C 2014 11 06

NIGHT

PREDATOR

The dark side of Ama zon

See REEL WORLD, page 26

ANIMAL

ESP

At the online retail colossus, ‘cheap’ comes at a very hefty price

BY JIM HIGHTOWER

See 15 MINUTES, page 13

PAGE 18

NEW JAMS

IN THE HOUSE See ARTS DEVO, page 30

WELCOMING OUR VETS See NEWSLINES, page 8

Chico’s News & Entertainment Weekly

Volume 38, Issue 11

Thursday, November 6, 2014

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CN&R

INSIDE

NOTICE TO CITY OF 10CHICO RESIDENTS: 10 OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE ON 09 BOARD AND COMMISSIONS

Vol. 38, Issue 11 • November 6, 2014

OPINION Editorial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Guest Comment. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Second & Flume . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Streetalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Eco Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

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COVER STORY

ALL APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED IN THE CITY CLERK’S OFFICE BY 5:00 P.M. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2014

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Arts Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 This Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Fine Arts listings . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Nightlife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Reel World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 In The Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Chow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Arts DEVO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Brezsny’s Astrology . . . . . . . . .31

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CLASSIFIEDS

31

REAL ESTATE

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Authentic South Indian Cuisine

ARTS & CULTURE

ON THE COVER: PHOTO BY ROXANNE PASIBE/EAST BAY EXPRESS DESIGN BY TINA FLYNN

Shrimp, Lamb & Pakoras, Vegetarian & Non-vegetarian Curries, Tandoori & Biriyani Entrees

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Editor Melissa Daugherty Associate Editor Meredith J. Graham Arts Editor Jason Cassidy News Editor Tom Gascoyne Asst. News Editor/Healthlines Editor Howard Hardee Staff Writer Ken Smith Calendar Assistant Mallory Russell Contributors Catherine Beeghly, Craig Blamer, Alastair Bland, Henri Bourride, Rachel Bush, Vic Cantu, Matthew Craggs, Kyle Delmar, Bob Grimm, Miles Jordan, Karen Laslo, Leslie Layton, Mark Lore, Melanie MacTavish, Sean Murphy, Mazi Noble, Brian Palmer, Shannon Rooney, Toni Scott, Claire Hutkins Seda, Juan-Carlos Selznick, Robert Speer, Allan Stellar, Evan Tuchinsky, Carey Wilson Interns Hunter Du Puy, Nate Ward, Brittany Waterstradt Managing Art Director Tina Flynn Editorial Designer Sandra Peters Creative Director Priscilla Garcia Design Melissa Bernard, Brad Coates, Mary Key, Kyle Shine, Skyler Smith Advertising Manager Jamie DeGarmo Advertising Services Coordinator Ruth Alderson Advertising Consultants Alex Beehner, Brian Corbit, Laura Golino Junior Sales Associate/Assistant Faith de Leon Senior Classified Advertising Consultant Olla Ubay

President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Chief Operations Officer Deborah Redmond Human Resources Manager Tanja Poley Business Manager Grant Rosenquist Accounting Specialist Tami Sandoval Accounts Receivable Specialist Nicole Jackson Lead Technology Synthesist Jonathan Schultz Senior Support Tech Joe Kakacek Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins 353 E. Second Street, Chico, CA 95928 Phone (530) 894-2300 Fax (530) 894-0143 Website www.newsreview.com Got a News Tip? (530) 894-2300, ext. 2245 or chiconewstips@newsreview.com Calendar Events www.newsreview.com/calendar Calendar Questions (530) 894-2300, ext. 2240 Classifieds (530) 894-2300, press 4 Printed by Paradise Post The CN&R is printed using recycled newsprint whenever available.

Editorial Policies Opinions expressed in the Chico News & Review are those of the author and not Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permission to reprint portions of the paper. The Chico News & Review is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or review materials. Email letters to chicoletters@newsreview.com. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to edit letters for length (200 words or less), clarity and libel or not to publish them.

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Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Manager Mark Schuttenberg Distribution Staff Ken Gates, Bob Meads, Pat Rogers, Mara Schultz, Larry Smith, Lisa Torres, Placido Torres, Jeff Traficante, Bill Unger, Lisa Van Der Maelen Our Mission To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring.

To create a quality work environment that encourages employees to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare. To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live.

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GREENWAYS

Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Pulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Weekly Dose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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10 Street, 3rd Floor 10 and on the 10 Applications are available from the City Clerk’s10Office, 411 Main City’s website, www.ci.chico.ca.us. Please call 896-7250 if you have any questions.

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HEALTHLINES

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Persons may apply to one or more of the following Board or Commissions: Airport Commission, 09 09 Architectural Review and Historic Preservation09 Board, Arts Commission, Bidwell Park and 09 Playground Commission and Planning Commission. All appointments will be four year terms beginning January 2015, and expiring January 2019.

NEWSLINES

15 Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Homegrown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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The Chico City Council is seeking applications from volunteers to serve on the City of Chico’s Board and Commissions. Applicants must be residents of the City of Chico and qualified voters 10 (18 years or older).

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Send guest comments, 400 words maximum, to gc@ newsreview.com, or to 353 E. 2nd St., Chico, CA 95928. Please include photo & short bio.

Welcome to public service It’s been a pretty brutal campaign season, especially in the last few weeks

Making Chico safe for all everal years ago, the local faith-based community created S a rotating winter shelter program, providing food and a safe place to sleep at night. That same community supported

but we need more venues, more volunteer help and more funding for Safe Space to become what it should be: a winter-long the development of the Jesus Center and the Torres Commuplace to come in out of the cold for a meal, nity Shelter, and the need for the rotating warmth and safe sleep. shelter “went away” for a while. But Nighttime temperatures are already dipnow, as homelessness reaches crisis levping toward dangerous levels, lending an els across our nation, the current local urgency to this need. Providing emergency programs that serve those in need are fac- cold-weather shelter saves lives, saves taxing record demands on their resources. payers vast amounts through decreasing the This is where the Chico Housing need for police, fire department and emerAction Team comes in. Formed in 2013 gency responses, and saves those involved by to address the need for affordable housmeeting our needs for connection and meaning solutions for our ing in our lives. by homeless and housingroot of the current crisis Cynthia Gailey “Providing emergency canThe insecure, CHAT soon seem insurmountable, but if organized emergency shelcold-weather shelter we reach out to individuals expeThe author, a retired ter in response to the onset riencing the demeaning and aliensaves lives ... ” registered nurse, is a of sub-freezing temperaating effects of homelessness, we neighborhood watch tures and heavy rain. The improve in some measure the organizer and chair of Chico Peace & Justice Center and the quality of life of our entire community. If we the Safe Space Jesus Center graciously opened their wait to act until it is too cold, we may awakcommittee of the doors for a total of 16 nights last winter. en one morning from our safe, warm sleep, Chico Housing Action Team. She’s lived in This year, CHAT’s Safe Space Winter only to find that another human, trying to surChico since 1983.

Shelter program is prepared to open for vive unsheltered, has died of exposure. several weeks, with the Jesus Center, and For more info about Safe Space and how Trinity Methodist, Bidwell Presbyterian to volunteer, go to chat.ivolunteer.com/ and East Avenue churches all planning to safespace and chicohousingactionteam.org. open their doors for shelter on a rotating To donate, make checks out to CHAT with basis. We are very grateful and indebted Safe Space in the memo line, and mail to to those who have already joined with us, P.O. Box 4868, Chico CA, 95927. Ω 4

CN&R

November 6, 2014

leading up to Election Day. We’ve seen a number of attack ads from both the local conservative and progressive camps, especially in the contest for Chico City Council. The negative campaigning was a disappointing move during an important time in the city’s history.

Right now, at the tail-end of the Great Recession, the last thing the city needs is more division among the members of the City Council. Management is working to put city finances back in the black and the members of the council, including those chosen by the electorate during this week’s midterm elections, need to put aside “At the tail-end of the Great their ideological differences and Recession, the last thing the work together for the greater good of the community. city needs is more division During the candidates forums this among the members of fall, we heard a lot of hyperbole from both sides. In the end, the conservathe City Council.” tive slate of candidates—Vice Mayor Mark Sorensen, and newcomers Andrew Coolidge and Reanette Fillmer—connected with the greatest number of voters. Chico is a special place to live and our hope is that the incoming members of the panel are driven by a desire to serve, not political ambition. Now that the campaigning is over, it’s time to find solutions for the real problems plaguing the city. That’s not going to be easy. It’s going to take a willingness to make tough choices and keep an open mind.

We want to congratulate the winners in all of the local races, but we also want to issue a fair warning: The CN&R will be watching what you say, how you vote, and how you represent your constituents—all of them.

It’s our job. If we see you favoring the special interests, we will call you on the carpet. Welcome to the world of public service. Ω

The big picture On the one hand, the City Council’s decision to move forward with a plan to

remove dozens of trees from a northwest Chico neighborhood seemed like throwing the baby out with the bath water. After all, the giant, shadeproviding Yarwood sycamores along Mission Ranch Boulevard aren’t diseased. On the other hand, some of them are pushing up the sidewalk, posing a hazard for pedestrians, and thus creating a liability for the city.

Large branches have fallen on nearby private property, including one resident’s car.

By all accounts, the fast-growing, roughly 14-year-old sycamores were the wrong variety of trees for the area. As noted during the meeting, they were not planted with the proper irrigation that would have allowed the trees to plant deep roots. We agree that removing them is the right thing to do in this circumstance.

What we are concerned about, however, is that the city clearly lacks the information it needs to properly maintain the existing canopy and to replenish trees slated for removal. At this point, without an urban forester on staff and without a comprehensive plan—the long-promised Urban Forest Management Plan—we question whether the General Services Department is competent enough to replant trees suitable to the region.

As one member of the public put it, “Let Chico be known as the City of Trees, not the City of Crepe Myrtles.” Her point was that it’s not suitable to replace large canopy trees such as sycamores with the ornamental small trees.

We know that city staff is dealing with an overwhelming amount of work. But this issue has been shelved for far too long. The department needs to set a firm timeline for adoption of a management plan. As the CN&R has said before, one of the public’s points of pride in Chico is its trees. Properly caring for them should be a priority. Ω

HEALTH CARE ENROLLMENT ASSISTANCE

Send email to chicoletters @ newsreview.com

SECOND & FLUME

by Melissa Daugherty melissad@newsreview.com

Fun with numbers I hate to beat a dead horse, but last week I got a call from a longtime reader, and it led me down a most enlightening path. Said reader wanted to know if Chico’s police officers weren’t compensated enough, as had been recently expressed to him by someone affiliated with the police department. I found myself repeating what I’ve written in this column time and time again. You know, that most of the city’s general fund is spent on employee payroll, and that a majority of that payroll allocation goes to publicsafety personnel, mostly to police, who are compensated handsomely.

But then I stopped myself. I asked the reader if he was in front of his computer. He was. So I led him to the city’s website and to the link titled “City financial data.” That’s where the public can find compensation info for all city employees, from 2007 to 2013. And together, we did a little fun reading. The first police officer listed on the report from the earliest year made $28,108 in regular pay, but more than $50,000 in total compensation with overtime and benefits pay factored in. In 2013, that same officer made a salary of $69,507 and $138,826 in total compensation.

I’m no CFO, but a raise of more than 100 percent over six years seems pretty generous.

The city’s data isn’t perfect, however. To be fair, I have no idea whether the officer, listed only as employee EM3615, came on mid-year or something. Knowing how many hours each person worked would be helpful. I also favor posting each employee’s name, which is legal in California.

I then came upon employee EM3210, another police officer, who made a salary of $54,801 in 2007 and about $11,000 in overtime. With benefits, the grand total that year came to $118,000. In 2013, that officer’s salary is listed at $71,219. Including nearly $18,000 in overtime and those excessive benefits I’ve been haranguing about, that officer cost the city about $155,000.

OK, so not a 100 percent increase in that case. But I’d still say a $16,000-plus raise during the Great Recession isn’t too shabby.

Those cases aren’t flukes. As I went down the lines of text, it became clear that Chico’s police department was immune to austerity measures that ought to have taken place during the global financial crisis. In almost every instance, throughout the recession, police officers’ salaries and benefits jumped significantly. Same goes for employees of the fire department. Go see for yourself at www.chico.ca.us.

If you think something’s wrong with this scenario, let your representatives know. City management is currently in negotiations with the cops union, but those administrators get direction from the council.

Speaking of spending money wisely, whether you like it or not, we’re closing in on the holidays. This year, I was disturbed to see Christmas decorations appear on store shelves in September. I’d like to urge readers to check out this week’s cover story by Jim Hightower about online-behemoth Amazon before purchasing any gifts or gift certificates. Two words: buy locally.

Melissa Daugherty is editor of the CN&R

More on Bill Lee Re “Remembering Bill Lee” (Guest comment,

by Robert Speer, Oct. 3): I was saddened to read of the death of Bill Lee, but at 96 years of age, it appears he lived a long life. I worked with Bill; I was a lowly proofreader and TTS operator in the ’60s, but loved that job and working with him. When I worked nights at the E-R, he would sometimes be there late working on an editorial. He was funny, friendly and a workaholic who was quick to point out if I missed an error. He made the E-R a great place to work. We need more like him.

PAT MULLANIX Orland

[Bill Lee was] also an inveterate and knowledgeable Chico State sports fan, and an engaging, discerning and instructive conversationalist.

ABE BAILY Chico

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Let’s admit the problem Re “Bigger questions” (Letters, by Patrick Newman, Oct. 30): Patrick Newman and Mike Peters believe that men have been misrepresented, even vilified, by women on these pages and that women should own up to their role in creating the morally and environmentally dire situation humans are in today. We could argue about this forever, but instead, let’s look at some statistics: Each year over 90 percent of murders, incidents of domestic violence, rapes and all violent crimes are perpetrated by men.

Every corporation involved in the sub-prime mortgage scandal of 2008 was headed by a man, as are most mining and logging companies, nuclear power and coal plants, industrial/factory farms, pesticide companies, weapons manufacturers and rogue governments around the world, including our own.

Anita Sarkeesian received thousands of threats of death and unspeakable sexual violence for talking about sexism in video games, as did the actress who helped make a video about sexual harassment in New York City that went viral. In China and India, female infanticide numbers in the millions each year. It clearly would appear that women, the planet and life in general aren’t valued under the current patriarchal paradigm. Most men are good people, a few I love and consider close friends, but shouldn’t we admit there’s a problem here?

