SAFETY FIRST: The violent crime rate fell...

SAFETY FIRST: The violent crime rate fell in Oxnard and rose in Ventura in 1994, according to the latest statistics (B1). . . . Oxnard police reported a 4.5% drop in violent crimes last year and a 13.7% reduction in 1993. The report also brought a surprising switch: Oxnard, long the most crime-plagued city in Ventura County, handed off that unwelcome label to Ventura, where crime rose 5% in 1994. Said Oxnard police spokesman David Keith: “That’s a first.”

SCHOOLING IMMIGRANTS: U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly proposes letting states bar illegal immigrants from the nation’s schools (B1). . . . The Simi Valley Republican tried such measures in the past, only to be blocked by a Democrat-ruled Congress. Steven Frank, head of the Ventura County coalition supporting Proposition 187, said Gallegly’s measure “sends a message” that schools must not shortchange American pupils by spending money to educate the children of illegal immigrants.

SPARKY REKINDLED: After chasing puny dimpled balls across golf links for six weeks while ducking replacement baseball players, Detroit Tigers Manager George (Sparky) Anderson spoke cheerily Monday of returning to the world of horsehide and chewin’ tobacco (B8). . . . With Berra-esque clarity, the Thousand Oaks resident said of his refusal to coach the paper Tigers: “There’s millions of people with principles. That’s not the point at all. The point was this was not right.”

A BIG HOOK: An upstart Camarillo golf club maker has snagged a world-class endorsement (Valley Business, Page 10). . . . Atrigon Golf Co. signed a 10-year endorsement deal with Nick Price, the world’s top-ranked golfer, guaranteeing him $1.5 million a year and 10% of the company bonuses. Pretty hefty swing for a company that still does not even make irons.