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Neverland Farewell For Jackson?

Santa Barbara County officials are in a meeting about Michael Jackson plans, and multiple media outlets are reporting they are discussing a possible memorial service at his Neverland Ranch.

Lt. Butch Arnoldi, a Sheriff's Department spokesman, tells E! Online: "Our guys are meeting as we speak with the California Highway Patrol to discuss the security issues."

Santa Barbara County Fire spokesman Capt. David Sadecki confirmed to The Associated Press that fire officials, California Highway Patrol and county sheriffs officials were meeting Tuesday morning to discuss "the whole Michael Jackson thing."

He did not elaborate.

Celebrity Web site TMZ.com is reporting that a motorcade of 30 cars is being planned to accompany the singer's body to Neverland Ranch, about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles, and that a public viewing will take place there Friday or Saturday. CNN is also reporting that in addition to the public memorial, a private service will take place on Sunday. There has been no confirmation on where Jackson's body will be buried.

Jackson purchased Neverland, which boasted amusement-park rides and a zoo, in 1987. He lived there until 2005, when he was acquitted on child molestation charges. He later ran into financial trouble with the ranch, but still owned a partial stake in it at the time of his death.

A memorial is also being planned in Jackson's hometown of Gary, Ind. Lalosa Burns, a spokeswoman for Gary Mayor Rudy Clay, said in a statement that the city is planning a memorial service for Friday, July 10, at the city's U.S. Steel Works ball park.

It would be "a memorial that's fit for the prince of peace and a memorial that's fit for Gary, Indiana's favorite son, the greatest entertainer that ever lived," Clay said.

The city is also asking that the singer be buried there. Burns said that Mayor Clay has been in contact with the Jackson family in hopes of making that happen, and that potential burial sites could include a proposed Jackson family museum and a performing arts center.

"The mayor had spoken with a contact of the Jackson family and expressed our interest in having that to be a part of the history of this great family," Burns said. "We have not received confirmation on that."

Both Neverland Ranch and Jackson's childhood home in Gary have been visited by fans paying tribute to the "King of Pop" since his death in Los Angeles on June 25.

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