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Protect our water Recently the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation held a public hearing in Chico, inviting comments on the proposed 10-year Sacramento River Valley Transfer Program. The bureau is analyzing water transfers up to 600,000 acre-feet per year.

The water would be sold by North State sellers to buyers in Southern California. Many of the 200 attendees voiced passionate opposition to the transfers. Several described serious water issues they are currently grappling with, includ-

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ing dry wells, in part due to the ongoing drought. Northern California farmers and residents alike have a great deal at stake if the cumulative effects of the transfers drop water levels further.

In 1994 sustained groundwater pumping was used to replace water sold south. The result was numerous well failures in the Durham area. The environmental impact of the proposed transfer program likely will compound water supply issues. I urge people to take measures to preserve North State water while there is still time. One way is to support AquAlliance, a nonprofit group that is acting on public behalf to see that environmental laws are enforced (www.AquAlliance.net).

I also encourage emailing your comments to bhubbard@usbr.gov.

ELENA MIDDLETON Oroville

Deep pockets from Southern California want to buy water from North State water sellers via a water transfer program administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The amount of water that may be sold per year is staggering.

The number is up to 600,000 acrefeet a year, which is about what a city of 100,000 uses in 20 years.

It is almost impossible to imagine this much water leaving the North State every year over the next 10 years, especially in light of the severe drought we are experiencing. The loss of this water likely would have widespread effects on our aquifer. People who have been monitoring groundwater wells report that groundwater levels have been falling at least a foot a year for many years.

I have neighbors who have had problems with their private wells.

Some area farmers have had their wells run dry. The preservation of our groundwater is the mission of AquAlliance, a group that needs this community’s help in hiring environmental lawyers to prevent this unsustainable program from being allowed to move forward at the expense of our precious groundwater supplies. Please support AquAlliance and stand up for our water.

JUDITH PFANDLER Paradise

Support teachers I spent five years of study preparing for my job. It took me several years to pay back my student loans in spite of working part time during school years. I carry my work home most evenings to assess the day’s progress and prepare for the next.

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November 6, 2014

I take my job very seriously, for I am responsible for changing the lives of hundreds and preparing them for the future. My job requires me to prepare progress reports and share these results routinely with my constituents. My vacations are often spent in creative study or part-time employment. I’m on my feet most of the time and interacting the entire working day with short breaks between “shifts” and a brief lunch break. Still, I love what I do and take pride in my profession.

If you haven’t guessed, I am a teacher. Join California retired teachers in celebrating the Week of the Teacher, Nov. 2-8.

DICK CORY, CalRTA Chico

O-bomb-ercare, get it?

Will the Mideast heal under Obombercare?

STEPHEN T. DAVIS Chico

“It is almost impossible to imagine this much water leaving the North State every year over the next 10 years ...”

–Judith Pfandler

Go with the flow In my over 10 years living in Chico, one thing that I’ve always enjoyed was the way traffic flowed in downtown. I called it “the wave.” It was the synchronization of the traffic lights going north to south from The Esplanade around 11th Avenue to Park around 20th Street. This was a wonderful way to get around town and I wouldn’t think twice about driving downtown.

Since last year, this has been sadly missing. There are delays at not fewer that three lights when attempting to travel from the south to the north and vice versa. And while it isn’t a major problem, its resolution would not be a difficult fix either. Simply restore the timing of the lights to their former glory and there will be a major restoration of “flow” in energy through the heart of town. I will heartily celebrate the return of “the wave.”

ADAM MOES Chico

Props to the nurse I applaud nurse Kaci Hickox for refusing to submit to a 21-day quarantine upon returning home to

Maine after working in Ebolastricken Sierra Leone. I’m currently enduring similar civil rights violations.

For my having sustained a brain injury in an assault by a drunken career felon in 2005, California revoked my driver’s license and vehicle registrations. This is despite that its own website cites research (Haselkorn, 1998) demonstrating brain-injured drivers pose no added collision risk.

Since I had no difficulty driving whatsoever and needed to earn a living, I continued driving without incident. However, after four years the state effected the confiscation of my vehicles and work tools. Since I live alone and my home’s 20 miles from the nearest town, this precluded me from working. I was accordingly forced to exhaust my savings, to endure severe and increasing poverty, and suffer loss of other legal rights.

The problem Kaci Hickox, I, and multitudes like us face is that government’s so wealthy and powerful, it lacks motivation to use finesse performing its work. It accordingly squanders money enforcing insensible rules that violate people’s civil rights.

NATHAN ESPLANADE Corning

Loved ones say thanks Sincere appreciation and thanks to everyone involved with providing love, care, thoughts, energy, and/or prayers to my niece, Jennifer Robinson. She passed peacefully Sept. 24, surrounded by loved ones. Her hope was to make it to her birthday, which was Sept. 20.

Jen was strong-willed, outspoken, feisty and an amazing young lady, determined to stay alive. She fought a long, hard battle against a deadly cancer, retroperitoneal liposarcoma. In less than four years, Jen endured four brutal surgeries, internal and external radiation, and chemotherapy twice. She received amazing care from both Enloe Medical Center and Stanford. Thanks to all of the doctors, nurses, paramedics and Feather River Hospice for your amazing care. You are all examples of angels here on earth.

We invite anyone interested in celebrating Jen’s life to please join us at the Chico Elks Lodge on Nov. 8, from 6-11 p.m. This will be a potluck-style event with nohost bar and music. In lieu of any flowers, donations can be made to the Jennifer Robinson Memorial at Tri Counties Bank, Account #066733804 or gofundme.com.

SHIRL DIETZ Chico

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There are so many different directions I could go with this! I’m looking forward to vacation. Isn’t everyone looking forward to vacation all the time? We’ll probably go to the ocean. There should be a direct road from Chico to Fort Bragg.

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Joanna Gutierrez, a friend of the Paradise library (as well as the town clerk), helped attract a grant that spurred discussions about veterans issues and ways to help soldiers adjust upon their return to civilian life.

DRUG NETWORKING

Six young men were busted in Chico for allegedly selling drugs to undercover officers during a sting operation on Thursday (Oct. 30). All of the transactions were initiated through FADE, a social media app for college students, and completed in the south campus neighborhood.

Officers from the Butte Interagency Narcotics Task Force and the Chico Police Department participated in the sting, according to a police press release. Four of the six suspects—Phillip Wayne Baker (20), Ellis James Lindenthal (18), Wesly Keith Murphy (19) and David James O’Callaghan (22)—were college students living in Chico. Baker, Lindenthal and O’Callaghan were arrested on marijuanarelated charges, while Murphy was booked for criminal conspiracy.

Geoffrey Tyler O’Brien (19) of Orland was arrested for selling ecstasy, and Kenyatta Eric Traylor (19) of Berkeley was arrested for selling ecstasy and cocaine, among other charges.

PHOTO BY PAULA SCHULTZ

FREE PARKING!

The city of Chico once again is showing shoppers a little holiday spirit by allowing them to park downtown at no charge on certain days leading up to Christmas.

During its regular meeting Tuesday, Nov. 4, the City Council authorized staff to move forward with its so-called “parking meter forgiveness program.” In short, it calls for free parking in metered stalls each Friday, starting on Nov. 28 and running through Dec. 19. On those days, those parked in stalls with expired meters will not be issued a citation so long as they do not exceed the time limit allotted for the space.

The program complements the Downtown Chico Business Association’s Hometown Holiday Hospitality Program, which is designed to attract shoppers into the city center. While there is a potential loss of $13,400 in meter revenues for those days, staff anticipates losing less money, since some patrons will still feed the machines.

FINAL FUNDING PUSH

Candidates for three seats on the Chico City Council collectively spent $37,362 between Oct. 19 and Oct. 30, according to campaign finance reports submitted to the City Clerk’s Office.

Andrew Coolidge (pictured) raised the most with $6,265 during the final filing period for a total of $48,560 (including loans and nonmonetary contributions). He spent $9,931 during the final push, and $38,713 total.

Reanette Fillmer spent the most ($10,349 in the final period, and $42,848 total), and raised the second most funds ($6,770 in the final period, and $44,325 total).

The other candidates’ totals for money raised and spent are as follows: Mark Sorensen ($25,540 raised, $24,106 spent); Lupe Arim-Law ($21,281, $20,069); Scott Gruendl ($18,858, $18,121); Forough Molina ($17,627, $13,390). Altogether, six candidates raised a total of $176,191 and spent $157,247. Rodney Willis did not raise funds.

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November 6, 2014

Help on the homefront Butte County libraries host discussions about returning from combat, open veterans resource center hat is it like to return from war?

W For military members, there’s a sense of loss from leaving the close-knit community of broth-

ers and sisters they’ve lived and fought side-byside with. There’s a sudden void where structure and purpose by once presided. There’s the Meredith J. onslaught of emotions long supGraham pressed in the face of combat. meredithg@ Of course, there’s more. newsreview.com For those who haven’t been to war, though, it’s difficult to truly understand. But recent discussions hosted by the Paradise Friends of the Library through a Cal Humanities grant brought some of it to light.

“I got involved in this because of the war that’s been ongoing for more than a decade,” said Joanna Gutierrez, a Catch the friend of the library and project last talk: The final director for the California Reads discussion as part grant, the theme of which was of the War Comes War Comes Home: Our VeterHome program ans, Our Communities. A wife of will be held a veteran, she knows first-hand Saturday, Nov. 8, at 1 p.m. at the some of the struggles returning Chico branch of soldiers face. “It’s important that the Butte County we pay attention to what’s going Public Library, on and to the effects of war on 1108 Sherman our service people, their families Ave., 891-2762. and the community.”

The grant helped make the discussions possible—there were eight of them in total, with only one left, this weekend at the Chico branch of the Butte County Library—and added focus by providing copies of Karl Marlantes’ best-selling nonfiction book, What It Is Like to Go to War. About a dozen people attended the most recent event, held at the Paradise Town Hall (there was a book sale at the library) on Saturday (Nov. 1). Some were veterans; others were family members of veterans; others yet were veteran advocates.

Some of the comments were eyeopening.

“During World War II, everyone had a part to play,” one veteran said.

“Now we’re disconnected, we’re not invested.”

“All we see is what the media feeds us,” a veteran’s wife chimed in. “For us [at home], it’s business as usual.”

“The whole country stopped [when the U.S. entered World War II],” recalled another vet, who served in the Korean War. “You’d see a guy in uniform on the streets and offer him a ride; we’d bring him home to dinner. There were veterans parades in almost every town. It hurts me to see these guys coming back and the country doesn’t do anything for them.”

According to the U.S. Census, there are

more than 19,000 veterans living in Butte County, the majority of them in Chico. That’s why, on the heels of receiving the War Comes Home Cal Humanities grant, folks at the Butte County libraries started looking at other ways to address issues facing veterans.

Sarah Vantrease, librarian at the Oroville branch, noticed an opportunity to apply for funding—via the California Department of Veterans Affairs—to create a Veterans Resource Center in Butte County. The funding was approved and the center is scheduled to open in the Chico branch by the end of the year.

“Chico has the largest number of veterans in the county, and with a VA service center there, people might already be traveling to Chico to access veterans services,” Vantrease said by phone. “Overall, this project and initiative will help all the libraries. There will be training for all library staff, not just in Chico, to be able to give quality referrals to veterans who might be looking for things like medical care, employment or housing.”

Brenda Crotts, librarian for the Chico branch, will be attending a training session along with Adrienne Martin, the branch’s volunteer coordinator, Thursday and Friday (Nov. 6-7). When they

return, they’ll train the rest of the library staff. The funding they’re receiving for the center will cover materials—both written and video—and the Friends of the Library have offered to pay for new furniture to ensure a private space where veterans and their family members can come in and find resources, work on résumés, and explore housing and medical care options.

“Adrienne went on two tours of Iraq.

When she got back, she didn’t know the resources available to her. She helped set up one of these [service centers] in her college,” Crotts said. “Veterans relate better and are more likely to go to a place where there are other veterans.

Adrienne is a veteran. But we are also trying to get veterans to volunteer at the library.”

Tangible things like the resource center

are steps in the right direction, Gutierrez said. But she’s not about to back down from her goal of improving the experience of coming home for local veterans.

Part of that is simply educating the public about what people who serve our country in this way go through due to the emotional and physical effects of war.

“Now that the military is allvolunteer, the vast majority of people in this country are never affected by war. It is actually not a part of our lives,” said Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea, who recalled his uncle’s return from Vietnam, when people actually spat on veterans.

“The only way we know how not to repeat the sins of Vietnam is to say, ‘Thank you.’ But I was never invested in your service.”

One veteran said that, upon his return from Afghanistan, he noted the superficiality of most Americans’ patriotism— flags and yellow ribbons with little of substance backing them up.

“You support the troops, fine. But we don’t need your support until we come home,” he said. “And it just wasn’t there.”

Statistics show he may be right. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans reports that veterans account for 12 percent of the adult homeless population in the United States. That equals about 50,000 people on any given night. In addition, PBS reported that the unemployment rate among young veterans— those who’ve returned from war since 2001—was 9 percent in 2013, higher than the national average of 7.4 percent.

Those ages 18-24 fared much worse, however, with a jobless rate at 21.4 percent.

“Our veterans are very capable and intelligent people,” Gutierrez said. “They served our country in the military and they’re poised to serve our country as civilians. We just need to raise the awareness level of that. I think we did that in our community with our talks. We started that.” Ω

Sharing the burden With the public calling for more police downtown, city may turn to UPD for help n light of the Chico Police Department’s well-documented struggles IChief to reign in crime and deal with downtown transient issues, Police Kirk Trostle recently proposed that Chico State expand the role

of its police department.

As first reported by the CN&R last week, in a letter addressed to Chico State President Paul Zingg dated Oct. 16, Trostle pushes for a revision to the Joint Public Safety Agreement between the Chico PD and university police. The letter was prompted by a plea for action sent to the Chico City Council by Gina McCammon, human resources director at the Chico State Research Foundation. By Trostle’s account, McCammon said she feels increasingly unsafe going to and from her workplace downtown.

Trostle wrote that McCammon had described “daily interactions with mentally unstable transient adults, homeless people sleeping by the creek, employees being yelled at walking to and from their cars, [urination] on the university’s building directly in front of an employees’ window, [and people] selling drugs to Chico High [School] students and yelling at street signs in the parking lot.”

Trostle proposed that Zingg direct the University Police Department—which has a working force of 14 officers who rotate in patrolling the campus 24 hours a day—to proactively police areas within one mile of university property, thereby answering the public’s call for an increased enforcement presence downtown.

Some community members are backing the idea, including Lupe Arim-Law, who recently campaigned for City Council, and Tom Nickell, a former City Council member and retired California Highway Patrol officer.

During a recent interview, Arim-Law said that since the city isn’t in a financial position to consider hiring more police officers, turning to UPD “seems like common sense, just a no-brainer.”

Nickell is also adamant that UPD’s role should be expanded, particularly since areas within one mile of campus would include the south campus neighborhood, where, nearly every weekend, problems associated with parties put a strain on Chico PD’s resources.

“Chico State has to take responsibility for the actions in the college area,” Nickell said. “That would allow the city to bring police back to downtown.”

In 2006, following the hazing death of a Chico State fraternity member

the year before, the two police departments formally defined their responsibilities as per the Kristin Smart Campus Act of 1998, which requires campus and local police departments to establish jurisdictional boundaries in writing.

Under the current Joint Public Safety Agreement, last updated in 2009, Chico PD has primary jurisdiction over all law enforcement

SIFT|ER What’s the greatest global threat?

Several community members and the city’s police chief would like to see University Police Department officers proactively patrolling parts of downtown.

PHOTO BY BRITTANY WATERSTRADT

services within city limits, while UPD oversees campus and properties owned or leased by Chico State, such as the University Farm, and is also the first responder to recognized fraternities and sororities.

Over the past few years, the working relationship between the two departments has gotten stronger, said University Police Chief Robyn Hearne.

“There was a time when the Chico State police department concentrated only on the campus and that was it, and I think that’s how the city wanted it at that point,” she said. “But that’s changed a lot.

We routinely get calls from Chico police to assist their officers on calls, provide backup, or handle calls they can’t get to.”

The support goes both ways, Hearne said. “They’ve shown up and backed our officers many times as well. We work together every day and every night.”

Expanding the role of UPD within the community is a concept that’s

been kicked around at least since 1999, when then-Police Chief Michael Efford said in an interview with the CN&R that he wished the UPD would become more involved off campus.

And other, similar universities in California, such as UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz, have directed campus police to patrol their surrounding communities. George Hughes, chief of police at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, said in an email that “we proactively patrol and enforce crimes within the one-mile radius off campus and within the city of San Luis Obispo.” Hughes added that the patrols are well-received by the community “as we all work together to address public disorder crimes.”

The key word is “proactively.” While Chico State police officers have the authority to address crimes they see off campus, they don’t have explicit instructions to patrol downtown or the south campus neighborhood. As Hearne put it, ensuring the safety of the 2,200 students who live on campus and protecting properties affiliated with the university is her staff’s top priority.

It remains to be seen whether anything will come of Trostle’s letter, which requested a meeting between university and city administration regarding amendments to the Joint Public Safety Agreement within two weeks. As of Nov. 3, the two parties had yet to meet, Zingg said in an email.

The memorandum is amended every few years, Hearne said, accounting for Greek organizations no longer recognized by the university or any properties purchased or sold since the last update.

The current agreement is valid until Dec. 31.

Nickell, for one, hopes the next round of amendments will include Trostle’s recommendation.

“Fact is, we’re in tough times,” he said.

“Let’s get some help in here, pool resources and focus on downtown until we can get the city’s financial situation together. We’re a community, and Chico State is part of the community.”

What people consider the greatest threat to humanity varies by geographic area, according to the 2014 Global Attitudes Survey. In the war-torn Middle East, respondents identified religious and ethnic hatred as the top threat. In the advanced economies of Europe and the United States, residents said inequality was the biggest problem. In Asia, where overpopulation is straining natural resources, pollution and the environment was the greatest concern. Not surprisingly, Africans ranked AIDS and other diseases as their No. 1 fear. Residents in Latin America were more divided, but nuclear weapons, pollution and the environment were high on their list.

Source: Pew Research Center

—HOWARD HARDEE howardh@newsreview.com

NEWSLINES continued on page 10 November 6, 2014

CN&R

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Public Notice

LEAF PICKUP

STARTS NOVEMBER NOVEMBER 3, 1, 2013 STARTS 2014 AND ENDS JANUARY 2, 2015 2014

CITY OF CHICO RESIDENTS SHOULD...

PLACE leaves in the parking area on the street closest to their property.

PLACE leaves away from the curb and storm drains to allow drainage.

PLACE leaves in piles less than 4 feet in height.

USE CAUTION when driving, walking, or bicycling near City leaf pickup equipment.

CITY OF CHICO RESIDENTS SHOULD NOT...

BLOCK bicycle lanes, driveways, or storm drains.

DEPOSIT branches, limbs, trees, or other debris for pickup (LEAVES ONLY).

This program is not available to residents living on privately-owned streets or in unincorporated areas.

Residential street sweeping operations will be suspended during leaf season and will resume in February 2015.

2014.

To reduce bike and traffic hazards, property owners and landscape companies who service commercial and multifamily properties are NOT ALLOWED to place leaves in city streets.

PLEASE CONTACT THE CITY FOR OTHER LEAF DISPOSAL OPTIONS. City of Chico: 894-4200 Monday - Friday, 7am-4pm RightofWayMaintenance@ci.chico.ca.us RightofWayMaintenance@chicoca.gov

continued from page 9

Devouring trees and doughnuts City Council denies appeal of sycamore removal in northwest Chico neighborhood bout a half hour after Chico Ahanded City Council members were complimentary Krispy

Kreme doughnuts Tuesday night (Nov. 4)—the vendor had been recognized by the Chamber of Commerce—they tackled the fate of 25 trees in a northwest Chico neighborhood that a homeowners association wants removed. In the end, they decided to give the trees the ax.

The council was considering an appeal filed by the Butte Environmental Council (BEC) of the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission’s approval of the tree removal last month.

A total of 100 Yarwood sycamores were planted 14 years ago in the Mission Santa Fe neighborhood, which is located along on Holly Avenue and Mission Ranch Boulevard, west of The Esplanade and south of Raley’s shopping center on East Avenue. The neighborhood association said the trees are damaging sidewalks and irrigation systems, and falling limbs are endangering residents.

BEC’s appeal asked that, before approving the tree removal, the city develop a tree-replacement plan, set a date for hiring an urban forest manager—a position that’s been vacant since Denise Britton retired 18 months ago—and set a deadline for adopting a new Urban Forest Management Plan.

“We base our appeal on our belief that the project has undergone inadequate environmental review because the cumulative effects on the urban forest have not been discussed,” said the BEC request, which was written by Executive Director Robyn DiFalco.

“Last year about this time we appealed to council a decision to remove another set of trees,” she wrote. “We withdrew the appeal, in part, because the city committed to completing the Urban Forest Management Plan within a year.

Almost a year later, the plan is not much closer to completion.”

Dan Efseaff, the city’s parks and natural resources manager, told the council that the trees have demanded a “disproportionate Uprooted sidewalks are one of the reasons residents in the Mission Santa Fe neighborhood want sycamore trees removed.

PHOTO BY TOM GASCOYNE

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November 6, 2014

amount of city maintenance” over the years and do not fit into the city’s policy of “the right tree in the right place.”

He called the Yarwood sycamore, the “poster child of undesirable trees.” The species is not included on the city’s list of acceptable street trees and was planted because it was a favorite of a former urban forester.

Efseaff said the matter of hiring an urban forest manager and developing the Urban Forest Management Plan were not really connected to the issue at hand. A plan “provides a toolbox, not the nittygritty of individual permits.”

Public Works Director Ruben Martinez said his office is working on hiring an urban forest manager, but the process is moving slowly because the department is overwhelmed with the demands of working with limited resources.

Public Works started crafting a forest management plan in June, he said.

“We’ve never had an urban forest plan,” he said. “And it does have its own demands. The Bidwell Park and Playground Commission has scheduled a meeting for the end of November to discuss the plan.”

When the matter was opened for public comment, 11 speakers weighed in, most asking for the trees be left alone. Chico State geography professor Mark Stemen, who is also the president of the BEC board of directors, said the “city has lost sight of the forest for the trees.”

Stemen urged moving forward on adopting the management plan and pointed out that the city’s tree committee had canceled nine of its last 12 meetings, further stalling any progress on the plan.

Kristina Schierenbeck, a Chico State biology professor, said the removal was not yet necessary and the problem is being caused by the irrigation systems.

Speaking for the neighborhood association, Deborah Horton was mainly concerned about safety issues. Three residents have tripped over fallen branches, she said, and another’s vehicle was damaged by a fallen limb. She said the residents had the money to pay for the removal and replacement.

Public Works Director Martinez explained that the estimated $30,000 to remove and replant will come out of a maintenance district fund that serves the neighborhood.

There are about 110 such districts within the city and the money is gathered through property tax revenue.

The council voted 5-2 to deny the appeal with Councilwoman Tami Ritter and Mayor Scott Gruendl dissenting.

BEC’s DiFalco said there was an upside to the council’s decision to allow the tree removal and that was bringing the plight of the city’s trees to the public’s attention.

“This is what was needed to get to the bigger picture and start moving forward,” she said.

—TOM GASCOYNE tomg@newsreview.com

Conservatives Conservativescelebrate celebrate local, local,state stateand andnational national election electionresults results

orth State Republicans had plenty to celeN brate on Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 4), with conservatives winning major victories

Meanwhile, just blocks away on Mangrove

Avenue at the Butte County Democratic Party’s Chico campaign office, a few dozen volunteers and die-hards attended a less-

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AN ARTS INFUSED EDUCATION Conservatives bow their heads as Congressman Doug LaMalfa leads a prayer.

PHOTO BY KEN SMITH

auspicious gathering. The potluck-style refreshments were set haphazardly around a table and there was no bar, just a few loose bottles of help-yourself wine and an unopened bottle of celebratory champagne sitting among the cookies and crackers.

A TV broadcasted national returns via MSNBC in the main meeting room, but many of the attendees instead gathered around a computer screen in another room, regularly hitting refresh for the most recent local updates, which consistently showed Chico City Council candidate Lupe ArimLaw—who was present, along with candidate Forough Molina—in fourth place behind the three conservative challengers, Vice Mayor Mark Sorensen and newcomers Andrew Coolidge and Reanette Fillmer.

Despite the grim news coming in, the Democrats remained hopeful. “It’s still pretty early, so I’m feeling confident, and I’m excited,� Arim-Law said. “It’s been a really interesting journey, and I’m happy that I [ran for office]. “I look forward to whatever happens,�

Arim-Law continued, saying she’ll stay involved in politics after her City Council bid. “Whatever happens tomorrow, it’s going to be a good day, and Chico will be alright.�

Mayor Scott Gruendl ended up in sixth place, followed by Rodney Willis.

In other local election results, Butte County voters approved the more austere of two ordinances regulating medical marijuana cultivation by approving Measure A and voting down Measure B. Measure C—a halfcent sales tax hike in Paradise—was narrowly approved by 51.55 percent, prevailing by a difference of less than 250 votes. Former Republican state Assemblyman Dan Logue lost his bid for the District 3 Congressional seat to incumbent Democrat John Garamendi. Democrats still hold the state’s top office, with Gov. Jerry Brown winning a record fourth term. —KEN SMITH kens@newsreview.com

CN&R

ranging from control of Congress to the three open seats on the Chico City Council.

Locally, the Butte County Republican Party hosted a resplendent celebration at the Holiday Inn after polls closed at 8 p.m., proving they don’t call it the Grand Old Party for nothing.

Several hundred Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale), Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) and state Assembly candidate James Gallagher—all of whom won their respective contests, beating Democratic challengers Heidi Hall, C.J. Jawahar and Jim Reed, respectively—filled the hotel’s main meeting room, which was lined on one side with catered finger foods including meatballs, chicken-and-pineapple skewers and stuffed mushrooms. Attendees were given two drink tickets at check-in, good for cocktails, wine and beer served from a bar located at the far end of the smorgasbord.

The consistent dull roar of conservative conversation lubricated by free drinks was interrupted around 8:40, as LaMalfa led the assembly in a prayer, asking God to bless America and make it a nation of His laws and values rather than “a country of depravity.� LaMalfa’s words were met with a hearty “Amen� and ululations from the crowd.

Chico Police Officers’Association President Peter Durfee followed LaMalfa by leading the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Congressman reclaimed the post he maintained much of the night, watching national results roll in between two large screens showing Fox News and greeting a consistent stream of well-wishers.

Also spotted at the party was Diane Brown, a political neophyte who won a successful campaign for assessor against Butte County Supervisor Bill Connelly. Despite being significantly outspent and lacking Connelly’s name recognition, Brown managed to garner about 55 percent of votes.

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CN&R

11

GREENWAYS Two technicians use the RemoteTracker to measure water flow diverted through a junction box into a North State agriculture field.

Fluid innovators

PHOTO COURTESY OF H2OTECH

Three local companies think big when it comes to water use and conservation by

Eric Miller

reat ideas often gel inside garages.

G Hewlett-Packard immortalized the garage used by its founders. Apple Computer also

started in one, and Steve Jobs ultimately created products consumers didn’t realize they needed, like iPhones, and hit targets no one else could see.

Today, in drought-stricken California, we could use some great new ideas. In order to manage and conserve our dwindling precious resource, we need to innovate for maximum efficiency, and there are some industrious tinkerers who made great progress of late in helping conserve water in the state.

So, what happened when a meteorologist, an engineer and a brewer walked into their prospective garages? They innovated.

Rob Doornbos, founder of Weather Tools LLC,

relocated from Colorado last year to help run the family rice farm south of Chico. A meteorologist, Doornbos just recently caught the entrepreneurial bug. “I recognized I could pursue what I love and help those I care about,” he said.

His product idea—GroWN (Growers Weather Network), a specialized weatherforecasting application for farmers—germinated several years ago. He established his company in 2012, researched countless hours, and formally launched GroWN in late 2013. Doornbos installed his first stations earlier this year.

“I knew another dry year would affect agricultural costs and productivity,” Doornbos said. “I wanted to create a service that helps growers optimize crop production and resource management. The GroWN station networks give farmers meteorological guidance, whether they plant row crops, tree crops or rice.”

Every 15 minutes, GroWN stations report air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction and rainfall to help growers make real-time decisions regarding the application of water, fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides.

“If a three-day forecast calls for hot, dry, north winds, a grower may decide to irrigate sooner than later, to minimize evaporation and maximize water penetration into the root zone,” Doornbos said. “Crop dusters also use 12

CN&R

November 6, 2014

the observations to optimize their flying schedules, save fuel, and to enhance and maintain safety.”

He built the original GroWN units in his garage and, since January, has deployed 15 solar-powered stations throughout the northern Sacramento Valley.

“These data empower our forecasts,” Doornbos said. “More accurate forecasts give growers confidence to make in-field decisions, which leads to more proactive management decisions, including the application of water.”

During a drought, knowing exactly how much

water you do—or don’t—have is critical.

Jeff Davids is a water-resources engineer whose specialty is measuring agricultural surface-water deliveries. He founded Chicobased H2oTech in 2006 after discovering that many water agencies built their infrastructure decades ago and still rely on field crews to measure deliveries. By the time California lawmakers passed the Water Conservation Act in 2009, Davids was already in the beginning stages of creating his innovative water-measuring product, the RemoteTracker.

“Estimating water flows without instruments is subjective. One guy may [estimate] 10 acre-feet and another guy, 8,” he said.

“The RemoteTracker system reduces human error and eliminates guesswork.”

The RemoteTracker is a handheld wireless flow-measurement system. Acoustic

Doppler sensors, integrated with Bluetooth and GPS, measure flows at canal turnouts— like municipal water mains that distribute water to smaller “laterals,” which serve individual fields. At each turnout, water is diverted through concrete junction boxes, or weir boxes. Using the RemoteTracker, volumetric flow data are then transmitted to a database in real time, which allows water agencies—and growers—to improve their water-use accounting.

Consider the Richvale Main Canal, located west of Highway 99, which ultimately serves 20,000 acres of rice. Water is diverted through hundreds of turnouts into smaller laterals and ultimately into fields ranging in size from 30 to 300 acres.

Davids currently works with several Sacramento Valley water agencies to implement the RemoteTracker system, which now serves more than 100,000 acres of farmland.

Were his prototypes built in a garage?

Davids chuckled, “I had a carport.”

While young companies Weather Tools and

H2oTech are just getting off the ground in their efforts to help improve water-use efficiency, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has long been in the spotlight, receiving much acclaim for its efforts in sustainability. However, few know the intricate details of Sierra Nevada’s efforts to measure and curb water usage, a topic of particular interest during a drought year.

“Our source water includes municipal

wells that serve the city of Chico,” explained Cheri Chastain, sustainability manager for Sierra Nevada. “We also operate our own wells to irrigate on-site hop fields. We can’t make beer without water.”

Sierra Nevada was started as a microbrewery in 1980 by Ken Grossman—yep, in his garage—and has grown to the secondlargest craft brewer and seventh largest overall brewer in the country. Sierra Nevada consistently receives national acclaim for implementing sustainability technologies—on-site facilities recover biogas and also produce energy from solar arrays and hydrogen fuel cells.

Sierra Nevada has treated its on-site wastewater since 2002. “But that water isn’t for making beer,” Chastain clarified.

Since then, the brewery also has installed flow meters throughout the facility to measure water usage by the restaurant, packaging, the two brewhouses, and fields. “Our management established a water-conservation task force to investigate potential process changes and improvements,” Chastain said.

“We track water quantity, use and quality, system-wide,” she added. “We know how much we need to make a barrel [31 gallons] of packaged beer. Larger breweries, with greater economies of scale, can get down to 3 or 3.5 barrels of water per barrel of packaged beer. Craft breweries typically land in the 4 to 6 range. We’re just above our target of 4 now but strive to become more efficient.” Ω

ECO EVENT

WELCOME TO FARM CITY Chico and the surrounding communities are celebrating the importance of agriculture to the area with the 10th annual Harvest Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8, at Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park. The free family event features arts and crafts, antique and modern farm equipment, bee demonstrations, nutrition education and much more. The event is organized by a number of businesses, organizations and Chico State united under the banner of the Farm City Celebration. Go to www.farm city.com for more info on this and other Farm City events in November.

THE GOODS phoTo by vic caNTu

15 MINUTES

HOMEGROWN

The bounty of fall

Tune in, Toto Nancy Zuschin has special talents.

For one, she’s a psychic medium and spirit communicator who says she can read people and put them in touch with their loved ones. In addition to being a people psychic, Zuschin says that she can also communicate with pets and helps people understand the deepest feelings of their beloved animals—both the living and the dead. She also uses her “communicator” talents to sense ailments in pets or find lost ones. For more on Zuschin’s services, which include private as well as group readings, visit www.nancyzuschin.com.

What do pet owners come to you for?

Many just want to know what their living pet is thinking, like if they’re treating it right. Owners of rescued pets often come to me concerned their pet might have been mistreated previously.

How long have you been a pet psychic?

Professionally for about 10 years, though I’ve always had psychic experiences I couldn’t explain. Like when I was 8 or 10 at a slumber party when we used a Ouija board. I saw the spirit of my friend’s dead grandma and explained how she was wearing a white dress, holding a rose.

The girls started crying so I got sent home and wasn’t allowed back.

How would you describe your abilities?

I’m an empath, or a “sensitive.” I feel the emotions from nearby people and pets.

I often think they’re my emotions, then I realize they’re not. [Some] sensitives aren’t aware of their abilities so they take alcohol or drugs to numb themselves from it.

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What are your pet energy-healings like?

I don’t personally heal them, but release negative blocked energy and bring issues to the surface for people to look at and work on or go to the vet. I focus energy channeled from the universe to the pet and move my hands around their aura and chakra fields. Afterward, the pets feel way more relaxed. I also do this just before pets pass to make it easier for them to cross over. Once, I felt a problem with a dog’s jaw area even though it didn’t have any symptoms. The owner took it to the vet and found it had a salivary problem, which the vet said might have killed it if they hadn’t caught it in time.

Can you describe the sessions with owners of deceased pets?

We have them at my office or their home, whichever feels most comfortable for them. It’s not unusual to have

lots of crying. Most owners really want to make sure their pet is OK and was loved well. Often the pet will appear in a younger form and we can feel them jump on the couch or a chair. The owner may get frightened, but I reassure them it’s natural.

What other pet services do you offer?

I’ve found three of five lost pets I’ve been called for. I go to the site where the pet was last seen to get a feel for the area. I feel, hear and see things that lead me to other places. The first one was a friend who’d lost her wiener dog and called me as a last resort. I got a “feeling” from a nearby home and told her to ask those neighbors. Sure enough, they’d seen her dog the past few days running nervously between houses. My friend was able to retrieve it nearby.

—ViC Cantu

20

$

by

Meredith J. Graham me r e d i thg@ newsr ev iew.c o m

Harvest season. Halloween is over, our clocks fell back, the weather finally feels like fall. I enjoy the cooler temperatures, and one thing I most look forward to each year at this time is the changing of the menus. Locally grown squash, apples, broccoli, kiwis, pomegranates and potatoes dominate farmers’ markets and grocers, and I am ready to switch from summer salads and sandwiches to heartier stews and casseroles. Writing about it is enough to give me the munchies.

And highlighting the bounty of fall—and this region—is the annual Farm City Celebration, now in its 34th year. The event was created to bring the community closer to its food sources. These days, with the resurgence of interest in locally grown foods, it’s almost cliché to call something “farm to fork,” but that’s exactly what Farm City has been celebrating since well before it became fashionable. Join the festivities this week, including the 10th annual Harvest Festival at Bidwell Mansion, Saturday, Nov. 8, 10 a.m.2 p.m., and the Agri-Business Bus Tour and Lunch, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 7 a.m. (For more on Farm City Celebration, visit www.farmcity.com).

Farm City and our regular farmers’ markets are good reminders of exactly what fruits and veggies are in season ’round these parts, and as the fall crops populate the fields and stalls, so to do the delicious byproducts—apple cider, pumpkin pie, and squash-based soups. Of course, pumpkin might be the most ubiquitous of the fall squash—and thanks to leftover jack-o’-lanterns, maybe the most plentiful right now—but while I love me a pumpkin latte or a scoop of Shubert’s pumpkin ice cream, when it comes to fall soups, it’s all about the butternut squash for me. So, visit your favorite farmers’ market vendor and pick up the few ingredients for this delicious meal, recipe courtesy of food.com. Yum. Butternut Squash Soup 1 tsp. olive oil 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 tsp. fresh sage, chopped 1/2 tsp. salt 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper 3 cups fat-free chicken broth 1 1/2 lbs butternut squash (peeled, seeded, cubed) parmesan cheese (garnish) Directions Add oil, garlic and onion to large stockpot over medium heat.

Sauté for 3-4 minutes.

Add sage, salt, pepper, broth and squash and bring to a boil.

Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until squash is tender.

Puree half of the soup in a food processor or blender and return to pot.

Garnish with parmesan cheese and fresh sage.

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CN&R

13

THE PULSE

HEALTHLINES Neils Wright is one of three certified trainers who will lead two upcoming classes on the Nurtured Heart Approach in Oroville.

LONG-TERM CARELESSNESS

Complaints made at nursing homes across the state haven’t been properly investigated by the California Department of Public Health, a recently released report from State Auditor Elaine Howle finds.

The state monitors the care of more than 300,000 residents at 2,500 long-term facilities, over half of which are nursing homes, according to California Healthline. The audit was requested by lawmakers last year following reports of a backlog of complaints; the findings showed more than 11,000 complaints at nursing homes statewide, and more than 40 percent were classified as having caused or likely to cause harm to a patient. Howle noted that DPH was inconsistent in its investigation of those complaints, which stayed open between 14 and 1,042 days.

In response, DPH Director Ron Chapman has pledged to increase oversight of district offices.

‘Energizing’ good behavior

PHOTO BY BRITTANY WATERSTRADT

NURSES DECRY EBOLA RISK

The state recently issued an Ebola quarantine order for counties to limit exposure risk, but California’s nurses are planning a two-day strike to demand more thorough Ebola safety precautions.

On Oct. 29, the California Department of Public Health announced standardized protocol that requires someone who has traveled from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone or contacted someone with a confirmed case of Ebola to be quarantined for 21 days, according to a DPH press release.

Meanwhile, nurses in 12 states and Washington, D.C., are planning a walkout on Nov. 11 and 12, which, in California alone, will involve 18,000 registered nurses and nurse practitioners at 66 Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics, according to SFGate.com. Representatives from National Nurses United say they’ve been pressing Kaiser for protective equipment, such as fullbody hazardous materials suits, and continuous training for health care workers who might treat an Ebola patient.

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON SODA

Relating how much exercise it takes to burn off calories from soda may more effectively promote healthy choices than nutrition labels.

A study conducted by Johns Hopkins University found that black teenagers in Baltimore, Md., were discouraged from buying sugary drinks at convenience stores when they saw signs telling them how many miles they’d have to walk to burn those calories off, according to SFGate.com. The researchers chose that demographic because, on average, black teens drink up to double the American Heart Association’s maximum daily recommendation of eight to 12 ounces for adolescents.

After the signs were posted, the researchers found the teens purchased fewer sugar-sweetened beverages and were more likely to choose drinks smaller than 16 ounces and to purchase water, diet soda and fruit drinks, though the researchers warned fruit drinks with less than 100 percent juice often contain as much sugar as soda.

Send your health-related news tips to Howard Hardee at howardh@newsreview.com.

14

CN&R

November 6, 2014

Local special-ed experts take new approach to addressing behavioral issues in children by

Evan Tuchinsky evant@newsreview.com

A

s a special education instructor, Neils

Wright has taught children with vastly differing personalities and issues, and knows that some behaviors can pose major challenges.

“Certain kids are more difficult than others,” he said, “and not all approaches work with the most difficult children.”

But he’s found a widely applicable formula with the Nurtured Heart Approach.

Put forth by the Children’s Success Foundation, NHA helps adults work through a child’s disturbances and refocus the child in a positive direction. It’s been applied to myriad youngsters exhibiting behavior problems, including those with diagnoses such as attention deficit disorders and autism spectrum disorders.

“This really provides a new way of looking at difficult behaviors and difficult kids as less that they are difficult and more that they have this incredible intensity,” Wright said, “and our job is to help guide them to where their intensity builds success.”

During his 3 1/2 years working in local classrooms for the Butte County Office of Education, Wright witnessed plenty of student transformations—so many so that when he started at the Sierra School of Butte County this August, he trained the faculty in the Nurtured Heart Approach. (Sierra

School, which opened in 2012 in Oroville, is under the umbrella of Specialized Education Services, Inc., a nationwide provider of custom-designed special education.)

Now his previous and current employers are teaming up to teach the approach to parents. On Nov. 13 and 20, Sierra School and BCOE will conduct free training sessions. Interest has been so great that they’re contemplating a second program in the spring. This month’s event is open to 40 parents, plus their children.

Maggie Daugherty, program specialist with SELPA (BCOE’s Special Education Local Plan Area), acknowledges that teaching such a large group will be challenging.

“But I know this is going to do so much good for our parents who need that support [who wonder], ‘What do I do when I have a kid who has behaviors?” she said. “How do I respond to them appropriately [in a way] that is not bringing such a negative

energy into our home, that is not overwhelming for me, that has easy strategies that I can implement that I can feel good about, and that my child responds to?’”

Wright is one of three certified trainers for

the parent sessions. He describes the Nurtured Heart Approach as “a set of strategies that really focus on the energy between the parent or teacher and the student, in a way that promotes the student’s transformation from the inside out.”

NHA boils down to “the 3 Stands”: • Absolute No—refusing to “energize” negative behavior.

• Absolute Yes—continuously energizing positive behavior.

• Absolute Clarity—enforcing clear, consistent rules and boundaries.

HEALTHLINES continued on page 17

APPOINTMENT DIABETES BASICS Dr. Richard Aguilar, a private-practice physician who co-founded the nonprofit organization Diabetes Nation in Sisters, Ore., will lead Enloe Medical Center’s Simplifying Diabetes educational event from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday (Nov. 12) at Enloe Conference Center (1528 Esplanade). Aguilar (pictured) will cover basic ways to manage diabetes, highlight available resources and answer questions from attendees. The event is free; register and submit questions online at tinyurl.com/enloediabetes.

Guiding your

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The changing colors and cooler temperatures of autumn remind us to hunker down, get cozy, and take inventory of our lives. Fall offers long evenings in which to reflect upon and appreciate the people who’ve touched and enriched our lives; those who’ve made their mark on the pages of our lives and our communities. We would like to take this time to honor those who have gone before us; those who’ve paved the way for us, and those who’ve served to protect and provide for us so that we may enjoy more of the freedoms, opportunities, and comforts that life has to offer. It is an honor to have the opportunity to show our appreciation as we serve our seniors; to provide the support and assistance that allows them to live independently with a little more confidence and remain happy at home in the final seasons of their lives.

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November 6, 2014

CN&R 15

WE’D LIKE YOUR ART ON A REUSABLE BAG. BE CREATIVE AND DRAW WHAT CHICO MEANS TO YOU. THE CONTEST IS OPEN TO ALL AGES, SO DON’T BE SHY, FIND INSPIRATION AND DRAW WHAT OUR WONDERFUL CITY MEANS TO YOU.

16 CN&R November 6, 2014

ART CAN BE DROPPED OFF AT S&S PRODUCE (1924 MANGROVE AVE), BAYWOOD REAL ESTATE (180 E. 4TH STREET) OR MAILED TO ROPLAST INDUSTRIES, 3155 SOUTH 5TH AVE, OROVILLE, CA 95965. ALL ART MUST BE DROPPED OFF OR POST MARKED BY NOVEMBER

11TH.

HEALTHLINES The effects can be dramatic.

Wright shared the story of a fourthgrader he taught while with BCOE. She’d frequently complain, “That’s unfair!” More disconcertingly, on a weekly basis she’d flee from school and either run into traffic or assault bystanders.

So Wright and other teachers applied the Nurtured Heart Approach. When she’d complain of unfairness, they’d praise the girl for articulating her feelings, then ask her what she considered unfair and what they could do to make it fair.

They also gave her the message that school was a safe place, and that her outbursts and actions weren’t “really who you are.” Her response: “You’re right.”

In the following five months, she tried to run away only twice.

“That change allowed her to be more available to academics and rewards,” Wright said. “When those things happen … you get to engage in all their successes because they’re there, more available for it.”

The joint parent training came

about when Daugherty and Sheila McCarthy, director of Sierra School, realized they were heading down parallel tracks. Both BCOE and Sierra School planned to teach NHA to their students’ parents; why not pool resources?

“It’s essential in the county to work together,” said Daugherty, who serves with McCarthy on the Butte County Community Advisory Committee. “There’s no reason to keep our parents separate.”

continued from page 14

Families wanted:

Nurtured Heart Approach training will take place Nov. 13 and 20, 5-7:30 p.m., at the BCOE Lincoln Center (1870 Bird St. in Oroville).

The free program includes dinner and child supervision. Call the Sierra School at 533-5464 to RSVP.

Like Daugherty, McCarthy highly values NHA. Wright barely got to meet his new co-workers before training them (he started at Sierra School on a Wednesday and commenced training on Thursday).

“After the first few days of school, all the staff got together and said this was the most positive start to school that we’ve had,” McCarthy said. “You could walk into any classroom and the whole tenor was different….

“So much of [the standard classroom dynamic] is managing bad behavior instead of teaching good behavior because we’re trying to keep our heads above water. But with this whole new philosophy and verbiage, it’s a learning curve definitely, but it’s just been a very positive way for us to start school.”

That orientation is what Sierra School and BCOE hope will carry over to households.

“Especially with our emotionally disturbed kids,” Daugherty said.

“They’re faulted because they exhibit some pretty intense behaviors, and oftentimes their whole lives have been focused on negative aspects. This really turns the tables on that.” Ω

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CN&R

17

Dark side of a commercial empire

Workers in Amazon’s giant warehouses reportedly are required to speed-walk an average of a dozen miles per day on concrete floors.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKICOMMONS

At Amazon, ‘cheap’ comes at a very hefty price by Jim Hightower

Jeff Bezos, the man behind Amazon.com, the largest online retailer in the world.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKICOMMONS

I

n his classic 1936 comedy, Modern Times, silent filmmaker Charlie Chaplin depicts the trials and tribulations of a harried factory worker trying to cope with the sprockets, cogs, conveyor belts and “efficiencies” of the new industrial culture. The poor fellow finds himself caught up (almost literally) in the grinding tyranny of the machine. The movie is hilarious, but it’s also a damning portrayal of the dehumanizing consequences of mass industrialization.

The ultimate indignity for Chaplin’s everyman character comes when he is put on an assembly line that includes a mechanized contraption that force-feeds workers as they work. Not only does this “innovation” eliminate the need for the factory owner to provide a lunch break, but it also transforms human workers into components of the machine itself.

Of course, worker-feeding machines were a comedic exaggeration by the filmmaker, not anything that actually existed, nothing that would even be considered in our modern times, right? Well ... if you work for Amazon.com, you’d swear that Chaplin’s masterpiece depicts Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ idea of a properly run workplace.

Brave new paradigm Why pick on Amazon? After all, isn’t it a model of tech wizardry, having totally reinvented retail marketing for our smartphone, globally linked age?

Doesn’t it peddle a cornucopia of goods through a convenient, “1-click” ordering system, rapidly delivering them right to your doorstep? And doesn’t it offer steep discounts on nearly everything it sells (which is nearly everything)? Yes, yes and yes.

However, as an old saying puts it: The higher the monkey climbs, the more you see of its ugly side. Amazon certainly has climbed high in a hurry.

Not yet 20 years old, it is already a household name and America’s 10th largest retailer. The establishment press marvels that Bezos’ obsession with electronic streamlining and systems management that allow Amazon to sell everything from books to bicycles, barbecues to Barbies, at cheap-cheap-cheap prices, undercutting all competitors— even Walmart.

But what is the source of those efficiencies and the low prices so greatly admired by Wall Street and so gratefully 18

CN&R

November 6, 2014

accepted by customers? Are they achieved strictly by being a virtual store, saving the costs of building, staffing and maintaining brick-and-mortar outlets? Or is Amazon achieving market dominance the old-fashioned way—by squeezing the life out of its workers and suppliers, by crushing its competitors with monopolistic muscle, and by manipulating our national and state tax laws?

Voilà! There’s the ugly side.

Amazon and Bezos scream for more scrutiny because Amazon, more than any other single entity, has had the infinite hubris to envision a brave new computer-driven order for our society. Bezos isn’t merely remaking commerce with his algorithms, metrics and vast network, he’s rebooting America itself, including our concept of a job, the definition of community, and even basic values of fairness and justice. It amounts to a breathtaking aspiration to transform our culture’s democratic paradigm into a corporate imperium led by Amazon.

Walmart, the “Beast of Bentonville,” is now yesterday’s model of how far-reaching and destructive corporate power can be. Amazon is the new model, not just of tomorrow’s corporate beast, but the day after tomorrow’s.

Only it’s already here.

Inside Amazon Bezos has been crowned with numerous laurels, from “Person of the Year” to world’s best living CEO. This May, however, he was awarded a less-coveted prize by the International Trade Union Confederation: “World’s Worst Boss.”

Even high-rankers in the corporation’s hierarchy describe him as a cold, controlling, often vengeful gnome of a man with little empathy for the people who work for him. But to witness the full Bezonian disregard for workers, one must look beyond the relative comfort of Ama-

zon’s expansive headquarters and visit any of its 40-some “fulfillment centers” spread across the country. These are gated, guarded and secretive warehouses where most of the corporation’s 100,000 employees work. The warehouses are dehumanizing hives in which Bezos has produced his own sequel to Modern Times.

Consider the job of “picker.” In each warehouse, hundreds of them are simultaneously scrambling throughout a maze of shelves, grabbing products. Pickers must speed-walk on concrete an average of a dozen miles a day, for an Amazon warehouse is shockingly big—more than 16 football fields big, or eight city blocks—and pickers must constantly crisscross the expanse.

There are miles of 7-foot-high shelves running along narrow aisles on each floor of three-story buildings, requiring pickers continuously to stoop down, crawl along and stretch up. They are directed by handheld computers to each target. Then they must scan the pick and put it on the right track of the seven miles of conveyor belts running through the facility. Immediately after, they’re dispatched by computer to find the next product.

The computers don’t just dictate where to go next, they also relay how many seconds Amazon’s time-motion experts have calculated it should take to get there. The scanners also record the time each worker actually takes—information that is fed directly into a central, all-knowing computer. Everything workers do is monitored, timed, scored and reviewed by managers who have a mandate to fire those exceeding their allotted seconds.

This, and many other indignities, brings $10-$12 an hour, which is less than $25,000 a year, gross, for full-time work. But few get year-round work. Rather, Amazon’s warehouse employees are “contingent” hires, About the author: meaning they are temporary, Radio commentator, speaker, author seasonal, part-time laborers and to-the-bone populist Jim Hightower has spent his career entirely subject to the employbattling the Powers That Be on er’s whim. Worker advocates behalf of the Powers That Ought To refer to these jobs as “precariBe. You can find Hightower on the ous”: when sales slack off, radio, or subscribe to the you’re let go; when sales perk Hightower Lowdown, by going to jimhightower.com. If you tweet, he’s up and managers demand you @HightowerNews.

do a 12-hour shift with no notice (which might let you find a babysitter), you do it or you’re fired.

Of course, technically, you don’t actually work for Amazon.

You’re hired by temp agencies and warehouse operators with Orwellian names like “Amalgamated Giant Shipping.” This lets Amazon deny responsibility for your treatment—and it means you have no labor rights for you are an “independent contractor.” No health care, no vacation time, no scheduled raises, no route to a full-time or permanent job, no regular schedule, no job protection, and—of course—no union. Bezos has gone all out with intimidation tactics and hired a notorious union-busting firm to crush any whisper of worker organization.

If you asked workers in Amazon’s swarming hives why they put up with the corporation’s demeaning treatment, most would look at you incredulously and say something like: “Rent, food, clothing—the basics.”

metaphor instructed: Pursue vulnerable small publishers and squeeze their wholesale prices to Amazon down to the point of no profit, thus allowing the online retailer to underprice every other book peddler. When Stone exposed Gazelle last year in his book, The Everything Store, the project was suddenly rebranded with a bloodless name—“Small Publisher Negotiation Program”—but its mission remains the same.

Today, Amazon sells a stunning 40 percent of all new books, up from 12 percent five years ago. It is even more dominant in the digital book market, which is fast catching up to the sales level of physical books and is widely perceived as the future of publishing. Electronic book sales were nonexistent just seven years ago; today about a third of all books sold are e-books, and Amazon sells two-thirds of those. Of course, Amazon also owns Kindle, the largest-selling device for reading digital books.

With his market clout, deep-pocket financing, and ferocious price-cutting, Bezos has forced hundreds of America’s independent bookstores to close and has humbled the superstore book chains that once preyed on the independents and dominated the market. Borders, the second-largest chain, succumbed to bankruptcy in 2011.

Now Barnes & Noble, the largest brick-and-mortar bookstore, is stumbling. It has lost millions of dollars, closed dozens of stores, shrunk most others, and suffered the embarrassment of its own board chairman frantically dumping big chunks of Barnes & Noble stock.

Bezos’ online empire not only stands alone as the paramount bookseller, but is also the dominant price setter, the arbiter of which titles get the best access (or none) to the biggest number of buyers, the most powerful reviewer of books, the publisher of its own line of books, the keeper of an in-house stable of writers—and even the sponsor of a major book prize.

He achieved this the old-fashioned way: Brute force. While it’s true that Amazon is innovative, efficient and focused on customer satisfaction, such factors alone did not elevate Amazon to its commanding level of market control. To reach that pinnacle, Bezos followed the path mapped by Rockefeller and other 19th-century robber barons: (1) ruthlessly exploit a vast and vulnerable low-wage workforce; (2) extract billions of dollars in government subsidies; and (3) wield every anticompetitive weapon you can find or invent to get what you want from other businesses.

Everything workers do is monitored, timed, scored and reviewed by managers who have a mandate to fire those exceeding their allotted seconds.

Apex predator Amazon is by far the largest online marketer in the world, with more sales than the next nine U.S. online retailers combined. That has given Bezos the monopoly power to stalk, weaken and even kill off retail competitors—threatening such giants as Barnes & Noble and Walmart and draining the lifeblood from hundreds of small Main Street shops.

Lest you think that “predator” is too harsh a term, consider the metaphor that Bezos himself chose when explaining how to get small book publishers to cough up deep discounts as the price of getting their titles listed on the Amazon website. As related by Businessweek reporter Brad Stone, Bezos instructed his negotiators to stalk them “the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle.” Bezos’ PR machine tried to claim that this sneering comment was just a little “Jeff joke,” but they couldn’t laugh it off, for a unit dubbed the “Gazelle Project” had actually been set up inside Amazon.

This top-level team focused on doing exactly what Bezos’

“EMPIRE” continued on page 20 November 6, 2014

CN&R

19

Dark side of a commercial empire

Workers in Amazon’s giant warehouses reportedly are required to speed-walk an average of a dozen miles per day on concrete floors.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKICOMMONS

At Amazon, ‘cheap’ comes at a very hefty price by Jim Hightower

Jeff Bezos, the man behind Amazon.com, the largest online retailer in the world.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKICOMMONS

I

n his classic 1936 comedy, Modern Times, silent filmmaker Charlie Chaplin depicts the trials and tribulations of a harried factory worker trying to cope with the sprockets, cogs, conveyor belts and “efficiencies” of the new industrial culture. The poor fellow finds himself caught up (almost literally) in the grinding tyranny of the machine. The movie is hilarious, but it’s also a damning portrayal of the dehumanizing consequences of mass industrialization.

The ultimate indignity for Chaplin’s everyman character comes when he is put on an assembly line that includes a mechanized contraption that force-feeds workers as they work. Not only does this “innovation” eliminate the need for the factory owner to provide a lunch break, but it also transforms human workers into components of the machine itself.

