Can’t Buy Me LoveMaybe cash can’t guarantee...

Can’t Buy Me Love

Maybe cash can’t guarantee undying love, but you’ll probably need extra scratch to acquire a Ventura County marriage license later this summer (B1) . . . To help offset anticipated budget cuts, the county may increase marriage license fees to $66. But a 42.5% fee hike last year, to the current $57, didn’t stop 5,496 couples from getting licenses--the largest number in more than eight years.

Bragging Rights

El Concilio del Condado de Ventura is looking for a few good men in its campaign to hold teen fathers more responsible for the babies they help create. . . . The Latino advocacy group is recruiting in Santa Paula, El Rio and Oxnard for a course Aug. 8 to 11 aimed at battling teen pregnancy. “Somewhere along the way, we’ve forgotten that we need to instill responsibility into these young people,” says Eloy Florez, organizer of Project BRAG (Be a Responsible Awesome Guy). For more information, call 983-2336.

Beyond Nintendo

A sophisticated computer system will help about two dozen high school students in Thousand Oaks learn aircraft design this fall (D7C) . . . A flight simulation system created by Sight, Sound and Motion Corp. in Thousand Oaks, complete with colorful visuals and realistic sound, will be featured in an eight-week course. Vice President Rick Willard says his 16-year-old son, Jason, helped develop some of the graphics models on the $75,000 system.

Easy Riders

Hordes of leather-clad bikers astride Harley-Davidsons are planning to take over San Buenaventura State Beach July 14. Not to worry, though--it’s for a good cause. . . . Beach Ride ’96 hopes to raise more than $150,000 for the Exceptional Children’s Foundation in Los Angeles if the 5,000 bikers--and 4,000 spectators--it’s counting on show up. “We’ve had people coming in for three months now asking about it,” says Sunny Campbell of Cycle Parts in Oxnard, one of Ventura County’s three “official” starting points for the event.

Weather

Mostly clear with highs from the low 70s to low 80s. B9

* The Top of Today’s News is on A2