Moorpark College

A parking lot at Moorpark College will fill with vendors hawking potted plants, antiques and farm produce when the college holds its first swap meet on Oct. 3. The event will be operated by Mary Fasulo, a property manager in Simi Valley, and an undisclosed portion of the profits will go toward scholarships for financially needy students, college officials said. The swap meet will be held every Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Fasulo said.

Steve Spence knew he was done for when he took the trash out — barefoot — to the curb of his Moorpark home Sunday night. He looked down, and on his foot was a furry bat with black wings. It was exactly like the hundreds that migrate to his neighborhood, and especially his house, every spring and leave every August. He shook the bat off. Then Spence, 54, looked closer, and on his foot was a red bite mark. "I immediately thought 'I'm screwed,'" said Spence, a case manager for a nonprofit that serves the homeless and mentally ill. The bat was rabid and had infected Spence.

The academic senate at Moorpark College named physics professor Clint Harper as its Distinguished Faculty Chair for the 1996-97 school year. Harper, 48, is the first to be given the award at Moorpark College. The distinction, which has been in place on many campuses for years, was inaugurated as part of Moorpark College's 30th anniversary celebration. Harper received a rocker adorned with the college's gold seal and inscribed with his name.

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.

Moorpark College will field its first men's volleyball team next spring and play in the Western State Conference. A head coach has not been selected. Information: (805) 378-1457.

Moorpark College will hold an academic fair featuring information on programs, classes, counseling and financial aid. The event takes place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. Monday and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Campus Center. For more information, call 378-1405.

As part of a reorganization plan mandated by the Ventura County Community College District, Moorpark College has named Eva Conrad its new executive vice president for student learning. Conrad, who holds doctorate and master's degrees in developmental psychology and is currently the vice president of instruction at San Bernardino Valley College in San Bernardino, will begin her new job Aug. 4.

Moorpark College will resume offering classes at Oak Park High School near Agoura after a five-year hiatus, college officials said Monday. Booming growth in eastern Ventura County, particularly in the Oak Park area east of Thousand Oaks, and an increased interest among residents in taking college-credit courses led officials at the two-year college to resume the program, said college spokesman Gerry Olsen.

A Moorpark College program that trains students how to work with horses will graduate its last 25 students this summer as the college shuts down the program and funnels the savings to more basic classes, officials said. The about $150,000 it costs annually to pay two employees and feed and stable 60 horses at a ranch in Newbury Park will instead go to add classes, said Jim Walker, president of Moorpark College. "It's a small program, and we've been cutting classes to save money," he said.

Moorpark College students will be able to study the songbirds and aquatic wildlife in a 20-acre wetland area created as part of a state highway project off the Simi Valley Freeway. The Ventura County Community College District agreed Tuesday night to take over the property's deed five years after the California Department of Transportation has fully established and maintained the area.

With nearly perfect grades at a prestigious Los Angeles prep school and high SAT scores, Emily Podany should have nailed a spot at Stanford. But when she applied early to study astrophysics at her dream school, the Palo Alto university flat-out rejected her. Podany was crushed. "When you see the small envelope, you just know it's not good news," said Podany, 18. "I just felt very sad for a couple days. Then that turned into anger at myself for not doing better."

Like other 16-year-olds, Joycelyn Nguyen of Simi Valley is jazzed about getting her driver's license. She likes to hang out with her girlfriends and admits that she sometimes procrastinates and often doesn't make her bed in the morning. Joycelyn said she's looking forward to starting her senior year of high school in the fall, but first she has another milestone to savor -- graduation Thursday from Moorpark College. Joycelyn took her first community college class when she was 13.

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.

SATURDAY Pointing all eyes at starry skies The Ventura County Astronomical Society will mark National Astronomy Day, a grass-roots effort aimed at "Bringing Astronomy to the People." The goal is to share celestial goings-on with tenderfoots and others wanting to get involved in the astronomy scene. During the day, educational displays, demonstrations, solar observation and related activities for children will be at Sycamore Plaza in Simi Valley.

Hundreds of community college students in Oxnard and Ventura walked out of classes Tuesday to demand the reinstatement of part-time teachers and popular programs slashed last week to bridge a budget shortfall. Carrying signs that read "I can't afford to go to a university" and "Cut War Budget, Not Education," students stormed out of classes shortly before noon and staged rallies at the two campuses to protest cuts to close a $7.5-million budget gap this year and next.

Even as they struggle with budget cuts, higher tuition and declining enrollment, Moorpark College officials are reveling in one bit of good news that they hope will attract more students. Last school year, 269 graduates of Moorpark had enrolled at one of the 10 University of California campuses, making it the leading community college of its size in UC transfers, officials said.

Plans to build a school in Thousand Oaks for combined use by Moorpark College and the Conejo Valley Unified School District are moving ahead, officials said Tuesday. "We've been planning this for quite a while," said college President Eva Conrad. "We finally think it's going to happen." The 30,000-square-foot satellite campus would be built on up to six acres next to the Janss Road headquarters of the Conejo Valley school district.

A $300-million lakeside development that would be built in the hills north of Moorpark College cleared a major hurdle this week as it advanced toward a public vote. The Moorpark Planning Commission agreed Tuesday night to recommend City Council approval of the 1,650-home North Park Village development, which would include a 52-acre man-made lake, a 2,100-acre nature preserve and a 29-acre sports park. If approved by the council in June, it would probably go on the ballot next spring.