WEED WHACKERS: Trail Days later this month...

WEED WHACKERS: Trail Days later this month will let nature lovers put their sweat where their heart is, clearing trails in Point Mugu State Park (F1A). . . . Ranger Cara O’Brien uses a tool called a Pulaski to hack a weed called tree tobacco. . . . The Pulaski was named for a 1920s firefighter who devised the hoe / ax doohickey for clearing brush. Volunteers without a Pulaski can borrow one for Trail Days . . . provided they can handle it. Says O’Brien: “We’re not just going to hand a Pulaski to anyone.”

WEEDS WHACKED: Most of the plants on the Trail Days wipeout list are non-natives that were introduced by pioneers. . . . Fennel, for instance, was probably used by settlers as a spice, O’Brien said. Tree tobacco came from South America; some forms were smoked by Indians. . . . And Spanish missionaries used mustard to mark trails between missions.

KNUCKLE BALL: Cal Lutheran catcher Rik Work, who is also the Kingsmen’s leading hitter, is under a cloud for punching his coach at a prior college (C6). . . . But Work feels no kinship with the recent referee-slamming behavior of NBA superstars. . . . His incident was in the off-season, provoked by “the way we were being treated,” he said. “I love baseball, but I wasn’t going to give up my dignity for it.”

LIGHTS, CAMERA: The Oxnard City Council has approved a camera system to photograph drivers who run red lights. Violators will automatically get a ticket in the mail. . . . According to a city report, the intersection with the most red-light crashes from 1992-94 was the southbound Ventura Freeway offramp at Vineyard Avenue, with 17.