PAINT THE TOWN: A customer returns 10...

PAINT THE TOWN: A customer returns 10 cans of frosted salmon paint, saying the color just didn’t work. A contractor finishes a project with 30 cans of ancient ivory left over. . . . Rather than throw out the remains, Decor Color Design in Thousand Oaks and a sister store in Camarillo have begun giving the cans away to neighborhoods painting over graffiti, schools redecorating, and church members fixing up missions. The stores donate about 1,500 gallons of paint a month through a state recycling network called CALMAX. “We try to find other homes for the paint so it’s not filling up our landfills,” says Manager John Nelson.

TAILHOOK TALE: If you look really closely in a scene from the upcoming TV movie, “She Stood Alone--The Tailhook Scandal,” you’ll see an actor wearing a U. S. Naval Academy class ring. It belongs to Tom Humphreys, a Moorpark High coach and retired Naval aviator. . . . Tom’s wife, Marty, produced the movie, which airs on ABC later this month. (Ventura County Life, Page 10). Tom, who spent 21 years in the Navy, served as the movie’s unofficial military consultant. One thing he couldn’t vouch for, though, was the conduct at the aviators’ convention. “I knew and heard about Tailhook and some of the things that went on there, and that’s one of the reasons I never went there.”

ON THE AIR: When Ventura County officials decided to produce a video on air pollution, they didn’t have to go far for the talent. The video that debuted Wednesday features Joe Gannatal of Camarillo talking about the Volkswagen Rabbit he converted to an electric car. Allen Carrozza explains how his firm uses solar energy to heat swimming pools across the county. And Channel Islands High School students debated the merits of riding a bicycle versus driving an air-polluting car. The video, dubbed “Our Future Is Up in the Air,” also has a familiar voice narrating: “Star Trek’s” Leonard Nimoy.