NOT STARVING: Michele Chapin, one of the...

NOT STARVING: Michele Chapin, one of the artists featured in tonight’s ArtWalk in Ventura, is a professional sculptor. That means several things . . . It means Chapin creates public art for projects such as a new business coming to Moorpark. It means she has established her own studio, StoneWorks, in Ventura . . . And it means she works nights as a waitress. Says Chapin: “I’ve sold lots of sculptures to people I’ve met waiting tables.”

FAIR PLAY: The last twist in the melodrama over the Buenaventura Mall expansion featured Oxnard suing Ventura for trying to steal two department stores . . . Now comes the announcement that Oxnard is luring a manufacturing company, Industrial Tools Inc., away from Ojai (B4). Will little Ojai file suit to block its big, grabby neighbor? . . . “No,” says Ojai City Manager Andy Belknap. “It’s nice to have a business like ITI that started here succeed so well and grow. . . . We wish them well.”

CALIFORNIA’S BEST: Randy Feltman, director of Ventura County’s mental health department, on Friday was named the best social services administrator in the state . . . The California chapter of the National Assn. of Social Workers chose Feltman for its annual Koshland Award . . . An NASW newsletter explains Feltman’s stature: “Very few social work administrators have had such a major impact on county, state and national policies and practices for the treatment of children in mental health.”

RED RETURNS: The Ventura County Fire Department is switching back to red trucks after 20 years of emergency chrome yellow (B1) . . . This will square the county with most departments nationwide, says Bob Michels of the International Assn. of Firefighters in Washington. While some argue that yellow is more visible, Michels says, “quite frankly, with all the sirens and light bars on [trucks], probably either is effective.” . . . And while we’re being frank: “Quite frankly,” he adds, “we don’t care if the trucks are eggshell or red or green, as long as they have an adequate number of firefighters riding on them.”