Broom

Re "Thousand Oaks Broome Ranch Site for School Opposed," Dec. 8. Dan Del Campo's proposal to build a middle school on Broome Ranch, our "protected" open space, is an outrage. I realize the Broome Ranch purchase was before Del Campo's tenure on the Thousand Oaks City Council, so maybe he doesn't realize how much work went into saving it from the very thing he is proposing. Possibly, our council member, who ran on a slow-growth platform, is just showing his true colors. Even more outrageous is his attempt to bail Dos Vientos developers out of their obligation to build a K-8 school on Dos Vientos property, as written in the development agreement.

Open-space advocates have begun their opposition to a council member's proposal to consider building a middle school on a portion of Broome Ranch in Newbury Park. Before Mayor Dan Del Campo's idea has even made it to the City Council agenda, a group of residents last week launched a Web site to "save Broome Ranch." The 326-acre swath of open space near the Dos Vientos subdivision was purchased in 1993 by the city and the Conejo Recreation and Park District for $2.9 million.

Jan Michael Vincent, the blue-eyed leading man who was once one of the highest paid stars on television, is now serving time at the Culver City Police Department--as a janitor. The only inmate to do his time by swabbing up, Vincent is performing the menial tasks to trim about a month from his sentence for several alcohol-related convictions.

The Chicago White Sox proved again why they have the best record in the major leagues. Jose Valentin's grand slam highlighted a nine-run first inning as the White Sox extended their season-high win streak to seven games with a 17-4 rout of the New York Yankees on Sunday. Valentin and Carlos Lee each had four runs batted in as the White Sox tied a team record with their 11th consecutive road victory and completed a four-game sweep of the Yankees.

It has come to this in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Interim Supt. Ramon C. Cortines and Chief Operating Officer Howard Miller want to empty the central office of most administrators and staffers and send them back to the schools. The action, if approved, ought to make those who remain in their jobs more efficient and put their focus on instructional needs instead of building pet programs.

Carol Hollfelder rides in a wheelchair, not on a broomstick. When she wants speed, she climbs into a Ferrari and chases other cars around a racetrack. When she wants spiritual fulfillment, she prays to Father Sky and Mother Earth. Hollfelder, 31, is a witch. But she's not the evil, black magic, Satan-worshiping practitioner many people associate with the term, she said Saturday during a ritualistic gathering of pagans at the Lincoln Memorial.

What a drag, our favorite campsite, A, was booked every weekend this summer. But we did stop by and visit a few of the dozens of campers who left their footprints around one of 63 sites dotting the sand 15 miles south of Oxnard. For $10 to $12 a night, they got an ocean view (plus crashing waves to drown out the tire-hum of Pacific Coast Highway) and easy access to the nearby Big Sycamore Canyon hiking trail in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The Cal State University governing board gave final approval Wednesday to naming a university library after John S. Broome, the Oxnard rancher who is donating $5 million to the fledgling Cal State Channel Islands campus. The board's action comes a day after the trustees' committee on institutional advancement voted to name the university's library and media center after the 81-year-old philanthropist.

It took fewer than five minutes Tuesday for Cal State University officials to decide that a man who gives $5 million to create a new library deserves to have his name on the building. Rewarding Oxnard rancher John S. Broome for his landmark donation to Ventura County's budding Cal State Channel Islands campus, CSU trustees unanimously voted to name the university's library and media center after the 81-year-old philanthropist when it is built.