FOREIGN TRIBUTE: A memorial planned in a...

FOREIGN TRIBUTE: A memorial planned in a small French village won’t be the first tribute to Simon S. Quiroz, an Oxnard soldier killed during World War II. (B1) . . . A November 1944 letter from the Red Cross said the mayor of Mutzig arranged a special memorial service. The bells of every church in the village tolled just before the service, which drew hundreds of people.

BERRY BEST: No need to travel farther than your PC for current strawberry information. The California Strawberry Commission now has a Web site on the Internet--https://www.calstrawberry.com--that includes lots of news from Ventura County . . . Farmers on the Oxnard Plain are leading the state in strawberry production. “The yield out of Oxnard is phenomenal,” says commission spokeswoman Teresa Thorne. Through Sunday, more than 10.4 million trays--or nearly 120 million pounds--of strawberries had been harvested locally this season.

NO CLIPPING: One of the advantages of his digital coupon service, Finger Tips, is that it saves trees, says Jeffrey Weinberg. (D7D) “We’re not killing trees for them,” says the Camarillo resident. “Every time I hold a telephone book in my hand and roll it up, it looks like a trunk of a tree.” . . . Instead of wasting paper, consumers print out only the coupons they need.

WHO NEEDS CANDLES?: Why load up a birthday cake with 72 candles? Joe Dillman has a better way to celebrate his big day next week. The Thousand Oaks financial planner will carry the Olympic torch this Sunday as a part of the nationwide relay leading up to the summer games in Atlanta. . . . Dillman was picked for donating more than 3,200 hours as a volunteer with a cycling unit that assists rangers in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Dillman also rides a minimum of five hours each week for fun. “I always ride in the mountains,” he says. “I don’t like the traffic and the carbon monoxide. I like to be out there with the rattlesnakes and mountain lions. Much less risk.”