WHAT’S IN A NAME?: The Cal State...

WHAT’S IN A NAME?: The Cal State University planned for this area is still without a name--assuming it ever gets built (B1). . . . Unlike the family feud that tore apart Shakespeare’s most famous lovers and prompted Juliet to muse “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” the local debate has been much more pragmatic. “In the final analysis, a rose is a rose,” quips Joyce M. Kennedy, director of the Cal State Northridge center in Ventura. “I’m not going to lose any sleep over what the university is called.”

DRUG MONTH: County supervisors are set to designate September as “Ventura County Alcohol and Drug Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Month” at Tuesday’s meeting. . . . “This is to draw attention to the fact that recovery does, in fact, work and that it’s very cost-effective,” says Mark Summa of the county’s Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. “For every dollar you spend for treatment, you’re saving $7 in related criminal justice and other social services costs.”

REFLECTIVE: Simi Valley artist David Renteria, 33, is about to finish his largest work to date: a 4 1/2-foot-by-7-foot mirrored panel called “The Vision” that will feature a sand-blasted representation of the Virgin of Guadalupe. . . . “My canvas is glass. . . . I decorate glass, mirrors, crystal and even windows on low-riders,” says the former gang member, whose latest work goes on display next month at the Mexican American Museum of Art of North America in Santa Ana. His art has been featured on television.

NO SURPRISE: A survey of library users did not break much new ground when it uncovered that the No. 1 reason most people come to the library was for books. . . . But the poll determined that 47% of respondents were not interested in more electronic technology. “There is a need to better train people to use the equipment,” suggests Trish Cavanaugh, the Library Service Agency’s community relations manager.