Of course, worker-feeding machines were a comedic exaggeration by the filmmaker, not anything that actually existed, nothing that would even be considered in our modern times, right? Well ... if you work for Amazon.com, you’d swear that Chaplin’s masterpiece depicts Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ idea of a properly run workplace.

Brave new paradigm Why pick on Amazon? After all, isn’t it a model of tech wizardry, having totally reinvented retail marketing for our smartphone, globally linked age?

Doesn’t it peddle a cornucopia of goods through a convenient, “1-click” ordering system, rapidly delivering them right to your doorstep? And doesn’t it offer steep discounts on nearly everything it sells (which is nearly everything)? Yes, yes and yes.

However, as an old saying puts it: The higher the monkey climbs, the more you see of its ugly side. Amazon certainly has climbed high in a hurry.

Not yet 20 years old, it is already a household name and America’s 10th largest retailer. The establishment press marvels that Bezos’ obsession with electronic streamlining and systems management that allow Amazon to sell everything from books to bicycles, barbecues to Barbies, at cheap-cheap-cheap prices, undercutting all competitors— even Walmart.

But what is the source of those efficiencies and the low prices so greatly admired by Wall Street and so gratefully 18

CN&R

November 6, 2014

accepted by customers? Are they achieved strictly by being a virtual store, saving the costs of building, staffing and maintaining brick-and-mortar outlets? Or is Amazon achieving market dominance the old-fashioned way—by squeezing the life out of its workers and suppliers, by crushing its competitors with monopolistic muscle, and by manipulating our national and state tax laws?

Voilà! There’s the ugly side.

Amazon and Bezos scream for more scrutiny because Amazon, more than any other single entity, has had the infinite hubris to envision a brave new computer-driven order for our society. Bezos isn’t merely remaking commerce with his algorithms, metrics and vast network, he’s rebooting America itself, including our concept of a job, the definition of community, and even basic values of fairness and justice. It amounts to a breathtaking aspiration to transform our culture’s democratic paradigm into a corporate imperium led by Amazon.

Walmart, the “Beast of Bentonville,” is now yesterday’s model of how far-reaching and destructive corporate power can be. Amazon is the new model, not just of tomorrow’s corporate beast, but the day after tomorrow’s.

Only it’s already here.

Inside Amazon Bezos has been crowned with numerous laurels, from “Person of the Year” to world’s best living CEO. This May, however, he was awarded a less-coveted prize by the International Trade Union Confederation: “World’s Worst Boss.”

Even high-rankers in the corporation’s hierarchy describe him as a cold, controlling, often vengeful gnome of a man with little empathy for the people who work for him. But to witness the full Bezonian disregard for workers, one must look beyond the relative comfort of Ama-

zon’s expansive headquarters and visit any of its 40-some “fulfillment centers” spread across the country. These are gated, guarded and secretive warehouses where most of the corporation’s 100,000 employees work. The warehouses are dehumanizing hives in which Bezos has produced his own sequel to Modern Times.

Consider the job of “picker.” In each warehouse, hundreds of them are simultaneously scrambling throughout a maze of shelves, grabbing products. Pickers must speed-walk on concrete an average of a dozen miles a day, for an Amazon warehouse is shockingly big—more than 16 football fields big, or eight city blocks—and pickers must constantly crisscross the expanse.

There are miles of 7-foot-high shelves running along narrow aisles on each floor of three-story buildings, requiring pickers continuously to stoop down, crawl along and stretch up. They are directed by handheld computers to each target. Then they must scan the pick and put it on the right track of the seven miles of conveyor belts running through the facility. Immediately after, they’re dispatched by computer to find the next product.

The computers don’t just dictate where to go next, they also relay how many seconds Amazon’s time-motion experts have calculated it should take to get there. The scanners also record the time each worker actually takes—information that is fed directly into a central, all-knowing computer. Everything workers do is monitored, timed, scored and reviewed by managers who have a mandate to fire those exceeding their allotted seconds.

This, and many other indignities, brings $10-$12 an hour, which is less than $25,000 a year, gross, for full-time work. But few get year-round work. Rather, Amazon’s warehouse employees are “contingent” hires, About the author: meaning they are temporary, Radio commentator, speaker, author seasonal, part-time laborers and to-the-bone populist Jim Hightower has spent his career entirely subject to the employbattling the Powers That Be on er’s whim. Worker advocates behalf of the Powers That Ought To refer to these jobs as “precariBe. You can find Hightower on the ous”: when sales slack off, radio, or subscribe to the you’re let go; when sales perk Hightower Lowdown, by going to jimhightower.com. If you tweet, he’s up and managers demand you @HightowerNews.

do a 12-hour shift with no notice (which might let you find a babysitter), you do it or you’re fired.

Of course, technically, you don’t actually work for Amazon.

You’re hired by temp agencies and warehouse operators with Orwellian names like “Amalgamated Giant Shipping.” This lets Amazon deny responsibility for your treatment—and it means you have no labor rights for you are an “independent contractor.” No health care, no vacation time, no scheduled raises, no route to a full-time or permanent job, no regular schedule, no job protection, and—of course—no union. Bezos has gone all out with intimidation tactics and hired a notorious union-busting firm to crush any whisper of worker organization.

If you asked workers in Amazon’s swarming hives why they put up with the corporation’s demeaning treatment, most would look at you incredulously and say something like: “Rent, food, clothing—the basics.”

metaphor instructed: Pursue vulnerable small publishers and squeeze their wholesale prices to Amazon down to the point of no profit, thus allowing the online retailer to underprice every other book peddler. When Stone exposed Gazelle last year in his book, The Everything Store, the project was suddenly rebranded with a bloodless name—“Small Publisher Negotiation Program”—but its mission remains the same.

Today, Amazon sells a stunning 40 percent of all new books, up from 12 percent five years ago. It is even more dominant in the digital book market, which is fast catching up to the sales level of physical books and is widely perceived as the future of publishing. Electronic book sales were nonexistent just seven years ago; today about a third of all books sold are e-books, and Amazon sells two-thirds of those. Of course, Amazon also owns Kindle, the largest-selling device for reading digital books.

With his market clout, deep-pocket financing, and ferocious price-cutting, Bezos has forced hundreds of America’s independent bookstores to close and has humbled the superstore book chains that once preyed on the independents and dominated the market. Borders, the second-largest chain, succumbed to bankruptcy in 2011.

Now Barnes & Noble, the largest brick-and-mortar bookstore, is stumbling. It has lost millions of dollars, closed dozens of stores, shrunk most others, and suffered the embarrassment of its own board chairman frantically dumping big chunks of Barnes & Noble stock.

Bezos’ online empire not only stands alone as the paramount bookseller, but is also the dominant price setter, the arbiter of which titles get the best access (or none) to the biggest number of buyers, the most powerful reviewer of books, the publisher of its own line of books, the keeper of an in-house stable of writers—and even the sponsor of a major book prize.

He achieved this the old-fashioned way: Brute force. While it’s true that Amazon is innovative, efficient and focused on customer satisfaction, such factors alone did not elevate Amazon to its commanding level of market control. To reach that pinnacle, Bezos followed the path mapped by Rockefeller and other 19th-century robber barons: (1) ruthlessly exploit a vast and vulnerable low-wage workforce; (2) extract billions of dollars in government subsidies; and (3) wield every anticompetitive weapon you can find or invent to get what you want from other businesses.

Everything workers do is monitored, timed, scored and reviewed by managers who have a mandate to fire those exceeding their allotted seconds.

Apex predator Amazon is by far the largest online marketer in the world, with more sales than the next nine U.S. online retailers combined. That has given Bezos the monopoly power to stalk, weaken and even kill off retail competitors—threatening such giants as Barnes & Noble and Walmart and draining the lifeblood from hundreds of small Main Street shops.

Lest you think that “predator” is too harsh a term, consider the metaphor that Bezos himself chose when explaining how to get small book publishers to cough up deep discounts as the price of getting their titles listed on the Amazon website. As related by Businessweek reporter Brad Stone, Bezos instructed his negotiators to stalk them “the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle.” Bezos’ PR machine tried to claim that this sneering comment was just a little “Jeff joke,” but they couldn’t laugh it off, for a unit dubbed the “Gazelle Project” had actually been set up inside Amazon.

This top-level team focused on doing exactly what Bezos’

“EMPIRE” continued on page 20 November 6, 2014

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“EMPIRE” continued from page 19

Through doing all of the above, Bezos has applied his cheetah business model to nearly everything retail. Amazon’s massive book dominion is now dwarfed by its annexation of dozens of other markets—book sales now make up a mere 7 percent of Amazon’s total business. Amazon has already captured more than a third of all online sales with a website that’s a phantasmagoric mall of unimaginable size, containing what amounts to hundreds of virtual superstores.

In the process, and with the same deeply discounted prices they used to conquer the book business, Amazon has poached millions of customers from neighborhood shops and suburban malls. The chase for cheap has been great for Amazon, but it is proving intolerably expensive for your and my hometowns. Our local businesses lose customers and have to close, local workers lose jobs, and local economies lose millions of consumer dollars that Amazon siphons into its faraway coffers. What makes that even more intolerable is that much of Amazon’s competitive advantage has been ill gotten, obtained by dirty deeds.

Amazon’s subsidy Bezos would not have grabbed such market dominance if government had not been subsidizing his sales with special tax breaks for 20 years. In all but a handful of states, merchants are obliged by law to collect city

and state sales taxes from everyone who buys stuff from them. But Amazon, as an online merchant, has avoided adding these taxes to the price that its customers pay.

Bezos has emphatically insisted from the start that Amazon’s only facility is its headquarters in Washington state, claiming therefore that Amazon’s sales in the other 49 states are exempt from sales taxes—even though he racks up billions of dollars in sales in those states and even though Amazon has massive warehouses in about half of them.

With legalistic hocus-pocus, Bezos asserts that the warehouses are independent contractors, not part of Amazon.

In Texas, where I live, the sales tax rate is 8.15 percent, so by claiming to be exempt, Amazon gets a price subsidy of more than 8 cents on every dollar of its sales—that’s more than the entire profit margin of most independent shops. The tax subsidy ranges from about 4 percent to more than 10 percent across the country, handing Bezos an advantage of several billion dollars a year that has underwritten his fast and vast expansion.

Amazon’s tax ploy has been key to its ability to undercut the prices of local retailers, forcing many of them out of business.

And the tax dodge has also shortchanged our communities by eliminating billions in tax revenues that cities and states desperately need for schools, infrastructure, parks and other public services.

During the past couple of years, 21 states, including California, have stopped playing

Mr. Bezos comes to Washington T

hrough much of its storied history, The Washington Post has been a proud truth-telling newspaper of national importance. From exposing consumer rip-offs and environmental horrors to the Watergate scandal that consumed Richard Nixon’s presidency, the Post has practiced Journalism with a capital “J.” In recent years, though, jammed by changes in the newspaper business, the Post had been focusing more on cutting newsroom costs than on its watchdog role. Then, late last year, the Graham family sold the legendary Post to the avatar of Amazon, Jeff Bezos.

Why would the master of digital marketing metrics want a newspaper? Was it just a lark?

Let’s stay real—Jeff Bezos doesn’t do larks.

PHOTO BY ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES The Post, of course, is the paper of record at the epicenter of our government, read by practically every Congress critter, agency head, lobbyist, and anyone else with an interest in Washington doings. And Amazon’s doings are increasingly tied to the capital— including possible antitrust probes of its practices, its secret push to get a $600 million contract to build the CIA’s cloud, the funneling of global income through Luxembourg, and its treatment of low-wage warehouse workers.

And now Mr. Amazon owns a newspaper that helps shape the debate on virtually every topic of public importance—including those that affect his grand ambitions.

Bezos didn’t buy a newspaper. He bought power.

—Jim Hightower

20

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November 6, 2014

the fool, finally requiring Amazon to collect sales taxes like its competitors do. In a study released earlier this year, the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed retail data of five of these states and found that Amazon’s sales plummeted by nearly 10 percent after they started charging sales tax. It was saving the cost of sales tax—not any Bezos “magic”—that kept many customers buying from his online mall. Of course, that’s cold comfort to the retailers driven out of business during two decades of Amazon’s government-backed assault.

“But wait,” as they say on late-night TV infomercials, “there’s more!” Amazon’s amazing slice-and-dice tax machine not only avoids paying state taxes, but it also extracts tax money from states to expand its warehouse network. This supremely rich company says that states wanting the (low-wage, nobenefit, temporary and dehumanizing) jobs that come with its warehouses must show Amazon the money, i.e., offer “incentive grants” or tax breaks.

In short, flimflammery and government favoritism help Amazon overwhelm honest competition and extend its monopoly reach.

The Amazon crush Having vast market power means never having to say you’re sorry—even to your owners. Bezos can afford to be a voracious predator because his Wall Street investors have allowed him to keep operating without returning a profit. On paper, his revenuegenerating machine has lost billions of dollars, yet his major investors, enamored with Amazon’s takeover of one consumer market after another, haven’t pulled the plug. Amazon uses their capital to buy its competitors and/or to market its own version of competitors’ products, which it then sells at a loss in order to squeeze hapless competitors out of business. That’s the very definition of predatory pricing.

Brad Stone’s book gives a chilling example of one such predation. Amazon has its own corporate espionage team called Competitive Intelligence that tracks rivals. In 2009, CIAmazon spotted a fast-

The Borders chain succumbed to Amazon’s pricecutting tactics, filing for bankruptcy in 2011. Its downfall was preceded by that of countless small book sellers. Some say Barnes & Noble will be next.

PHOTO BY JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

rising online seller of one particular baby product: Diapers.com. A Bezos lieutenant was dispatched to inform the diaper honchos that the cheetah was going into that business, so they should just sell their firm to it. No thanks, replied the upstart.

Amazon promptly responded to the rebuff by marketing another line of diapers—with a price discount of 30 percent. It kept dropping the price even lower (plus free shipping) when the smaller firm tried to fight back.

Diapers.com’s investors grew antsy, and in September 2010, the two founders of the company met with Bezos himself and surrendered.

The final blow was their discovery that Bezos, in his campaign to crush them and control the market of online diaper sales, was on track to lose $100 million in just three months.

