SILENT VOICE: A request to include a...

SILENT VOICE: A request to include a domestic violence display called the Clothesline Project in an upcoming Victims’ Rights Week program in Ventura was rebuffed, but that won’t stop the message (B1). . . . Cheryl Squiers, who coordinates the project for the Simi-Conejo NOW chapter, says up to 65 T-shirts from Ventura County victims of abuse, incest or rape will be exhibited Saturday at Rancho Simi Park.

VERY RIPE: The county agriculture commissioner’s office is celebrating its 100th birthday next week--about 10 years late. . . . Glen Hackworth, supervising biologist, says plans for the celebration began last summer after his son pointed out a line on the agency’s letterhead: “Serving Ventura County since 1895.” However, the Board of Horticultural Commissioners was formed in 1886. “I’m going to call it a clerical error,” jokes one official.

TEMPORARY SURFER: It’s been years since Michael Barrett has surfed in Ventura County (D7C). Lately, it’s been lots of water, but no waves for the 32-year-old executive at a temporary employment company in Portland, Ore. “We have tons of water up here, but none of it ‘surfable,’ ” says Barrett, who lived on Hollywood Beach in the 1970s. . . . His company’s recent acquisition of a local firm will mean occasional trips to the new Oxnard office--and the beach. He says he’ll bring down his 7-foot surfboard to leave for future visits.

DUMBO GROUNDED: Last fall, Assemblyman Brooks Firestone bought an old school bus and turned it into his District Utility Mobile Business Office or DUMBO. As it turns out, DUMBO is against the law . . . because of its color. It’s illegal to drive a used school bus that’s still yellow, Firestone said, and law enforcement officials want him to repaint it before he’s on the road again. “It’s a pretty obscure law,” the Republican lawmaker says. But he’ll comply, as soon as he decides on a new color. Leading contender: dark blue with a racing stripe.