By Vincent J. Schodolski,Chicago Tribune

LOS OLIVOS, Calif. – Neverland never more?

It certainly looks that way from the gate to Michael Jackson’s storied ranch – where, for more than a decade, he played host to the rich and famous, as well as to hundreds of children.

No longer are there people dishing out ice cream at the huge brown gates to the ranch. The amusement rides are still, and the menagerie of animals that at times included elephants and a giraffe are under the care of a local veterinarian.

And Michael Jackson is thousands of miles away living with his children on the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.

Just last week Jackson settled an outstanding payroll bill for $306,000. That was the amount he owed his Neverland staff of 46, because he had not paid the employees since December 19.

He made the payment after the California Department of Industrial Relations forced the issue upon learning of the workers’ plight. The faded pop star faced penalties of $100,000 had he not paid the workers. He still owes the state $70,000 for allowing his workers’ compensation insurance to lapse in January.

So what will happen to the ranch?

“It is public knowledge that Mr. Jackson currently resides in the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain,” said Jackson spokeswoman Raymone Bain. “He therefore decided to close his house and reduce his work force.”

She left open the possibility that Jackson might return.

“Reports indicating that Neverland has been closed, or shut down for good, are inaccurate,” Bain said in a statement.

The only people left behind the gates are Jackson family members, and state investigators have confirmed that nobody left on the ranch works for Jackson.

A man who answered an intercom outside the gate said only that he was a Jackson relative. He refused to give his name and would not say what his job was on the ranch.

This is a far cry from the glory days of Neverland, when it played host to events that included fundraisers for charity groups and even the 1991 wedding of Elizabeth Taylor to her eighth husband, Larry Fortensky. The couple divorced in 1996.

But what drew the most attention – and two accusations of child abuse were the elaborate parties Jackson held for young children and the sleepovers where Jackson admitted he often shared a bed with his minor visitors.

Santa Barbara County prosecutors twice sought to convict Jackson. The second attempt went to trial, with proceedings beginning in January 2005 and ending in June with Jackson’s acquittal on all charges of child molestation, lewd conduct with a minor and an accusation that he gave wine to a young cancer patient at the ranch.

Although Jackson owns the rights to all songs written and performed by the Beatles, many believe his days as a pop icon are over. And, with his legal bills and the cost of keeping up Neverland, he is thought to be in difficult financial straits.

Jackson has repeatedly said that his early career with the Jackson Five – he was just 7 when the group formed – deprived him of a normal childhood and that his lifestyle was compensation for that.

Surrounded by toys and life-size mannequins dressed as super heroes, Jackson appeared to some to be an overgrown child.

“People say I’m not OK “cause I love such elementary things,” he sang in the song “Childhood.” “It’s been my fate to compensate for the childhood I’ve never known.”

He once said in an interview that he did not identify with Peter Pan, but added, “I am Peter Pan.”

One of the last bashes held at Neverland came during his molestation trial.

In January 2004 – on the same day he clambered atop his SUV in front of the courthouse in Santa Maria and danced for the throng of fans – he threw open the gates to Neverland for all comers.

Dark-suited, bow-tied men provided security that day from the Nation of Islam.

Guests had to abandon cell phones and cameras and they milled around an ice cream cart as a Charlie Chaplin impersonator strolled through the crowd.

But that was the end. He was acquitted six months later and moved to Bahrain.

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(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune.

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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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ARCHIVE PHOTOS on KRT Direct (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): Michael Jackson

AP-NY-03-24-06 1241EST

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