Mountaineer Park

West Virginia lottery officials agreed Monday to allow an Irvine investment company to operate gambling machines at a horse-racing track and resort in the northern part of the state--an action the company demanded as a condition of its proposed purchase of the facility. The approval cleared the way for Excalibur Holding Corp. to go ahead with its planned purchase of the 606-acre Mountaineer Park resort, said Excalibur's treasurer, Thomas K. Russell.

After Margot Feuer moved to the hills of Malibu in 1965, she was "catapulted into community action" by the threat of development in the surrounding Santa Monica Mountains. The terrifying proposals included building a nuclear power plant in an isolated canyon and a freeway through Malibu Canyon. "I looked around at what I was in the middle of," she later said, "and I figured, gosh, the idea of a park is a beautiful idea. " Hundreds would join her in the movement to create a national park in Los Angeles, but only Feuer and two other activists would be recognized as "the founding mothers" of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, which won federal approval in 1978.

An Orange County investment company with a troubled financial past said Tuesday that it has arranged to buy a 606-acre horse racing track and resort in West Virginia in a deal valued at nearly $8 million. Excalibur Holding Corp. of Irvine said it agreed last month to purchase a controlling stake of Mountaineer Park in Chester, W. Va., which offers thoroughbred racing, a 101-room lodge, a golf course and other resort amenities less than an hour's drive from Pittsburgh, Pa., and southern Ohio.

There's so much to explore in the Rocky Mountains, but where to start? A package from the Rocky Mountain Park Inn in Estes Park, Colo., offers some interesting ways to learn about the area with a pro. The Rocky Mountain Explorer Package at the 150-room inn combines a one-night stay with a field seminar led by naturalists on topics as diverse as migrating birds and the secret life of beavers to hidden trails in the national park. When you go will determine what field classes are available.

Excalibur Holding Corp. said Wednesday that it has completed its planned purchase of a Thoroughbred race track and gambling resort in West Virginia. Excalibur, an investment company based in Irvine, said it bought Mountaineer Park on Dec. 4, exchanging $90,909 and 551,514 shares of Excalibur's common stock for all the outstanding stock of Mountaineer Park Inc. As part of the transaction, Excalibur said, it paid $3.

Winners Entertainment Inc., facing a loss of more than $4 million in revenue from a court-ordered shutdown of its video gaming machine enterprise at a West Virginia racetrack, expects to gain a temporary reprieve, the company said Tuesday. The West Virginia Supreme Court had ordered the Irvine gambling and entertainment company's Mountaineer Park horse racing facility to shut down its 165 so-called video lottery machines by Saturday, said Winners President Michael Dunn.

Thank you for your evocative editorial ("A Park in the Balance," Jan. 25) saluting the federal-state partnership in the Santa Monica Mountains. We are very proud of the role we played in transferring Circle X Ranch and Campground to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area. In the last few years over 65,000 acres have been acquired in public trust in the scenic Santa Monica Mountains. In addition, the conservancy has fostered volunteerism in the Santa Monica Mountains.

As the author of the 1978 legislation that created the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, I take issue with Bill Boyarsky's discouraging assessment of the efforts to save this beautiful area ("Watching the Mountains Go Downhill," Metro, Feb. 2). It's true that some very valuable pieces of land in the Santa Monicas have been lost to development, or are about to be. However, of the 150,000 acres within the boundaries of the recreation area, roughly 60,000 are already in public ownership--thanks mainly to the state's foresight in establishing four large parks in the mountains many years ago. The 16,000 acres of park land Boyarsky mentioned refer only to land which the National Park Service itself has acquired.

"Washington, D.C." (Rand McNally Video Trips, 50 minutes, 1989). This is a fast-paced run-through of the nation's capital. Stops are brief, little is overlooked and TV personality Willard Scott's narration is pleasant, informative and sprinkled with colorful anecdotes.

If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? More to the point, if you roll past a stop sign in the woods and nobody is there to see it, do you get a ticket? You do if you're in one of the three Santa Monica Mountains parks overseen by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority where stop-sign scofflaws are on candid camera. The authority has set traps for unsuspecting motorists by installing video cameras at stop signs and mailing citations to those who fail to come to a complete halt.

AT age 16, Orion is a handsome chimpanzee, a primate hottie. Despite his status as a creature of the wild, his glossy black coat looks as if it were combed and fluffed by a personal groomer. It gleams in morning sunlight filtering through towering forest trees. Orion remains oblivious to the spell he casts over his observers -- also primates, but this species clad in dusty hiking boots, safari wear and a thin coat of sweat.

Regarding "Six Flags May Sell Its Magic Mountain Park" (June 23): So Dan Snyder and Mark Shapiro expect us to believe that they will probably close perhaps the greatest assemblage of roller coasters in the world because of the park's "rowdy teenage atmosphere" that is driving away business? Please. These two arrogant, heartless excuses for businessmen obviously seized this amusement park with the sole intention of pawning it off to the real estate development company that would write the biggest check.

Six Flags Inc. said Thursday that it might sell its Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor amusement parks in Valencia and raised the possibility that they could be dismantled for real estate development. Facing mounting losses and declining attendance, Six Flags wants to reduce its $2.1 billion in debt by selling parks in Buffalo, N.Y.; Denver; Seattle; Houston; and Concord, Calif., in addition to Magic Mountain.

A hiker found the body of a missing Rocky Mountain National Park ranger, eight days after the ranger apparently fell, park officials said. No further information on where Jeff Christensen's body was found or how long he might have been dead was immediately released. More than 200 searchers had been looking for Christensen, 31, in the vast and rugged Mummy Range since he disappeared on a routine backcountry patrol.

A severe thunderstorm in the Great Smoky Mountains thwarted President Bush's plan on Friday to mark Earth Day by participating in a trail restoration project and delivering a speech on the environment. Instead, Bush made brief remarks in an almost empty airport hangar in Knoxville, about 30 miles away. Bush had hoped to become the first sitting president to visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park since it was dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940.

There's so much to explore in the Rocky Mountains, but where to start? A package from the Rocky Mountain Park Inn in Estes Park, Colo., offers some interesting ways to learn about the area with a pro. The Rocky Mountain Explorer Package at the 150-room inn combines a one-night stay with a field seminar led by naturalists on topics as diverse as migrating birds and the secret life of beavers to hidden trails in the national park. When you go will determine what field classes are available.

Hike through one of America's natural treasures -- home to black bears, elk and moose. Take a deep breath of mountain air -- as long as you're not asthmatic. On some days, the wind blows enough pollution some 55 miles up from the sprawling metropolitan Denver area that the park violates federal clean air standards for ozone.

An 81-acre parcel jointly purchased by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the city of Calabasas was dedicated on Friday as Dry Creek Canyon Park. The property, which lies south of Mulholland Highway and east of Old Topanga Canyon Road, is lush with oak and black walnut trees covering rolling hills. Area residents and city officials said wildlife such as mountain lions, deer and an array of birds live on the land, which was once proposed for home development.