YELLOW ALERT: Today marks the start of...

YELLOW ALERT: Today marks the start of the California Highway Patrol’s “Ol’ Yeller Week” . . . and no, it has nothing to do with the lovable old dog of movie fame. “Yeller” alludes to the color of expired registration tags--those little stickers in the corner of car license plates. All vehicles with up-to-date registration should have red stickers by now--no matter which month they were renewed. Ventura County CHP officers plan to stop every vehicle that still bears yellow tags on the theory that they may be poorly maintained “and possibly uninsured.”

HOOKED UP: Thousand Oaks’ computerized bulletin board is winning fans among people who’ve used the system to reach City Hall (B4) . . . Oxnard’s public library system is also moving toward more computerization with a service that will allow users to reserve books from the comfort of home. “The idea is to empower the patron,” said Library Services Manager Linda Katsouleas. But it won’t necessarily ease staff workload, she said. “People who use remote access tend to be people who do things in the middle of the night.”

POWER SPEAKER: Pati Longo, a former Ventura councilwoman, is circulating among White House types these days. . . . Last month, Longo was one of 12 speakers at a panel on breast cancer, led by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Longo, who has had two mastectomies, lectures often on the topic. In May, Longo will head to Washington for the White House Conference on Aging, one of 66 people chosen by Gov. Pete Wilson to attend the event.

CYCLING FOR CROATIA: Nepal, Thailand, Singapore . . . and Oxnard. That’s a partial itinerary for cyclist Ante Tokic of Croatia, who breezed through Ventura County on a world tour for peace. Tokic’s 40,000-mile trek took him to Oxnard’s Boskovich Farms, where he recently spent the day with the Boskovich family, who are of Croatian descent. “It’s awesome,” said Joe Boskovich of Tokic’s endeavor. He provided the cyclist with a home-grown lunch of mixed greens, carrots and strawberries.