HAPPY DAY: So the Conejo Valley school...

HAPPY DAY: So the Conejo Valley school board has approved moving Lincoln’s birthday from Feb. 12 to Dec. 27 for scheduling convenience (B6) . . . In honor of Honest Abe, it might be more fitting to celebrate someone whose birthday really falls on Dec. 27. Say, Washington Post columnist Meg Greenfield. Or maybe Franco-hunk Gerard Depardieu . . . Better yet, actor John Amos, who appeared with Jimmy (“Dy-no-mite!”) Walker in the old “Good Times” sitcom . . . Happy Amos Day.

LATER, RAIDERS?: Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez seems ready to punt if L.A. Raiders owner Al Davis takes his team--and his Oxnard training facility--back to Oakland (C1) . . . “I don’t think you can equate having the Raiders leave here with the BRAC process,” Lopez said, referring to the federal commission that is considering shutting down the Point Mugu Navy base. “I don’t think the economy would be affected one way or the other” if the Raiders leave . . . The training camp has been a financial disappointment ever since the city borrowed $9 million to help build the adjacent hotel almost 10 years ago.

SURF THING: Now that summer has officially arrived, let’s talk surfing. Or is it kayaking? . . . Merv Larson was the first in Ventura County to ride a strange hybrid contraption known as wave skis back in 1964 . . . “At the time, it was an oddity. I’d get hoots and hollers when I’d get a good ride,” he said . . . The surfboard/kayak hybrid hasn’t exactly become the next Hula-Hoop, but the county is home to a group of 30 to 50 rabid wave skiers (Ventura County Life, Page 6).

PLANTASTIC: The Ahmanson Ranch project proposed for the Simi Hills may be stuck in court, but the American Planning Assn. lauds it as a good example of how to build housing projects. The as-yet-unbuilt, 3,050-home project won the association’s comprehensive planning award. . . . Among its homey features: fiber-optic technology allowing residents to telecommute.