NEIGHBORS / SHORT TAKES : Designs on a Queen : Planner goes beyond floating the notion of moving the ship to Ventura Harbor for a university campus.
A few weeks ago we shared with you the latest idea from Ventura land planner Bernard Tamborello: to have the Queen Mary brought to Ventura Harbor, set it up adjacent to a vacant 23-acre parcel of land, and employ it as a Cal State University campus.
Now he’s gone so far as to draw the plans for what he has dubbed “CSU/SS Ventura.”
The campus would include baseball and football fields, tennis and basketball courts, student housing, and a three-story parking structure. Tamborello estimated the vessel could accommodate an enrollment of about 10,000 students.
Tamborello’s original plan called for a Statue of Liberty in the harbor, but he’s having second thoughts. “They’ve got one in New York,” he said.
What’s new on video? Well, it could be your living room.
About 1 1/2 years ago, the mother-daughter team of Carolyn Morgan and Mary Cratch began a business called C & M Memories. (They’re a little vague on whether C & M stands for Carolyn and Mary or Cratch and Morgan, which is probably best for family relations.)
Anyway, the women set out to videotape people’s belongings as documentation of the items should they be wiped out by some sort of disaster. A couple of weeks ago, Morgan and Cratch (or Cratch and Morgan) began franchising the operation throughout the state.
When she’s not working on her private enterprise, Morgan is a correctional officer with the California Youth Authority. In fact, it was while at that job that she got the idea for C & M.
“I was on duty one night and there was this ward who was bragging that she would hit senior citizens by climbing through the dog door,” she said. “She would leave two or three items on the counter so the (victims) would think they just misplaced the other items.”
It was then that Morgan realized that people have trouble remembering what they own.
It’s that time of year again, when the Los Angeles Raiders--like the swallows making their annual journey to Capistrano--head to their training camp in Oxnard.
Along with this migration comes another summer ritual--Oxnard jokes.
Camp opened July 13 and the jokes began July 14, at least at Los Angeles radio station KFI. It was reported there that Raider Family Day was coming up (this Saturday) and fans could make the trip to Oxnard to see their favorite team. Comments about actually having to visit Oxnard ensued.
Go ahead, name a female fictional character who is ecology-minded. Can’t do it?
You may want to attend Tuesday’s summer reading program at the Thousand Oaks Library. It is unique. The story being told that day is “Tammy the Recycling Eagle.” That’s Tammy, not Tommy.
“There’s almost no female recycling-conscious characters,” said Thousand Oaks resident Winifred Meiser, the story’s author.
The story follows Tammy on a mission to solve “the mystery of the missing trees,” said Meiser. “It is about how all the birds and animals in the forest were worried because all the trees were missing.”
Tammy, with the aid of the North Wind, goes in search of the trees. She discovers that people are using them for short periods of time and then throwing them away. The conclusion? “If people would recycle, there would be more trees in the forest,” said Meiser.
Tammy, herself, will make a special appearance.
The program is essentially sold out, but if parents want to bring their children 10 minutes prior to the 2 p.m. program and take a chance, they are welcome. Children must have a Thousand Oaks Library card to attend.
