Moorpark Ca

The owners of a Moorpark animal sanctuary were arrested Wednesday for allegedly allowing a 352-pound Siberian tiger to escape and prowl suburban neighborhoods for four weeks while denying the cat was theirs. Gert "Abby" Hedengran, 56, and his wife, Roena "Emma" Hedengran, 52, were taken from their rented ranch in Moorpark about 10 a.m. Wednesday and transported in a government van to U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

For Moorpark's seasoned fire veterans Wednesday, the latest major brush fire to threaten ranches and subdivisions -- even a small zoo -- was almost taken in stride. Everyone knew what to do. On Griffith Lane, just a few mountain ridges away from the fire's front line, Verna Murrell and Kevin Kiely already had suitcases packed and their most important photographs and documents on a digital file. At nearby Moorpark College, students enrolled in a zoo management program spent the morning putting several of 135 animals in their small campus zoo into crates, ready to move them out at a moment's notice.

As firefighters worked Tuesday to fully contain a wildfire that ripped through Ventura County this week, an official put damage to the agricultural industry at $2.9 million. The blaze that began Sunday on rural land north of Moorpark had consumed 214 acres of citrus and avocado orchards, and 1,500 acres of hay as of Tuesday, said Earl McPhail, the county's agricultural commissioner. A Somis nursery lost most of its equipment and plant stock, McPhail told the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Plans to build a $125-million independent movie and television production facility in the Ventura County city of Moorpark were announced Wednesday by two entertainment industry veterans who hope to cash in on a regional shortage of soundstages. The 37-acre Commonwealth Studios would have 14 soundstages plus offices, a commissary and other support services. It would have a lot with city and residential sets outfitted for rain and fire effects.

Construction crews in Moorpark have uncovered the skeleton of a fossilized mammoth believed to be older than the ancient beasts found at the La Brea Tar Pits. Larry Agenbroad, one of the nation's foremost mammoth experts, called the find, believed to be 50% to 70% complete, "spectacular," especially if it turns out to be the rare meridionalis species, as he suspects. "We don't find a lot of them," Agenbroad said. "And to find one [this] complete is even rarer."

Moorpark residents this week got their first chance to sound off on plans for a new 1,650-home development that is chock full of amenities aimed at winning public support: a 52-acre man-made lake, a 2,100-acre nature preserve and a 29-acre youth sports park. But several residents who attended a public hearing Tuesday said their biggest concern about the proposed North Park Village project was the increased traffic it would create around Moorpark College.

Parts of old Moorpark look much the same as they did in the 1920s, and the area is still home to horse ranches and agriculture. But for one glowing hour in 1957, Moorpark was on the cusp of modernity as the first community in the United States to be powered by nuclear energy. Bright spots On Nov. 12, 1957, the lights went out in the town of then 1,100 residents. They came on 20 seconds later, fired by a sodium reactor in the Simi Hills. Edward R.

Joy Cummings stares at the occasional car that passes her clothing store on High Street and remembers a time when shoppers filled the now-empty sidewalks. In 1973, when Cummings and her husband bought and renovated an old gas station at the corner of Bard Street, High Street was Moorpark's commercial heart--a thriving strip of restaurants and small stores. "All the shops were full," said Cummings, owner of The Gas Station.

Joining its larger neighbors, Moorpark will become the latest east county community with a country club -- being built as the focal point of an exclusive neighborhood of upscale homes. "It's like a coming of age for the community," said Conejo Valley Assn. of Realtors President Peter Greer. "Westlake has Sherwood, [Simi Valley] has Wood Ranch and we've got our country club, with nice homes, vistas and the sort of things we can look forward to in future development."

Plans to build a $125-million independent movie and television production facility in the Ventura County city of Moorpark were announced Wednesday by two entertainment industry veterans who hope to cash in on a regional shortage of soundstages. The 37-acre Commonwealth Studios would have 14 soundstages plus offices, a commissary and other support services. It would have a lot with city and residential sets outfitted for rain and fire effects.

Moorpark officials may have found a final resting place for the skeleton of a fossilized mammoth that roamed the area up to 1 million years ago. If the City Council approves the plan next week, the skeletal pieces will be donated to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Hugh Riley, assistant city manager, said the museum beat out the larger Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County because of its enthusiasm for creating a public exhibit.

Moorpark became the second city this week to demand that Time Warner Cable Inc. comply with customer service standards -- and the first to threaten a fine of as much as $25,000 or more. Exercising its waning local control on the cable TV industry, the City Council late Wednesday initiated a procedure that could result in fines next month for the company's prolonged difficulty in merging pay TV and Internet systems.

As firefighters worked Tuesday to fully contain a wildfire that ripped through Ventura County this week, an official put damage to the agricultural industry at $2.9 million. The blaze that began Sunday on rural land north of Moorpark had consumed 214 acres of citrus and avocado orchards, and 1,500 acres of hay as of Tuesday, said Earl McPhail, the county's agricultural commissioner. A Somis nursery lost most of its equipment and plant stock, McPhail told the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

At first glance, you can't tell that the home at the end of a neat cul-de-sac in downtown Moorpark suffered substantial fire damage. Once inside, however, you can't miss the large rectangular hole providing a breeze and a view of the skies above. There are similar holes over the bedroom-turned-office on the second floor and above the bath in the master bedroom.

A 33-year-old Sunland man died Wednesday morning after he smashed his car into a semi-truck while driving the wrong way on California 23 in Moorpark. The man, whose name has not yet been released, was driving his 1988 Honda Civic north in the southbound lanes about 4:20 a.m. when he collided with the cab of the tractor-trailer just south of New Los Angeles Avenue.

Moorpark voters, for the second time in seven years, have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to expand their city's borders in order to make room for a large-scale luxury home development. The developer of North Park Village had gone to great lengths to win public support, including promising to create a 52-acre lake and swimming lagoon and a 2,121-acre nature preserve for all to enjoy.

The Moorpark City Council has paved the way for a health club and three-screen movie theater to move into the spot left vacant when Regal Theater shut its doors. Northern California-based developer Epic Enterprises hopes to open the theater by mid-December and a Mavericks health club by March 1. "Our goal is to open the theater in time to show the new 'Lord of the Rings' movie, which comes out Dec. 18," said Gene Campbell, general manager of Epic Enterprises.

For Moorpark's seasoned fire veterans Wednesday, the latest major brush fire to threaten ranches and subdivisions -- even a small zoo -- was almost taken in stride. Everyone knew what to do. On Griffith Lane, just a few mountain ridges away from the fire's front line, Verna Murrell and Kevin Kiely already had suitcases packed and their most important photographs and documents on a digital file. At nearby Moorpark College, students enrolled in a zoo management program spent the morning putting several of 135 animals in their small campus zoo into crates, ready to move them out at a moment's notice.

All across Moorpark, people are talking about North Park Village, the largest housing development proposed since the city incorporated 23 years ago. Signs for and against the project are everywhere, stretching across downtown storefronts, decorating the neat lawns of residences. Voters will get a chance Tuesday to decide whether North Park should go forward, and many see it as a referendum on the future of the east Ventura County city.

A divided Moorpark City Council this week decided it was time for voters to choose the fate of a $1-billion lakeside community proposed for the hills north of Moorpark College, a project that could increase the city's population by nearly 6,000 residents. The conflict over the largest housing tract considered by Moorpark since the city incorporated has been going on for more than a dozen years. An earlier 3,221-home proposal known as Hidden Creek Ranch was scuttled by a 1998 referendum.