Ventura County Star

The moon hasn't yet risen, and the road is dark. On the first midnight run of a two-night journey from Camp Ramadi to a small outpost a few miles from the Syrian border, a long convoy of armored semitrailers snakes past darkened farms, dusty hamlets and Iraqi police checkpoints.

The geographic line that divides Ventura and Los Angeles counties is not an especially pretty place to start what is expected to be a beautiful weeklong journey along our county's coast.

Years of rain and runoff from Highway 1 have eaten away at sand and rock, creating a gully lined with prickly pear cactus and trunks of manzanita that threaten hikers following the beach access sign. As the morning sun tried to poke through the gray haze that carpeted the sky, I picked my way down the worn path, past the beer bottles and cactus, down the eroded wash to the beach below.

The moon hasn't yet risen, and the road is dark. On the first midnight run of a two-night journey from Camp Ramadi to a small outpost a few miles from the Syrian border, a long convoy of armored semitrailers snakes past darkened farms, dusty hamlets and Iraqi police checkpoints.

Andy Warhol theorized that in the future everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. If you believe that, then you will entertain this corollary: Live in Southern California long enough, and you'll somehow stumble your way into a reality TV show. That's how I felt standing on a corner of an anonymous industrial zone of the San Fernando Valley on a recent afternoon.

Three years after a fire heavily damaged the Swap Meet building in south Oxnard, owner Ralph Roussey has yet to decide whether to repair the building or construct a new one. What he will do will depend on the outcome of the Oxnard Traffic Initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot, Roussey said Friday.

Ammunition and a sawed-off shotgun were seized and 33 people arrested — six of them juveniles — Friday during a Ventura County Sheriff's Department Gang Unit "enforcement sweep" that involved more than 75 officers from multiple agencies.

A discussion about International Mayors for Peace and a screening of the docudrama "Last Best Chance" will highlight this month's meeting of Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions.

A community event offering everything from Spanish literacy classes to information on passports and buying property in Mexico will be held Monday in Oxnard.

Oxnard fire officials said an attic fire Saturday afternoon in a vacant single-family home in the 4900 block of Alexander Drive caused $8,000 to $10,000 worth of damage.

The Senior and Family Resource Group of the Conejo is sponsoring a free seminar to address issues of the "Sandwich Generation" — those families caught between raising their own children and caring for aging parents — at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Goebel Senior Adult Center, 1385 E. Janss Road, near the public library.

A person suffered minor stab wounds in the back Friday night during an attack by a man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and black pants, according to the Oxnard Police Department.

Members of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department will serve as celebrity servers Tuesday at Wood Ranch BBQ and Grill in Camarillo, with all their tips going to Ventura County Special Olympics.

The geographic line that divides Ventura and Los Angeles counties is not an especially pretty place to start what is expected to be a beautiful weeklong journey along our county's coast.

Years of rain and runoff from Highway 1 have eaten away at sand and rock, creating a gully lined with prickly pear cactus and trunks of manzanita that threaten hikers following the beach access sign. As the morning sun tried to poke through the gray haze that carpeted the sky, I picked my way down the worn path, past the beer bottles and cactus, down the eroded wash to the beach below.

The California Wildlife Center will host a fundraiser, "Way Wild," from noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 10 at Gull's Way Estate, 26800 Pacific Coast Highway, in honor of the organization's 10th anniversary.

Today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Canine Adoption and Rescue League is holding its 11th annual Pooch Parade at San Buenaventura State Beach in Ventura. Organizers hope to raise money, promote dog adoptions and recruit volunteers to care for dogs in need of homes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is poised to take control of a long-sought survey of radiation contamination at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a sprawling hilltop facility south of Simi Valley.

An Inglewood man died of apparent drowning Saturday at Malibu Creek State Park in Calabasas.

The New West Symphony's children's youth programs will be the beneficiaries of Symphony of Wine VIII, a wine, dinner and auction gala set for the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village on Sept. 21.

Using a special microtool, 17-year old Mariana Prestigia of Santa Barbara slowly and carefully picked at the dirt matrix surrounding several bones sitting on a table in front of her.

A discussion about International Mayors for Peace and a screening of the docudrama "Last Best Chance" will highlight this month's meeting of Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions.