GOOD CHANGE: It’s been a rough year...

GOOD CHANGE: It’s been a rough year for San Clemente High School, with two students killed in separate off-campus incidents. But students expect to set aside the tensions that arose from those tragedies at today’s annual Cultural Fair. . . . It’s live entertainment, ethnic food and a chance for the students to exhibit the many different cultural backgrounds at their school. Says Krisy Lewis, the school’s ethnic relations commissioner: “It’s the one activity that everyone looks forward to.”

BORDERS PATROL: Southern California College was inundated by media requests Wednesday, the day after Ila Borders’ history-making performance as the first woman to pitch in a college baseball game. . . . The Costa Mesa school received inquiries from radio, newspapers and television--even from a movie studio (C12). Maybe the ultimate measure of Borders’ newfound fame: After a cable-TV interview, she learned that “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” wants her to be a guest soon.

MUSICAL GENES: It’s hardly a wonder that Carlene Carter, who sings at the Crazy Horse in Santa Ana on Monday night (OC Live!), chose a musical career. Her father is country legend Carl Smith, her mother is June Carter, and her stepdad is Johnny Cash. But she was also influenced by her grandmother, the late Mother Maybelle, the matriarch of the Carter clan. . . . “She taught me to play the guitar,” Carter says. Carter still lives in her grandmother’s house when she’s back in Nashville.

BRAGGING LIGHTS: When county transportation officials asked the public to list complaints about street lights or traffic problems in their city, they were deluged. Someone from just about every city in the county brought in a complaint about something . . . except La Palma. It may be small, but it does have traffic lights--just no complaints about them. The city’s Public Works Director, Ismile H. Noorbaksh, told his staff: “We must be doing something right.”