SWAT TEAM: The buzz around Ventura County?...

SWAT TEAM: The buzz around Ventura County? Mosquitoes. “We’re in the height of the season,” said Robert Gallagher, manager of the county’s mosquito-control program. His seven-member staff is working harder after heavy winter rains left more water than usual at the county’s 1,000 mosquito breeding areas. “We’re treating more sites than in past years,” he said. Methods of execution: oil sprays that smother the pests, bacteria that infect them, and fish that eat them. . . . So far, there’s no sign of mosquito-borne encephalitis in the three chicken flocks that serve as the county’s early warning system.

OPEN DOOR: The tariff-reduction agreement announced at the Tokyo summit (A1) was welcome news at the Port of Hueneme. “Anything that opens up opportunities for exports is going to help us,” said Port Director Anthony Taormina. . . . Among the items slated for tariff reductions is equipment used in farming and construction--an export niche the port has carved out in recent years, Taormina said. On his wish list: unrestricted trade in California farm products. “The more citrus we can ship out, the better off we are.” Port Hueneme is the only deep-water harbor between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

ACE OF CLUBS: It’s nothing like the giant poker palace that Oxnard flirted with building recently, but what the Player’s Poker Club lacks in grandeur, it makes up in longevity. The four-table card club has been a Ventura institution for 50 years, outlasting several competitors to become the only poker parlor in Ventura County. (Ventura County Life, J6)

DINO MIGHT: Recession failed to put a damper on July 4 fireworks sales in Fillmore, the only Ventura County city that allows service groups to sell non-explosive devices. City Clerk Noreen Withers said sales were up 25% at some of the city’s 20 stands. . . . At the Fillmore Rotary Club’s booth, gross sales totaled $30,000, outgoing president Bill Bartels said. The club will keep 45%. . . . New this year: What else? Jurassic Park sparklers, named after dinosaurs.