SCHOOL SAFETY: In the wake of a...

SCHOOL SAFETY: In the wake of a fatal stabbing at a Simi Valley junior high school (B1), campus security has become an issue. Friends of the 14-year-old victim, Chad Hubbard, say that knives and even guns find their way onto campus. . . . At Oxnard High School, officials say that metal detectors and a telephone hot line have helped keep guns and knives off campus. . . . “We think it has been a deterrent,” Supt. William Studt said. “It’s not a guarantee that weapons won’t be brought onto campus, but students now believe that if they get caught, they’re history.”

SHAKY GROUND: At a time when state officials are scrambling to rescue earthquake-damaged buildings in Fillmore, a subcommittee of the Ventura City Council is recommending demolition of a historic grocery store in downtown Ventura (B1). . . . Artists are outraged by a developer’s plan to tear down the 117-year-old Peirano building. “I find it ironic that city officials are trying to demolish this building, which is a state landmark and which withstood the earthquake,” said Ventura Artists’ Union chief Richard Peterson.

CLOSET CULTURE: We are a society defined by our closets. At least that’s what the experts say (Ventura County Life, Page 24). . . . As late as the 1940s, the closet was still unusual in middle-class homes. Leave it to America to invent the custom closet. . . . “It’s fascinating the role that closets have had architecturally and even socially,” UC Santa Barbara architectural historian David Gebhardt says.

FARM FEST: Farmers from across the state will meet in Ventura this week for the 11th annual California Farm Conference. The event, which targets small growers and family farms, is being held locally for the first time. . . . “It’s very nice to be able to showcase Ventura County, especially because we are such a strong agricultural county,” said Karen Wetzel, who manages farmers’ markets countywide. . . . The conference kicks off today with a tour of the Thousand Oaks Farmers’ Market.