Long term Ventura County resident Ron Zenone, age 76 was sentenced October 10th by Ventura Superior court judge Bruce A. Young for lewd acts on a minor child under the age of 14.

Zenone pled “No Contest” to the felony charge on September 12 with the court finding him guilty. The victim, his granddaughter said during tearful impact statement that she was abused almost every holiday we visited him when I was 10 years old and it continued for over 10 years. 

Judge Bruce Young gave him a sentence of 365 days and 3 years probation and he must participate in a recognized treatment program as well as register as a sex offender. He is scheduled to turn himself in to begin his sentence on November 6, 2018.

Emotional victim impact statements were read by the victim and her parents prior to sentencing.  The victim and her family felt the sentence was not adequate considering the lifetime effects the victim will likely suffer, but are satisfied that they can put this painful chapter in their life behind them. Although Ron has 6 grandchildren the victim was his only granddaughter.

Four 12×12 foot panels from the famed AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura, 5654 Ralston Street on Sunday, October 28 from 9:30 to 12 as part of an annual service of remembrance. The Rev. Dana Worsnop, senior minister at the church, said, “We are honored to be among the venues where the Names Project Quilts will be displayed during AIDS Awareness Month. We invite the community to join in our service, ‘Remember Their Names,’ where we will embrace all those we have lost to AIDS.”

The quilt panels, which have not been displayed publicly in 20 years, are being brought out by the Quilt Project Gold Coast, a bi-county nonprofit that uses quilt panels to “remember the names” and create awareness around HIV/AIDS prevention and history.

The Quilt was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, and is today the largest community art project in the world. The Quilt has been the subject of countless books, films, scholarly papers, articles, and theatrical, artistic and musical performances; “Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt” won the Academy Award as the best feature-length documentary film of 1989.

Contributions to offset the cost of the campaign, such as fabrics and other materials, are welcome by contacting Quilt Project Gold Coast at (805) 569-0561.

The Board of Supervisors has approved a plan for County Parks to shift from a first-come, first-served policy to a reservations-only policy for its three beach parks (Faria, Hobson and Rincon) beginning November 1, 2018. This decision was driven by multiple factors, primarily customer feedback — that is, the high number of public complaints the Parks Department receives about the existing system. In addition, trends in technology have changed the way in which the public conducts business transactions, making this the appropriate time to implement this change.

The shift to a reservations-based policy for the beach parks will generate the following benefits for patrons and improvements in Parks staff efficiency:

• Allow customers to reserve a camping site in advance, from 12 months in advance to within 48 hours of their planned arrival date, eliminating the guesswork of site availability.
• Mobile payment will still be available for open sites (non-reserved) the day of arrival as is currently allowed.
• Improved customer access to beach parks.
• Eliminate groups from holding/managing spaces for other groups.
• Allow park rangers to be more accessible and provide better customer service to beach park patrons.
• Reduce calls for service to the sheriff to resolve disputes (i.e., fighting over sites).
• Allow for self-booking of reservations via the Parks public. At http://www.venturaparks.org/  (reservations can still be made by calling the Parks reservation line (805) 654-3951)
• Length of stay and return polices will remain the same. More data will now be available to staff for better enforcement of the rules and tracking of customer compliance with usage policies.

Improving public safety and patron peace of mind by:

• Keeping bike lanes clear from RVs waiting for a site to become available
• Eliminating onsite campers searching for a space to open – which both contributes to carbon emissions from RVs driving up and down the road continuously and disturbs those already camping (i.e., continually being asked “When you are leaving?”)

The County is aware that this change to a reservations-only policy for the most popular County parks is a major shift from current policy and will require a period of adjustment for patrons. To allow for the least amount of disruption, the County will enact this policy shift during the Parks’ less busy off-season, which will allow flexibility with customers and adjust any procedures before next summer’s on-season.

Bookings will open 24 September through the online Reservation site http://www.venturaparks.org/  or by calling the Parks reservation line (805) 654-3951. There will be a reservation booking fee of either $3 (online reservations) or $10 (phone reservations). You may only book one site per reservation period per park. All length-of-stay and return-to-park policies apply.

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