COMBAT MEMORIES: Decades after they saw combat...

COMBAT MEMORIES: Decades after they saw combat in Vietnam, veterans continue to seek counseling at storefront Vet Centers (E1). But Robert Key, director of the Vet Center in Anaheim, anticipates an increase as the 20th anniversary of the fall of Saigon stirs up unpleasant memories. . . . The same thing happened on the 10th anniversary. “Not all of them were doing that badly,” he says. “Many were just saying, ‘Where can I go to talk to somebody about this stuff?’ And this is certainly the place.”

MEET THE MAYOR: If you live in South County and want to go one on one with the power wielders, the League of Women Voters offers up the chance tonight. At a public forum at Dana Point’s Community Center, the mayors of Dana Point, Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente will answer questions on military base or library closings, the bankruptcy or the subject of your choice. . . . Says the League’s Lorraine Aronson: “We’ll have written questions, and if yours doesn’t get answered they will mail you a response.”

CROSSING LINES: Abuse by spouses is of special interest to Justice Sheila Prell Sonenshine. Tonight she speaks before a Jewish National Fund group in Newport Beach about spousal abuse among Jews. . . . Sonenshine, of the state Court of Appeal’s Santa Ana division, says she has seen at recent panel discussions more “willingness to talk about it” within the Jewish community: “It cuts across all cultures. It’s more universal than particular.”

HIS TOWN: In his latest novel, Thomas Keneally of Irvine has gone back to his roots. “A River Town” is about his Irish ancestors settling in rural Australia. Keneally, a UC Irvine writing instructor who gained fame for “Schindler’s List,” says his latest book has “murder, beheadings, political tension and the bubonic plague.” . . . . One endorsement: When interviewing him for CBS this week, Paula Zahn called Keneally’s book “a terrific read.”