Villa Park Ca

The 53-year-old son of an elderly woman whose filthy Villa Park home was overrun with cats -- both living and dead -- is under investigation for elder abuse, Orange County sheriff's officials said Thursday. Paramedics called to the home this month found Mary Maloney, 76, lying outside on a blanket; she was covered with sores and skin rashes, authorities said. When deputies investigated, they found cat feces 2 feet high in places, urine-soaked walls and carpets, and trash everywhere.

A small Orange County water district allowed a water-ski school to operate illegally for nine years in a canyon reservoir, possibly jeopardizing the health of Villa Park residents who drink the water, state health officials said last week. The activity was discovered last month when organizers of a triathlon sought permission from the Serrano Water District to use Irvine Lake for swimming.

Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell said Thursday he wanted a review of Irvine Lake's recreational activities and other uses that might affect the quality of drinking water for 6,500 residents in his hometown of Villa Park. Campbell's concern about body contact with the lake water comes in the wake of a report in The Times that a water-ski school had been operating illegally there for nine years, possibly jeopardizing Villa Park's drinking supply.

Villa Park, Orange County's smallest city but one of its wealthiest, doesn't like the idea of being called a zero. The City Council on Tuesday is expected to protest an Orange County land agency's suggestion that it would be more efficient if Villa Park were given a "zero sphere of influence." As a practical matter, the designation would mean the city shouldn't exist. No other Orange County city has been so slighted.

A woman fought off two attackers in her Villa Park home Tuesday by shattering a coffee mug in the face of one of the men, authorities said. The woman arrived at her house on Smoketree Circle about 9 a.m. with her 7-year-old daughter, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. They had just returned from taking her three other children to school, he said.

There was one reason Marie Young voted to support Propositions 57 and 58, and his name is Arnold Schwarzenegger. "I love that man," she said Wednesday after finishing lunch in a Villa Park restaurant the day after the two measures were approved by voters statewide. "I have a ton of faith in him." Villa Park, with 69% of its voters registered with the GOP, is the most Republican city in Orange County, the party's California heartland.

A 51-year-old umpire suffered a fatal heart attack during a Little League game at the Placentia Champions Sports Complex on Saturday morning. Witnesses said John Aiken, a longtime umpire, collapsed during the second inning of a game between the Placentia Braves and the West Yorba Linda Rockies. Aiken, who had a history of heart problems, was taken to Placentia Linda Hospital by ambulance, where he died, an Orange County coroner's official said.

The faded page of the high school yearbook resembles countless others past and present. It pictures a bunch of kids clowning around on an outdoor stairway. One is wearing a fancy white blazer and tie; another is dressed like Hugh Hefner -- complete with a pipe; a third is encased in a rigid-looking straitjacket. One of the boys is holding a banner that proudly proclaims the group's identity: "Villa Park High School Yacht Club. The Only Yacht Club Worth a Ship."

The Orange County Sheriff's Department and the Orange Police Department will stage a major car crash today to warn high school students about the dangers of drinking and driving. In addition to staging a car accident in front of Villa Park High School, students will be removed from class to become the "living dead." After putting tombstones in a graveyard, they will return to class wearing makeup. Their obituaries will be read, and they will no longer speak to their classmates.