HELPING HAND: Members of the Ventura Kiwanis...

HELPING HAND: Members of the Ventura Kiwanis Club felt aimless. They wanted to do good, but couldn’t find the right project. Until they came across Ventura Youth Employment Services and decided to adopt the agency. . . . So far, the club has donated $1,000 to Youth Employment Services, which finds work for up to 4,000 young adults a year. . . . “It’s given us a new mission,” club chairman Bart Bleuel said. “When we bring guests in to talk about what we do, there’s certainly a lot more to talk about.”

LIBRARY SCIENCE: Since opening near Simi Valley three years ago, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library has attracted students and educators from across Southern California (B1). . . . Oak Park High School teacher Jim Johnson gives his U. S. history students additional class credit for visiting the library. . . . “Now that you have a presidential library, you have the availability of the National Archives close by,” he said. “I think it is really worthwhile.”

MUSCLE MAN: Thousand Oaks resident Stephan Henneberry is turning his brawn into big bucks. . . . The former Mr. America recently gave up his slot on the popular series “American Gladiators” to join the cast of “Muscle,” a half-hour comedy that airs Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. . . . Henneberry plays Sam Pippin, a gym rat with 22-inch biceps and low self-esteem. “I decided to hang up the Gladiator uniform and pursue my main dream, which is acting,” the 31-year-old bodybuilder said.

PACKING HEAT: Afraid that Los Angeles County crime is spilling over into Simi Valley parks, rangers next month are set to strap on side arms (B2). . . . The decision to arm park rangers was prompted by rising gang activity and the prevalence of weapons in Rancho Simi’s 2,400 acres of parkland. . . . “If you’re going to ask us to enforce the laws and to face the dangers we could potentially face, we need to have red lights, we need to have radios, we need to have uniforms and we need to carry a weapon,” Ranger Jerry DeRosa said.