Such ruthlessness is standard operating procedure at Amazon, which exerts it against any gazelle it chooses to eliminate. This likely includes some of your town’s Main Street stores. Small retailers everywhere are experiencing an ugly practice dubbed “showrooming.” For example, John Crandall, owner of Old Town Bike Shop in Colorado Springs, has seen a surge of shoppers who come in, check out the bikes he sells, ask a lot of questions, try out some bikes— and leave without buying anything. Then, some days later, they’ll show up at the store with the parts for a new bike and ask Old Town to assemble it for them! These shoppers have used their smartphones in Crandall’s store to scan the barcode of a product they like and then gone online to buy it from Amazon at a discounted price—lower than Crandall’s wholesale price.

Amazon’s new smartphone, called Fire (apparently meant in the sense of “shoot to kill”), is specifically designed to make showrooming fast and easy. Amazon has even offered $5 rebates to shoppers who scan items at stores, then buy them from the online brute. This is corporate murder. After 38 years in business, Old Town is hanging

Those pesky humans R

educing workers to automatons is not the end of Jeff Bezos’ reprogramming of work and workers: It looks as though he wants to replace us pesky humans altogether.

Last year, he announced that “Amazon Prime Air” is in the works—a fleet of drones to deliver goods, gizmos and gadgets to premium customers within 30 minutes after placing their must-have-now orders. And that’s only phase one of his grand automation machination. Phase two is to take advantage of recent advances in artificial intelligence and ultimately replace all floor workers with robots.

Far-fetched? In 2012, Amazon bought Kiva Systems Inc., a leading developer and installer of robotic warehouse systems. Guided by the central computer, hundreds of Kiva robots can glide seamlessly through the aisles to pluck the items. And they don’t do lunch or take breaks (though they do require air-conditioning). For Bezos, robots would eliminate the inconvenient need for any human touch. Last November, Amazon placed 1,382 Kiva robots on the floors of three of its warehouses. In addition, Amazon/Kiva is developing autoPHOTO COURTESY OF AMAZON.COM mated fulfillment systems for such other retail giants as The Gap, Staples and Walgreens.

You could say that since there’s no humanity in Amazon warehouse jobs anyway, who cares? Well, those who have nowhere else to go do care. It’s a barren and wretched social vision that posits a choice of abusive jobs or no jobs at all.

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—Jim Hightower

on, but it’s endangered. Crandall employs 11 people, pays rent and local taxes, supports all sorts of community events, and is fully involved in Colorado Springs—a place Bezos couldn’t care less about.

Producers need the marketplace, the marketplace needs products. You’d think this would be a felicitous, symbiotic relationship, but when the market grows into a virtual monopoly, the monopolist can turn on suppliers with a vengeance. Amazon has done precisely that to book publishers. While Amazon’s fight with international publishing giant Hachette has been well-publicized, it’s medium-size and small publishers who are especially vulnerable. They don’t have splashy marketing budgets, so they’re largely dependent on access to the buyers coming to Amazon’s online market.

“I offered them a 30 percent discount,” the head of a small academic publishing house told The New York Times this year.

“They demanded 40,” she said. After she acquiesced, the cheetah soon came back, demanding 45. “Where do I find that 5 percent?” she asks. “Amazon may be able to operate at a loss, but I’m not in a position to do that.” She can’t leave, but staying could crush her company: “I wake up every single day knowing Amazon might make new, impossible demands.”

About this story:

This article is being published via a partnership coordinated by the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation and The Media Consortium and will appear across their member publications nationwide. This project is part of AAN and TMC’s joint mission to bring important—but under-reported by mainstream media—stories to communities large and small.

Just say no Rather than examine the far-reaching social destructiveness in Amazon’s business model, the Powers That Be blithely hail Bezos as an exemplary corporate leader and point to his company as a model for the New Economy. They smile cluelessly when he says that it’s not Amazon killing off local businesses and turning work into a lowwage, roboticized nightmare—rather it’s “the future” that is producing these changes.

Bezos has gotten away with this hornswoggle up to now by endlessly reciting his mantra that everything Amazon does is to benefit consumers by relentlessly lowering prices. But I don’t want a price that’s stained with gross worker exploitation, the crushing of local enterprise, and the creation of a corporate oligarch. It’s up to us to reject this way of business.

Stacy Mitchell, an intrepid researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (www.ilsr.org ), has been studying Amazon’s impact and rightly says that to avoid a sterile Amazonian future, we must force “a public conversation about their power.” Unlike Walmart, Amazon is largely invisible to most people. As Mitchell puts it: “All you really see is the website and then the FedEx guy is there.”

More people need to know what’s going on between that jazzy website and “the FedEx guy,” for Amazon is insidious, far more dangerous and destructive to our culture’s essential values than Walmart ever dreamed of being. Remember: Price is not value. Exchanging value—and our society’s values—for Amazon’s low prices is a raw deal. Ω

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CN&R 21

Arts & Culture

Idie Adams and Alan Carrier are among the art collectors who have contributed works to Future MONCA. They like humorous art, as suggested by this piece, “You keep riding your pony over my brain,” by Sacramento artist John Berger.

Whence this passion?

New MONCA show focuses on what moves people to collect art lan Carrier and Idie Adams live in a beautifully Aorange restored Prairie-style house surrounded by palm, and olive trees in Capay, northwest of Chico.

Both are artists: She’s a ceramicist and retired former head of the Fine Arts Department at Butte College; he’s a story and sculptor and photographer and photo by Robert teaches film at the college. They Speer are also avid collectors of art.

Indeed, their house is like a robertspeer@ newsreview.com museum. It’s chockablock with hundreds of paintings and sculptures, not to mention Adams’ collections of ceramic salt-and-pepper shakers and hand-woven purses. Every available section of wall PREVIEW Future MONCA: space is filled with artwork, even Growing a Northern those in the basement stairway.

California I know the house well; my wife Collection runs and I count the couple among our through Nov. 29 at closest friends. I’ve spent suffithe 1078 Gallery.

Opening reception: cient time looking at their collecThursday, Nov. 13, tion to know it has certain themat5-7 p.m. ic elements. They like humorous and satirical pieces, for example, 1078 Gallery quirky stuff by quirky artists not 820 Broadway 343-1973 unlike themselves.

But what leads them to collect www.1078 gallery.org art, and so much of it? Whence this passion?

That’s a question one or both of them will attempt to answer on Thursday, Nov. 13, during a panel discussion beginning at 6 p.m. to be held as part of the opening reception (5-7 p.m.) for a new exhibit at the 1078 Gallery in Chico.

The show is titled Future MONCA: Growing a Northern California Collection. Curated by Reed Applegate, whose donation of several hundred works to the Museum of Northern California Art forms the bedrock of its permanent collection, the show is designed to showcase the kinds of artwork that may be added to the museum’s collection in the future, as donations or bequeathals.

They don’t yet belong to the museum, and most may not end up there. But some will, explained 22

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November 6, 2014

MONCA’s president, Pat Macias. She and her husband, Richard, plan to donate works from their extensive collection. As she explained it, they don’t have children, so there’s nobody to inherit their artwork, and they probably will bequeath it to the museum.

The Maciases’ collection is one of the six from which Applegate selected this show, choosing five or six works from each. The other collectors, besides Adams and Carrier, are Dorna Andersen, Gwen Curatilo, David and Shari Hopper and Applegate himself. Several of them will be participating on the panel discussion of the joys of collecting art.

The exhibit follows on MONCA’s ambitious series of art-and-technology-themed events held in October. One was a showing of a new video documentary featuring interviews with Chico “legacy artists” Ann Pierce, Sal Casa, Claudia Steel and, in the case of the late Richard Hornaday, his widow, Jenifer Hornaday. Another was a bus tour of local techno-centric facilities such as Idea Fabrication Labs and Design by Humans that use technology (computerized saws, 3-D printers, etc.) to create art.

Pat Macias notes that Future MONCA, like the art-and-technology events, is based on a concept— the nature of collecting. “That’s what a museum does,” she explains. “It puts on concept shows.”

The Future MONCA exhibit came about when members of the 1078 Gallery informed Macias that they had nothing booked for the month of November. Macias, who is always looking for new ways to generate interest in the museum, came up with the idea of doing a collectors-themed pop-up exhibit.

One of her goals in having so many exhibits and other events before the museum is actually open at a permanent location—the Veterans Memorial Hall on The Esplanade—is to show people that an art museum is much more than its permanent collection, that it can and will sponsor a wide range of activities appealing to an even wider range of people.

Another goal, of course, is to raise money for the renovation of the Veterans Hall. Macias is happy to report that thus far MONCA has raised $100,000, which is one-fifth of the projected cost of the retrofitting. The goal is to open the museum sometime next spring. Ω

THIS WEEK 6

7

THURS

FRI

Special Events

Art Receptions

KIDS DAY: Kids get their hands dirty and experience farm life up close at 8-10 agriculture learning stations. Registration required. Th, 11/6. Chico State University Farm, Hagan Ln., (530) 898-6472.

Art Receptions TOGETHER/DIVIDED: A COUPLE CURATES: A curators talk, with a reception to follow, with David Hopper and Shari Maxson Hopper. Th, 11/6, 5:30pm. Janet Turner Print Museum, Chico State, (530) 898-4476, www.theturner.org.

WATERCOLORS: A reception for the new water-

color paintings from artist Frances Miller. Th, 11/6, 5-8pm. James Snidle Fine Arts, 254 E. Fourth St., (530) 343-2930.

Theater CRICKET ON THE HEARTH: A new musical written and directed by Jerry Miller with music and lyrics by Marcel Daguerre and Jerry Miller.

Based upon the novella by Charles Dickens.

Th-Sa, 7:30pm through 12/6 (no Thanksgiving show), & Su, 2pm, 11/16-12/7. $16-$22. Theatre on the Ridge Playhouse, 3735 Neal Rd. in Paradise, (530) 877-5760, www.totr.org.

LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL: A fast-paced comedy about the fashionable, ditsy Elle Woods who charms her way into Harvard but struggles with her ex-boyfriend, professors and peers. Th-Sa, 7:30pm; Su, 2pm through 11/9. $12-$20. Chico Theater Company, 166-F Eaton Rd., (530) 894-3282, www.chicotheater company.com.

NIRVANOV: Marking the 20th anniversary of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain’s death, Nirvanov explores the final days of the doomed rock star in this musical mash-up of grunge & Chekov’s Ivanor. Th-Sa, 7:30pm through 11/21. $10-$18. Blue Room Theatre, 139 W. First St., (530) 895-3749, www.blueroomtheatre.com.

VETERANS DAY PARADE Tuesday, Nov. 11 Downtown Oroville

SEE TUESDAY, SPECIAL EVENTS

WATERWORKS: A reception for the exhibition of paintings by Candy Mathews and Cynthia Sexton, plus sculpture from Jim Woronow with live music from Steve Johnson. F, 11/7, 58pm. Avenue 9 Gallery, 180 E. Ninth Ave., (530) 879-1821, www.avenue9gallery.com.

Music COUNTRY COVER NIGHT: Join your favorite local musicians in kicking the shit out of cancer! 24 performers, including West by Swan, Ave Grave, Gordy Ohliger, Fera, Julian Ruck, Jade Hopkins, Mint Shekels, Bunnymilk, Scott Itamura, The Amblers, and many more. Plus, a cake walk! (bring $1 bills!) F, 11/7, 7:30pm. $5$10. 1078 Gallery, 820 Broadway, (530) 343-1973, www.1078gallery.org.

SHELTER BENEFIT CONCERT: A benefit concert for The Torres Community Shelter with performances by Chico State musicians. F, 11/7, 7pm. $5. Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Chico, 1289 Filbert Ave.

Theater CRICKET ON THE HEARTH: See thursday. Theatre on the Ridge Playhouse, 3735 Neal Rd. in Paradise, (530) 877-5760, www.totr.org.

LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL: See Thursday.

Chico Theater Company, 166-F Eaton Rd., (530) 894-3282, www.chicotheatercompany.com.

NIRVANOV: See Thursday. Blue Room Theatre, 139 W. First St., (530) 895-3749, www.blueroom theatre.com.

FINE ARTS

11

TUES PILOBULOUS Tuesday, Nov. 11 Laxson Auditorium

SEE TUESDAY, THEATER

Special Events VETERANS DAY PARADE: A parade in honor of our veterans on Montgomery Street from 5th Avenue to Downer Street. Tu, 11/11, 11am. Free.

Downtown Oroville, Bird And Myers Streets..

Theater PILOBOLUS: The groundbreaking dance company

8

SAT

Special Events BOHEMIAN BALL: ARC’s annual dinner fundraiser and silent auction event with live music from Los Caballitos De La Cancion, a cocktail social hour, and European cuisine. Sa, 11/8, 5:3010pm. $50. Arc Pavilion, 2040 Park Ave., (530) 891-5865.

FARM TO CITY CELEBRATION: Arts, crafts, interactive displays, calf roping, farm equipment, and butter churning, plus food booths and bee demonstrations with a horse drawn carriage and all things in celebration of our local agriculture businesses. Sa, 11/8, 10am-2pm. Free.

Bidwell Mansion, 525 Esplanade, (530) 8956144.

MIND, BODY & SPIRIT HEALTH FAIR: Join venders from the around the area, who will be sharing their talents in the healing and creative arts, including massage, energy balancing, hypnotherapy, reiki, unique gifts, music, bio-energy therapy, acupuncture, and educational lectures. Sa, 11/8, 9am-4pm. Free. Unity Church Oroville, 1321 Robinson St. in Oroville, (530) 533-8696, www.unityoforoville.org.

SYMPHONY OF THE SOIL: This film is about the next step of raising consciousness about how science can give us tools to work with, and a celebration of the planet instead of being at war with nature. Sa, 11/8, 2-4pm. Free.

Pageant Theatre, 351 E. Sixth St., (530) 3430663, www.pageantchico.com.

Music CHORAL CLASSICS: Experience Palestrina, Bach, Mozart, Schubert and Vaughn Williams, plus other masters of the art of choral composition in the concert presented by the University Chorus, Chamber Singers, and Acappella Choir. Sa, 11/8, 7:30pm. $6-$15.

Harlen Adams Theatre, Chico State, (530) 8986333.

