rangers in the county are armed, no other special district, city or county park rangers carry weapons at this time.

Both Meredith and Johnson said their campaigns focus more on how the district will face its ongoing budget crisis. State cuts from special districts have sliced into Rancho Simi’s operating budget over the last few years, and both incumbents said they fear more cuts are coming.

“The major issue is the budget that Sacramento keeps eroding from the district,” Johnson said. “They have left us at a bare-bones minimum.”

The district has an operating budget of $8.5 million for 1994-95, but Meredith said that figure has been somewhat inflated by federal relief money following the Jan. 17 earthquake. Both men defended the way the district has handled its fiscal crisis--including laying off 17 workers in the past two years--against criticism from the three other candidates.

“We’re doing the best we can,” Meredith said. “You can’t get blood out of a turnip.”

He proposes leasing out more of the district’s facilities, including concession stands the park shut down last year due to the cuts and the equestrian center on Royal Avenue.

Johnson said he also favors leasing out more of the district’s vast holdings in Simi Valley and Oak Park, which include 2,319 acres of public parkland. He said leasing local golf courses to private enterprise had saved the district $686,000 per year.

“We need more agreements with private enterprise to lease our land,” he said. “Maybe we should build another golf course. We have the land.”

Johnson said he thought the race will be a tight one, with Hostetler presenting a challenge because he has strong name recognition in the community. Hostetler organized softball games between Simi Valley and South-Central Los Angeles residents following the 1992 riots. He has also been an umpire and coach for the district’s softball leagues.

While Hostetler has actively campaigned, raising several thousand dollars and planting signs around the city, two other district novices are hoping to get elected without campaigning.

“If the people want it, they are going to elect me,” said Teoman Yatman, 62, a computer consultant who has lived in Simi Valley for about 18 months. “I don’t want to spend the money. If I am going to get a job that pays me $10 a day, I don’t want to spend $2,000 to get it.”

Yatman said he was compelled to run for office because he wants to give something back to the community, and the park district seemed like a good place to start. He has never run for public office before. He said he hopes to oust an incumbent because the district needs fresh faces and ideas.

Yatman, who also favors arming the park rangers, said he would like to step up park fund-raising by organizing petting zoos, concerts, Western events and cultural fairs.

Steve Ostrander, 46, a full-time student in commercial and computer graphics at West Valley Occupational Center in Woodland Hills, is also running a low-profile campaign. He said he chose not to post signs because they are unsightly.

“They add to the clutter of the community,” Ostrander said. “And I’m not sure how effective they are.”

*

Ostrander was on the county Parks and Harbor Commission from 1979 to 1983. He unsuccessfully ran for Moorpark City Council in 1983. He said he has no problems with the current board, but he, too, wanted to make a contribution to the community.

“The park district the way it is is probably the best in Ventura County,” Ostrander said. “With my participation, I could help keep it the best.”

Ostrander favors arming park rangers and advertising the district’s facilities outside the region to boost fund raising.