E J Harrison Sons

Before recycling Christmas trees, carefully remove all ornaments, nails, tinsel, metal support rods and tree stands. Flocked or fire-proofed trees cannot be accepted for recycling. Place trees at the curb by 7 a.m. on the designated days, even though collection may take several days. For information, call the 24-hour Recycling Hot Line at 654-3935. Bell Canyon: Curbside collection Tuesday. Channel Islands Beach: Curbside collection on normal pickup days through Friday.

Monthly garbage bills for Ojai residents will increase by $1.45 on Aug. 1, the Ojai City Council decided Tuesday. The council voted unanimously to approve the 8.75% residential and 9.1% commercial rate increases sought by E.J. Harrison and Sons Inc. of Ventura. The rate hike will increase the typical household bill from $17.67 to $19.12 a month. An additional monthly fee of $1.68 for collection of recyclable materials will remain the same. The firm has 1,873 customers in Ojai.

A Ventura City Council subcommittee recommended Wednesday that trash collection rates be increased to subsidize future recycling services for businesses across the city. If adopted by the council later this month, the new rates would raise commercial trash collection rates by 8.8%, residential bills by 3.4% and industrial rates by 1.7%. The new rates will take effect July 1 for commercial and industry customers and Sept. 1 for residential customers.

The Camarillo City Council has decided to set up a new system for commercial waste hauling in the city, allowing one company to have a monopoly on collecting business owners' trash. In a 3-1 vote, the council voted after 2 1/2 hours of debate to amend the city code, which calls for non-exclusive franchise agreements. Councilman Ken Gose was the sole dissenter. Councilman David M. Smith was absent.

About 23,600 used telephone books have been collected in a recycling effort aimed at saving trees and preventing the books from taking up space in landfills, officials announced this week. Phone book collection sites were operated for three weeks by The Ventura County Telephone Book Recycling Coalition, a group that included legislators, business representatives and city officials.

A 40-year-old employee of E.J. Harrison & Sons trash-hauling company was struck by a motorcycle and killed Thursday as he walked across a Santa Paula street to pick up some nearby trash cans, authorities said. Federico Vargas of Ventura was pronounced dead of severe traumatic injuries at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital at 2:44 p.m., said a hospital emergency room nurse. The driver of the motorcycle, John Duncan, 26, of Ventura was not injured.

Perplexed Ventura residents have been calling City Hall to ask why they are being billed for recycling their yard waste in September when that service won't be offered by the city's trash hauler until October. The city has received several calls since Monday, when E.J. Harrison & Sons began distributing brown barrels for yard trimmings to 21,000 customers in Ventura, said John Betonte, a city maintenance supervisor. Although E.J. Harrison won't begin emptying the 100-gallon barrels until Oct.

A garbage war has begun to heat up in the city of Ventura. On one side of the scrap is E.J. Harrison & Sons, a family that has monopolized the business of collecting the city's trash for the past five years. But seeking to unseat the Harrisons at the top of the garbage heap in the city is another Ventura trash collection company, Rubbish Control Inc.