J Michael Hagopian

"Germany and the Secret Genocide," J. Michael Hagopian's rigorously researched and damning indictment of Germany's role in the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Turks during World War I, will have its gala premiere screening tonight. It is the second installment in Hagopian's "Witnesses Trilogy," involving 20 years of research to date and interviews with 400 survivors. (Of the 11 who appear in this film, interviewed in the 1980s and early '90s, only one is still living.

They have been called visionary leaders by their supporters and arrogant dictators by their enemies. Between them, they have dedicated 35 years of political life to the city of Thousand Oaks. But soon, voters may have to put their loyalty for Councilmen Frank Schillo and Alex Fiore to the test. Organizers of a movement to oust the councilmen say they will submit signatures on petitions this week demanding their removal from the City Council.

There may be no such thing as a summer social hiatus. Not in the eyes of energetic Los Angeles movers and shakers who shake 'round the year. However, the tradition exists that any organization of major clout should schedule a May/June meeting or benefit before volunteers supposedly evaporate. Everyone's doing it. Carol Henry, president of the Los Angeles Music Center Opera League, is already gearing to the Opera's opening next Sept. 8 and a season of seven operas.

From the bridge table at the senior center to the coffeehouse courtyard at the newest shopping plaza, the word is the same: The City Council is giving this well-mannered town a bad name. "I'd like to see them all recalled," said Barbara Bock, who has spent two decades in Thousand Oaks. "They're not getting much done by disagreeing with each other all the time," said Jeanine DeGuardi, a 20-year resident, expressing what seems to be a growing sentiment about the City Council. "It's ridiculous.