BATTER UP: While Thousand Oaks considers issuing...

BATTER UP: While Thousand Oaks considers issuing bonds to build recreational sports facilities (B5), Ventura County remains devoid of a professional sports venue. . . . But an Oxnard businessman is “getting close” to putting a deal together to build a 5,500-seat minor league baseball stadium at an abandoned drive-in theater in Oxnard. . . . Stanley Moorman, 35, said he even has a Class A franchise already lined up: “People need this kind of activity,” he said.

IMPURRFECTION: People hoping to adopt a kitten for Christmas were disappointed by the scarcity of the little fur balls (B1). . . . Unlike dogs, which can breed year-round, cats have a mating season beginning in the spring and winding up in the fall, with a 60-day gestation period, and most kittens are born in August and September. . . . “People want cute, cuddly 6-week-old kittens for Christmas, but they’re just not around,” said Mary Willard of Ventura’s All Cats Clinic.

ALL THAT GLITTERS: How would you like to be standing on millions of dollars worth of gold and not be able to get it out of the ground? That’s prospector Tony Intiso’s dilemma as he contends with government regulations and environmental watchdogs (Ventura County Life, Page 18). . . . It may surprise you to learn that there’s gold in them thar hills, but the county has a storied mining history going back to the days of the Spaniards. . . . Other minerals also are found here, as well as petroleum, natural gas and asphalt.

OFF THE LIST: Don’t feel slighted just because Hollywood has yet to open “Schindler’s List” in Ventura County (Ventura County Life, Page 13). . . . Even Santa Barbara, our culturally enlightened neighbor to the north, has been shunned. . . . The film debuted Dec. 15 in 25 theaters in the U.S. and Canada and has widened to 74 theaters, including one in-- gasp --Orange County. . . . The Oscar favorite will finally arrive on our shores Jan. 14 at the Century 8 in Ventura.