KING CASE AFTERMATH: A CITY IN CRISIS : Events Put Off as Precaution : Communities: Local officials are wary amid the massive unrest in L.A. Security firms and gun shops are doing a brisk business.

Massive civil unrest in Los Angeles prompted safety-conscious Ventura County leaders on Friday to postpone a major Cinco de Mayo festival, the Simi Valley High School prom and other public events scheduled for this weekend.

Military police from a Ventura County Air National Guard base were ordered to help protect lives and property in riot-torn South Los Angeles. Locally, security guard services and gun shops continued to do a booming business, and two major shopping centers closed early on Friday.

The annual Cinco de Mayo celebration, scheduled for this weekend in Oxnard, was postponed until May 23 and 24 because of fears that violence might erupt and too few police officers would be available to restore order, said festival organizer Ray Rios.

“We have a responsibility to our community, and we thought it was better to postpone our event,� he said.

The event’s sponsor, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Ventura County, expects to lose thousands of dollars owed to 70 vendors and performing groups, Rios said. He also noted that at least 10 entertainers from Mexico had withdrawn from the event because their agents would not let them travel through Southern California.

Several Ventura County school events were also affected by the Los Angeles riots.

The Buena High School boys and girls track teams from Ventura canceled a meet that had been scheduled today in Pomona because of safety concerns, said Steve Penney, director of transportation for the Ventura Unified School District.

“It does seem silly to bring a busload of kids to Los Angeles (County),� Penney said.

The Simi Valley High School prom, scheduled tonight in Universal City, was postponed indefinitely as a safety precaution, said Susan Parks, assistant superintendent of the Simi Valley Unified School District.

“People are anxious,� she said. About 570 students had signed up for the prom.

Another annual tradition scheduled for today, the Junior Olympics, involving nearly 1,000 Simi Valley fifth- and sixth-graders, also was postponed indefinitely, Parks said.

But other special events were scheduled to take place as planned this weekend, including Earth Day festivities across the county and Cinco de Mayo celebrations in Santa Paula and Moorpark.

Organizers said Friday that Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley will take place as scheduled on Monday.

Security measures surrounding the event will not be altered unless civil unrest escalates, said Clint Howard, agent in charge of the Los Angeles office of the U.S. Secret Service.

“If the situation changes, I think you can anticipate a greater police presence,� he said.

Ventura County authorities reported no major King-related disturbances on Friday. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department dispatched deputies to the East County Courthouse in Simi Valley after receiving reports that 150 Los Angeles college students planned to demonstrate at the site of the King beating trial.

But the protest never materialized. Deputy Bill Bettis said department officials heard that the demonstration was moved to Westwood to attract more attention from television news cameras.

Although many government centers were closed Friday in Los Angeles County, Ventura County offices and beaches remained open. Mail delivery took place as scheduled.

Still, Ventura County’s proximity to the riot areas and the fact that the verdict was reached in Simi Valley led to plenty of frayed nerves. Many residents bought firearms.

Shooter’s Paradise in Oxnard received 13 calls from prospective gun buyers within its first half-hour of business on Friday. The Coast Gun Shop in Ventura, which usually sells two to four handguns a day, had sold 10 by midafternoon Friday.

“It’s concerns about personal safety--it’s definitely related to the civil unrest,� said Michael Harms, owner of Coast Gun Shop. “The interesting thing is that a lot of them are people who probably never would have bought one under normal circumstances. We sold one yesterday to a surgeon from Ventura who had never owned a gun before. He was worried about his family’s safety.�

Harms added, “These people, I think, are not acting in an irrational way. It’s just dawned on them that the police can’t be everywhere at once.�

Gun shop owners pointed out, however, that under a state law that took effect in 1991, buyers of handguns, rifles and shotgun face a 15-day waiting period before they can pick up their new weapons.

Some of the Ventura County shopping centers that had closed early on Thursday because of safety concerns resumed normal hours on Friday.

But at The Esplanade Shopping Center in Oxnard, merchants were required to close their businesses at 6 p.m. and evacuate the Center by 7 p.m., said general manager Pam Hartwuell. She said the mall’s security force had been beefed up by 50% to 70%, and the Oxnard Police Department had increased its patrols of the mall parking lot.

“Due to the events in Los Angeles County, we want to deter any possible incidents,� Hartwuell said.

The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks closed early Friday for the second day in a row. One-third of the mall’s 1,200 employees live in the Los Angeles area and had to be home before the dusk-to-dawn curfew, said General Manager Barbara Teuscher.

After seeing vivid news footage of rioters setting fire to one building after another in Los Angeles County, many Ventura County business owners sought to boost their security patrols. But extra guards were in short supply on Friday, security agencies said.

“The bottom line is we don’t have any personnel available,� said William Dundas, president of Camarillo-based Dial Security, one of the county’s largest firms.

Dundas said the 200 guards on his payroll had all been assigned to long-standing customers, who wanted more guards, and to new clients who previously did not use guards.

On Friday, members of the Channel Islands Air National Guard near Point Mugu continued to fly California Highway Patrol Officers and National Guard troops to assist police agencies in Los Angeles.

In addition, 50 military police from the Channel Islands base were sent to Los Angeles to help protect sensitive civilian communications stations, said Maj. Michael Ritz.

Ritz said it was the first time in his 25-year military career that Channel Islands military police had been sent to help quell civil unrest.