FUND DRIVE: Driven from their Oxnard convent...

FUND DRIVE: Driven from their Oxnard convent by the stench of the Bailard dump, the Sister Servants of Mary are launching a $4-million fund-raising drive to build a new home. . . . The drive will augment a $500,000 settlement the 22 sisters got from the city after they complained that living near the dump was unhealthy. . . . The new convent will be built on a former school site on G Street. “The sisters are quite pleased with the plans,” consultant Robert J. Lanigan said. “It is all going to work out wonderfully.”

DRUG DAZE: With drug use among youths on the rise, police are more determined than ever to crack down on the problem (B1). . . . Among their most trustworthy tools are the ever-more-popular police dogs. . . . In Simi Valley, the dogs are cross-trained to handle both patrol work and narcotics calls. . . . The city just beefed up its K-9 unit with a third pooch, named Bodo, reputed to have an especially strong sniffer.

WONDER BOY: Many a child dreams of becoming President, but 17-year-old Carroll Christie actually gets to try his hand running the nation. . . . The Moorpark High School graduate barely had time to pick up his diploma before hopping a plane to the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. . . . The 10-day event allows 350 of the nation’s brightest youths to act as political leaders, tackling some of the tough issues of the day. “We study all this stuff in school,” he said. “This lets us see how things really work.”

FLYING HIGH: For the weekend crowds who packed Camarillo Airport, the air show is a once-a-year event (B1). Not so for the Confederate Air Force, a die-hard group of flight enthusiasts who put in thousands of hours restoring old war birds. . . . The 200-member local chapter spends years coaxing old planes back to their former glory. . . . “When we get a plane, we take it apart and check everything out,” longtime member Pat Brown said. “After we fix it and put it back together, it’s as good as it can possibly be.”