NOT MOVING: If you thought house sales...

NOT MOVING: If you thought house sales were off, try selling mobile homes. “It’s real slow,” said Bob Perry of Macy Mobile Homes in Oxnard. A few years ago, when housing prices were sky high, mobile homes practically sold themselves, he said. Even today, a new 1,200-square-footer goes for $40,000. You supply the land. . . . Ventura County has 108 mobile home parks, but nobody’s building new ones. Reason: rent control. “It’s bad,” said Joe DeBoard at Heritage Homes in Oxnard. “No new parks, no new lots, no new nothing.”

CONTRACTOR PROBE: Joan Gorner couldn’t resist saying “I told you so” when she learned that the main contractor on the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is under investigation (B1). “This is wonderful news,” said Gorner, a longtime opponent of the $63-million arts center. “This project has a huge shadow over it.”. . . Gorner twice fought unsuccessfully for a public vote on the development. Current campaign: She’s trying to recall Councilman Alex Fiore, a key plaza booster.

IN PERSON: Mark Finley, the Thousand Oaks television evangelist, is on a crusade in the former Soviet Union (B4), but he’s already a familiar face to Russian TV audiences. Finley’s “It Is Written” program has been broadcast there since 1991. The 30-minute show is one of half a dozen programs produced by the Seventh-day Adventist Church at its media center in Newbury Park. . . . During the Russia tour, “It Is Written” viewers are seeing reruns.

BANG BANG: Ventura County’s only outdoor shooting range becomes a free fire zone this weekend. To show off renovations, operators of the Ventura Shooting Range above Grant Park are offering free target practice. . . . Open-air ranges have better lighting, but there’s an advantage to indoor ranges, said Andy Dickson of Shooters Paradise in Oxnard: “There’s no wind, so it’s ballistically more accurate.”. . . Number of handguns purchased in Ventura County since 1990: 20,800. Average daily attendance at Shooters Paradise: 55.

Going Mobile

Number of mobile hoes in Ventura County:

Oxnard: 2,898

Ventura: 2,148

Thousand Oaks: 1,090

Camarillo: 1,042

Simi Valley: 899

Santa Paula: 824

Fillmore: 323

Moorpark: 300

Port Hueneme: 40

Unincorporated: 2,658

Source: State Department of Finance.