IN THE WIND: After years of hanging...

IN THE WIND: After years of hanging out at the beach waiting for the wind to rise, longtime windsurfer Jim Martin developed a pager that calls him when the breeze kicks up. The Ventura inventor now markets the beepers statewide (B1) . . . . Martin wasn’t the only one to come up with that idea. Ventura restaurateur Chang Liampetchakul fashioned a lower-tech version. He persuaded a short-order cook to page him every time a nearby windsock fills out.

BLOWING SMOKE: An increasing number of women nationwide have taken to smoking cigars (E1) . . . . But local women aren’t exactly lining up to light up stogies. “It’s not something you commonly see,” said Larry Muro, owner of a Ventura gift store that sells imported cigars and other tobacco products . . . . That’s not to say it doesn’t exist. Several women are among the connoisseurs signed up for a “cigar-night dinner” at Ventura’s California 66 restaurant next month.

TASTE OF POWER: Janice Tjan of Moorpark will get to ask the tough questions when she heads east for a Washington, D.C., journalism conference . . . . She’s among high school journalists from across the country who will attend the April event sponsored by the Congressional Youth Leadership Conference . . . . Joining the Washington press corps, Janice will cover stories for a student-written newspaper and hobnob with journalists at the National Press Club.

POLITICAL TURF: It’s a peaceful place these days, but 157 years ago today, the San Buenaventura Mission was the scene of a fierce battle over the governorship of California . . . . The Great Battle of San Buenaventura pitted Juan Bautista Alvarado’s forces against Don Carlos Antonio Carrillo’s troops. No lives were lost, and Carrillo’s men eventually gave up, ending his political aspirations . . . . Little evidence of the fight remains today--except a rusty cannonball and other artifacts at Ventura’s Albinger Archaeological Museum.