4 H Clubs

With thousands and thousands of exhibits to view at the Ventura County Fair, some don't get as much attention as others. Sure, everyone wants to see the quilting, photography and livestock on display, but not everyone makes it to some of the lesser-known exhibits that, nevertheless, have their own loyal supporters.

Tucked deep inside Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed 2012-13 budget for California is a little-noticed proposal for the most radical reform of school funding in the state since Proposition 13. Brown has proposed deregulating some two dozen state programs, including a popular effort to shrink class size in primary classrooms. The deregulation would free up about $7.1 billion in state funds that are currently earmarked for the programs to be used by districts for any educational purpose they see fit, allowing districts far more flexibility to direct funds where they are most needed.

When boys and girls in local 4-H clubs show off their painstakingly raised and groomed farm animals later this month at the Del Mar Fair, they will be taking part in a tradition that has been carried on since 4-H first made its way to San Diego County in 1915. The 4-H organization, a curiosity to many urban dwellers, might seem to the casual fair-goer a staid holdover from a bygone era of life on the farm.

As winter rains yield to spring's sweet offerings, is your reverie broken by the sight of the Cadbury bunny ad on television? While other parents are pointing out nature's cutest baby critters--bunnies and chicks--to their children, are you turning away in dread, fearing your child will remember the IOU you signed last March?

Behind the debate about racial data, there are real people who are profoundly affected by the racial categorization system that exists throughout the nation -- and that Proposition 54 seeks to change in California. I have met many of them, but one example particularly impressed me. A young man and his wife were in the delivery room of a California hospital rejoicing in the birth of their first child.

After this last session of Congress and the Bush Administration's fumblings, "throw the bums out" is a bumper sticker most everyone would endorse. But the simple anger at politicians will let the rest of us off the hook in 1992. As a pundit once put it, we get the government we deserve. Today, politics is seen as the work of politicians. If citizens claim a role, it is as marginal players in the game of politics: volunteers, complainers, special-interest advocates.

Valerie Towckye attracted the biggest crowd at Friday's opening of the Orange County Fair with a cute but self-conscious rendition of "Consider Yourself," a classic tune of friendliness. Somehow, the little song and dance by the freckle-faced 10-year-old was appropriate for the first day of the fair's 10-day 14th edition. It runs through July 21.

It began with the second-grade teacher's simple suggestion that, for a treat, his students could romp on play equipment at the core of a nearby public housing project. When their reaction was less than positive--to wit: "Eeew no. Not there !"--Compton Avenue Elementary School teacher John Gust took a closer look.

The cover shot of Palm Springs Life magazine's medical guide issue shows noted blade-wielder, actress Sharon Stone, in gluteus- length white smock and white fishnet stockings not seen since the last episode of "Nightingales." In one hand is a syringe bigger than a Pepsi can, and her other hand is pulling at the waistband of polka-dot boxer shorts on a man she's evidently about to inoculate. The issue itself is rich in information about health and medicine.