SNIFF, SNIFF: A proposal to bring drug-sniffing...

SNIFF, SNIFF: A proposal to bring drug-sniffing police dogs and their handlers to Simi Valley high school campuses has students speaking out (B1). . . . Rather than using police, Simi Valley junior Mona Tewfik suggests that administrators check bathrooms five minutes after students change classes and just look around the schoolyard to find the drug users. Said Mona: “Bringing in the police is just going too far.”

BIG NET: Simi Valley’s Whittaker Corp. announced the largest acquisition in its 54-year history Monday, with plans to buy Xyplex Inc., headquartered near Boston, for $117.5 million. Xyplex makes high-speed networking equipment to let computers talk to one another (D2). . . . Corporate spokesman James B. Schultz says Whittaker will initially gain more than 550 employees, but that number will change. “We’ll likely have some modest layoffs on both coasts--but none in Southern California.”

NEO DODO: Ostriches are fast, funny-looking and a fine source of nutrition, but they sure aren’t very smart (D11C). “We’ve put chicken chicks in with ostrich chicks to show them how to drink water and to eat food. Chickens are 100 times smarter than ostriches,” says ostrich rancher Mike Kapala of Oak View. . . . Females can lay more than 100 eggs a year, which aren’t very convenient for a typical omelet--each equals about 18 large chicken eggs.

ROUGH SEAS: The Californian, a replica of an 1848 sailing ship, is set to dock at Ventura Harbor Village on Wednesday, but many among its crew will have barely acquired their sea legs. . . . Sixteen students from Ojai Valley School are on a five-day training exercise that has become quite popular with the private school’s students. “It’s a really powerful experience,” says science teacher Matt Inman, who adds that seasickness forces the eighth-graders to “take a trip to the rail.” The ship will offer free dockside tours Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m.