CALLING CONGRESS: Ventura County’s two congressmen are...

CALLING CONGRESS: Ventura County’s two congressmen are split on Somalia, but calls from constituents are all but unanimous: They want the U.S. out. “We’ve had a couple dozen calls and letters, and almost without exception they want our troops home,” said Kaye Edwards Davis, spokeswoman for Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills). . . . Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) is hearing the same thing. But calls are down since last week, when gory images of dead soldiers hit TV screens. . . . Beilenson supports sending more troops. Gallegly favors an immediate pullout.

TAKING TRASH: Last October, local officials visited a Utah landfill to see if the county should send its trash there by rail. Now they’re worried it could be a two-way track. . . . Simi Valley Councilman Bill Davis sounded the alarm, noting the expiration of a county ordinance banning most out-of-county garbage from the Simi Valley Landfill. “Now we’re the ones who are going to end up with their trash,” Davis said. . . . Utah has expressed no interest in Simi Valley, but Los Angeles and western Ventura County may send trash there. (B4)

NEW MANAGER: After only 19 months in Ventura County, Thomas Frutchey takes the helm of its largest city today. The Oxnard City Council voted unanimously to give Frutchey a three-year contract as city manager. Salary: $104,500. . . . Frutchey, 43, has been assistant city manager in Oxnard, but before that he was manager of two Bay Area cities.

WAL-MART LOSES: Small merchants in Simi Valley and Oxnard have worried aloud that Wal-Mart’s prices could ruin them. Now an Arkansas court has ruled that Wal-Mart committed anti-trust violations by selling drugs and cosmetics below cost (D2). . . . The opening of Ventura County’s first Wal-Mart in Oxnard has been pushed back to late October. “We’re still stocking shelves,” manager Wayne Inman said. . . . Simi Valley will vote Nov. 2 on Wal-Mart’s plan to build there.