San Fernando Valley Trade

The Port of Los Angeles, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Office of International Trade, will open its San Fernando Valley Trade Office in the Valley Municipal Building, 14410 Sylvan St., Van Nuys. Beginning Thursday, Valley-based import/export businesses and manufacturers will be able to meet locally with city, state and federal commerce and trade agencies to provide financial advice, regulatory assistance and international trade expertise.

California Trade and Commerce Secretary Lon S. Hatamiya is scheduled to discuss the state's leading role in international trade and tourism today in Universal City. Hatamiya's remarks will be the keynote address for the second annual San Fernando Valley International Trade Conference, a daylong gathering that focuses on issues such as finding overseas markets, financing import/export activities and using the Internet to increase trade opportunities. The conference is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m.

Today Data Overload? As pagers, cell phones, laptops and other digital devices become increasingly indispensable, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce examines whether round-the-clock access to data and communications can overwhelm its supposed masters. Priority management expert Hyrum Smith of Franklin Covey is the guest speaker. * Location: 350 S. Bixel St. * Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Introducing a tiny golden pill of parsley seed and sunflower oils at the Los Angeles Garlic Festival in 1992, Anthony and Lauren Raissen turned a universal problem--bad breath--into an international success story. With aggressive marketing strategies that included a radio ad campaign, the couple developed Calabasas-based BreathAsure Inc., which has sales of more than $18 million in 36 countries.

In an office on the fourth floor of the Van Nuys municipal building, R. Vance Baugham spends each Tuesday trying to jump-start international trade. The manager of the San Fernando Valley trade office is holding seminars. He's attending meetings. He's planning publicity mailings. He says he's running at full speed all over the Valley, trying to help local businesses navigate the intricacies of overseas trade. But it's hard to spread the word one day a week.

Stanley (Peanut Head) Bryant never fired a shot, but a jury in Downtown Los Angeles on Monday determined that the San Fernando Valley drug lord should die for masterminding a bloody 1988 crack-house ambush that killed four people, including a mother and child. The jury of seven men and five women also delivered two death verdicts against Donald (Duke) Smith, an employee of the ruthless, Pacoima-based drug syndicate that prosecutors say Bryant ran with his brother, Jeff.

Uh, Senator? There's an adult film star here and she would really like to speak with you. Words to that effect echoed throughout offices Tuesday in the state Capitol as nearly two dozen adult entertainment professionals--actors, strip club operators, sex toy distributors and 1st Amendment attorneys--conducted a daylong lobbying blitz.

During production of the 1997 movie "Mimic," American Humane Assn. representatives wandered through the Los Angeles set, ensuring that a herd of cockroaches was well taken care of. Licensed animal handlers were to follow state and federal anti-cruelty laws designed to protect the insects, which had been trained to swirl around actress Mira Sorvino's feet. The roaches had to be fed at a certain time. They could only work a few hours each day. They could not be harmed. At the same time, in studios in the San Fernando Valley, scores of other actors and actresses were working on movies.

Two-year-old Chemise English would hardly have made a reliable informant. But a killer bent on eliminating all witnesses to a gun battle at a reputed Lake View Terrace cocaine cash house last August executed her anyway with a bullet in the back of the head. It didn't matter that Chemise was sitting idly in a car outside the house with her mother, Loretha Anderson, while neighbors washed their cars and read the Sunday paper on their porches. After an ambush slaying of two of Anderson's male friends, the killer ran to the car, sprayed it with gunfire and climbed in to shoot the toddler with a pistol.