ANYTHING GOES: Ventura County fans of late...

ANYTHING GOES: Ventura County fans of late rock idol Jerry Garcia were almost as notorious as the band itself in some circles (A1, B4). Dennis Orrock, former Ventura mayor, tells of an undercover police officer who approached a man wearing a drug-filled trench coat at one of the band’s local concerts. The cop mentioned that such sales were illegal. “Not at a Grateful Dead show it isn’t,” said the Deadhead.

BESTSELLER: Oxnard Factory Outlet, selected as a top outlet center in a national trade magazine, continues to devise new ways to lure customers, such as giving tourists free discount coupon books, and is looking at providing transportation to senior citizens eager to shop. General Manager Peggy Wimberley says Camarillo’s outlet center only helps her center. “We play off each other and draw more people.”

FISH FANATIC: For some, bass fishing is more religion that sport (Ventura Life, Page 6). Porter Hall, for instance, moved to Ventura 10 months ago so that he could be near Lake Casitas, which is especially well-known for the large fish. Three years ago, Hall relocated his family to Valencia from Florida after three 21-pound-plus bass were pulled from Castaic Lake in Los Angeles County. “When somebody will move all the way across the country basically for nothing but a fish, I guess you could call that kind of obsessive,” he admits.

MAJOR PROFITS: A Simi Valley company was hit with a $240,000 federal fine this week for selling counterfeit airplane parts (B5). One investigator suggested that such sales can be as profitable as drug dealing. Not quite, according to Sgt. Arnie Aviles of the Sheriff’s Department’s Narcotics Unit. Cocaine, which can be bought in this area for $15,000 a kilo wholesale, can return as much as $75,000 to $80,000 by the gram--a minimum 500% markup. “It’s like going to the market,” Aviles says. “The more you buy, the better deal you get.”