Theater CRICKET ON THE HEARTH: See thursday. Theatre on the Ridge Playhouse, 3735 Neal Rd. in Paradise, (530) 877-5760, www.totr.org.

LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL: See Thursday.

Chico Theater Company, 166-F Eaton Rd., (530) 894-3282, www.chicotheatercompany.com.

NIRVANOV: See Thursday. Blue Room Theatre, 139 W. First St., (530) 895-3749, www.blueroom theatre.com.

9

SUN

Music CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO & MONTREAL GUITAR: A string-lovers delight with six virtuoso guitar players from two continents playing original works and interpretations of classical, jazz, and world selections. Su, 11/9, 7:30pm. $10-$30.

Laxson Auditorium, Chico State, (530) 8986333, www.csuchico.edu/upe/performance/ artists/CaliforniaGuitar.html.

RED WHITE AND BLUES FESTIVAL: A day long celebration of blues and craft beer with entertainment from Marcia Ball, Roy Rogers with Carol Reyes, Terry Hanck, and Crazy Texas Gypsies. Su, 11/9, 1pm. $30. Feather Falls Casino Brewing Co., 3 Alverda Dr. in Oroville, (530) 533-3885, www.featherfallscasino.com/ brewing-co.

Theater LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL: See Thursday.

Chico Theater Company, 166-F Eaton Rd., (530) 894-3282, www.chicotheatercompany.com.

for more Music, see NIGHTLIFE on page 24

SEAN HAYES: San Fransisco based folk singer/songwriter with Eric & Erika opening the night. Sa, 11/8, 7:30pm. $20. The Rendezvous, 3269 Esplanade 142.

SYMPHONY OF THE SOIL FILM Saturday, Nov. 8 Pageant Theatre

SEE SATURDAY, SPECIAL EVENTS

FREE LISTINGS! Post your event for free online at www.newsreview.com/calendar.

Once posted, your CN&R calendar listing will also be considered for print. Print listings are also free, but subject to space limitations.

Deadline for print listings is one week prior to the issue in which you wish the listing to appear.

has continued to push boundaries, staying true to their core belief that art builds community. Tu, 11/11, 7:30pm. $10-$36. Laxson Auditorium, Chico State, (530) 898-6333, www.chicoperformances.com.

12

WED

Special Events AGRI-BUSINESS BUS TOUR AND LUNCH: The Farm City Celebration continues with a bus tour featuring a look at the operations of five local farms and agri-businesses , followed by a lunch provided by local farmers, plus entertainment. Tickets available at the Butte County Farm Bureau W, 11/12, 7am. Chico State University Farm, Hagan Ln. Take the first right off of Midway - Hegan Lane, by a cemetery, (530) 898-6472.

Art Receptions MICHAEL HENDRIX: A reception for the Chico State undergraduate exhibiting a new series of prints. W, 11/12, 5pm. Laxson Fine Art Gallery, 400 W. First St. CSU Chico, Laxson Audtorium.

Art 1078 GALLERY: Future MONCA: Growing a

Northern California Collection, curated by Reed Applegate featuring work on loan from area collectors with potential gifts/endowments to the Museum of Northern California Art (MONCA, 11/6-11/29. 820 Broadway, (530) 343-1973, www.1078gallery.org.

AVENUE 9 GALLERY: Waterworks, an exhibition of paintings by Candy Mathews and Cynthia Sexton, plus sculpture from Jim Woronow.

11/7-12/7. 180 E. Ninth Ave., (530) 879-1821, www.avenue9gallery.com.

B-SO SPACE: Souvenir, sculpture student and mixed media artist Marie Collar showcases new works for her BFA culminating exhibition. 11/10-11/21. Ayres 107, Chico State, (530) 898-5331.

BUTTE COLLEGE ART GALLERY: Permanent

Marks, an open exhibition featuring works completed with Sharpie permanent markers. All are welcome to create their own art with permanent markers supplied by the gallery. Through 11/6. 3536 Butte Campus Dr. in Oroville, (530) 895-2208.

CHICO ART CENTER: Dia De Los Muertos, the Community Art Challenge exhibition features mixed media works from local artists working under the theme Dia De Los Muertos. Through 11/21. 450 Orange St., (530) 895-8726, www.chicoartcenter.com.

CITY HALL: Art in City Hall, twenty-three works from the Museum of Northern California Art (monca) collection are on display showcasing various media from local and north state artists. Through 11/21. 9426 Main St. in Plymouth, (916) 600-1954.

JAMES SNIDLE FINE ARTS: Watercolors, new watercolor paintings from artist Frences Miller. Through 12/26, 9am-5pm. 254 E. Fourth St., (530) 343-2930.

JANET TURNER PRINT MUSEUM:

Music STEVE POLTZ & ELLIS PAUL: California (via Nova Scotia) singer/songwriter Steve Poltz is joined Boston-based folk-pop pioneer Ellis Paul. W, 11/12, 7:30pm. $17.50. Sierra Nevada Big Room, 1075 East 20th St., (530) 345-2739, www.sierra nevada.com/bigroom.

Theater

Together/Divided: A Couple Curates, local artists, collectors and art supporters, David Hopper and Shari Maxson Hopper select from Janet tuener’s Print collection of works. 11/6-12/13. Chico State, (530) 8984476, www.theturner.org.

LAXSON FINE ART GALLERY: Michael Hendrix, Chico State undergraduate exhibits a new series of prints. Through 11/21. 400 W. First St. CSU Chico, Laxson Audtorium.

UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY: Centenary: John C.

Ayres, guest curated by Chico art collector Reed Applegate. Works by John C. Ayres, who joined the Chico State art department in 1946, where he was an active voice for 30 years. M, 11/10. Trinity Hall Chico State, (530) 898-5864.

THE VAGABOND ROSE GALLERY & FRAMING:

New Works, water colors and oil paintings by artist Charlotte Sweetland. Through 11/20. 236 Main St., (530) 343-1110.

Call for Artists SNOW GOOSE WILDLIFE EXHIBIT: Submit work of Pacific Coast wildlife and landscapes for the annual Snow Goose Wildlife exhibit held in January. See website for more details.

Through 11/15. Avenue 9 Gallery, 180 E. Ninth Ave., (530) 879-1821, www.avenue9 gallery.com.

Museums CHICO CREEK NATURE CENTER: Banding by Day and Night, a close look at birds in hand with incredible detail. Ongoing. $2-$4. 1968 E. Eighth St., (530) 891-4671, www.bidwell park.org.

CHICO MUSEUM: Mik ‘cupu Dy: This is Our

Home, Here We Remain, the exhibit focuses on the tribe’s heritage and history and presented from the perspective of the Mechoopda people using the four seasons to delineate periods of happiness, success and tragedy. Ongoing. 141 Salem St., (530) 891-4336, www.chicomuseum.org.

GATEWAY SCIENCE MUSEUM: Three exhibits:

Modern Farming- Land, Water, People, and Science; and Eat Well, Play Well; and Patterns of The Land. 625 Esplanade, www.csuchico.edu/gateway.

GOLD NUGGET MUSEUM: Laundry Exhibit, Learn about the laundry devices ranging from the late 1800’s glass washboards to a classic Kenmore winger washer from the 1940s. Ongoing. 502 Pearson Rd. in Paradise, (530) 872-8722, www.goldnugget museum.com.

PARADISE DEPOT MUSEUM: A railroad and logging museum in Paradise. Ongoing, 7-9pm.

5570 Black Olive Dr. in Paradise, (530) 8771919.

AS IT IS IN HEAVEN: A musical that tells the story of a quiet Shaker village in 1938 Kentucky, and the newcomer who arrives to change the identity of the once utopian community. nightly, 7:30pm through 11/19, plus Su, 11/16, 2pm. $6-$15. Wismer Theatre, Chico State, (530) 898-6333, www.csuchico.edu/upe/ boxoffice.html.

Poetry/Literature AUTHORS’ STORIES: An evening with Chico-based writers as they share their stories and discuss experiences with writing and publishing.

W, 11/12, 7pm. Free. Butte County Library, Chico Branch, 1108 Sherman Ave., (530) 8912762, www.chicolibrary.org.

Come as you are Most music-loving Generation X-ers can tell you precisely what they were doing on April 8, 1994—the day they heard Nirvana frontman and archetypical outcast Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home as the result of a self-inflicted (or allegedly self-inflicted, depending on whom you ask) shotgun blast. It’s no surprise the doomed superstar’s legEDITOR’S PICK end has inspired further artistic endeavors, including Nirvanov, a grunge-rock musical and mash-up of Cobain’s biography and Anton Chekhov’s Ivanov. The NYC-born play makes its West Coast debut at the Blue Room Theatre on Thursday, Nov. 6.

November 6, 2014

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THURSDAY 11/6—WEDNESDAY 11|12 Broadway, (530) 343-1973, www.1078gallery.org.

The Lolos

THE LOLOS, SOLAR ESTATES, DONALD BEAMAN & THE SPIRIT MOLECULES

FOR THE FUNK OF IT: A funk-raiser with live music from Groovincible, and Drunken Kung Fu and Brian Chris Rogers with all performances featuring Chris Zanardi. F, 11/7, 9pm. $10. Lost on Main, 319 Main St., (530) 891-1853.

Saturday, Nov. 8 1078 Gallery

FRIDAY MORNING JAZZ: A weekly morning jazz appointment with experimental

SEE SATURDAY

6THURSDAY AARON RICH & FRIENDS: Country music round-robin. Third and First Th of every month, 9pm. Free. Crazy Horse Saloon, 303 Main St., (530) 894-5408.

CHICO JAZZ COLLECTIVE: Thursday jazz.

Th, 8-11pm. Free. The DownLo, 319 Main St., (530) 892-2473.

HAPPY HOUR: Tyler DeVoll. Th, 11/6, 69pm. LaSalles, 229 Broadway, (530)

893-1891, www.lasallesbar.com.

JOHN SEID TRIO: John Seid, Larry Peterson, and Steve Cook play an eclectic mix of The Beatles, blues and standards. Th, 11/6, 6-9pm. Grana, 198 E. Second St., (530) 809-2304.

OPEN MIC: Singers, poets and musicians welcome. Th, 7-10pm. Has Beans Internet Cafe & Galleria, 501 Main St., (530) 894-3033, www.hasbeans.com.

OPEN MIKEFULL: Open mic night to share your music, poetry, comedy, or other talents in a 10-minute slot. First and Third Th of every month, 7pm. $1.

Paradise Grange Hall, 5704 Chapel Dr. in Paradise, (530) 873-1370.

REBEL SOUL: Southern rock tribute band.

Th, 11/6, 9:30pm. $5. Feather Falls Casino Brewing Co., 3 Alverda Dr. in Oroville, (530) 533-3885, www.feather fallscasino.com/brewing-co.

STAY POSITIVE PRESENTS: Jamaican ska/rocksteady group Monty and The Melodians with The Yellow Wall Dub Squad. Th, 11/6. Lost on Main, 319 Main St., (530) 891-1853.

local troupe Bogg. This week a tribute to prog-rock. F, 11am. Free. Café Coda, 265 Humboldt Ave., (530) 566-9476, www.cafecoda.com.

HAPPY HOUR: Cee Dub. F, 11/7. LaSalles, 229 Broadway, (530) 893-1891, www.lasallesbar.com.

INTERNATIONAL FOLK DANCING: All levels

welcome. No partner needed. F, 7:30pm. $2. Chico Creek Dance Centre, 1144 W.

7FRIDAY BASSMINT: A (mostly) weekly electronic dance party with a rotating cast of local and regional DJs. Check with venue for details. F, 9:30pm. Peking Chinese Restaurant, 243 W. Second St., (530) 895-3888.

COUNTRY COVER NIGHT: Join your favorite local musicians in kicking the shit out of cancer! 24 performers, including West by Swan, Ave Grave, Gordy Ohliger, Fera, Julian Ruck, Jade Hopkins, Mint Shekels, Bunnymilk, Scott Itamura, The Amblers, and many more. Plus, a cake walk! (bring $1 bills!)

F, 11/7, 7:30pm. $5-$10. 1078 Gallery, 820

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11/8 Space Oddity David Bowie Tribute 11/14 Folsom Prism Johnny Cash Tribute

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11/19 Full House Blues Jam with Special Guest 11/21 Dollface All-Girl Vegas Party Band 11/22 Caravanserai Carlos Santana Tribute Must be 21 or older. $5 cover charge. Shows start at 9:30pm, Blues Jam starts at 8pm. Brewery VIP suites $100 - Luxury seating for up to 10 guests. Includes private server, pizza and beer.

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concert for The Torres Community Shelter with performances by Chico

nasty grooves, plus Motown and soul from The Velveteen Habit. F, 11/7, 9pm. $5. Maltese Bar & Tap Room, 1600 Park Ave., (530) 343-4915.

11/15 Bella Donna Fleetwood Mac Tribute

CN&R

SHELTER BENEFIT CONCERT: A benefit

BLACK FONG: Local dirty funk and and

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tion: Friday night happy hour with a traditional Irish music session by the Pub Scouts, this week they’re going “electric”. F, 4pm. $1. Duffy’s Tavern, 337 Main St., (530) 343-7718.

A chance meeting in a Toronto recording studio in 2009 between two gangs of guitar virtuosos—the California Guitar Trio and the Montreal Guitar Trio—led to an ongoing collaboration between the two, and Chico Performances is bringing them both to Laxson Auditorium on Sunday, Nov. 9. The CGT prefers steel strings, while the MGT favors nylon, and the two groups bring it all together on original works and interpretations of classical, jazz and world standards.

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these old- and new-school local crews. Sa, 11/8, 9pm. $5. Maltese Bar & Tap Room, 1600 Park Ave., (530) 3434915.

9SUNDAY CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO & MONTREAL GUITAR: Su, 11/9, 7:30pm. $10-$30.

LOCAL SUPER-BILL: An eclectic all-local

State musicians. F, 11/7, 7pm. $5.

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Chico, 1289 Filbert Ave.

CHORAL CLASSICS: Experience Palestrina, Bach, Mozart, Schubert and Vaughn Williams, plus other masters of the art of choral composition in the concert presented by the University Chorus, Chamber Singers, and Acappella Choir. Sa, 11/8, 7:30pm. $6-$15. Harlen Adams Theatre, Chico State, (530) 898-6333.

WORLD DANCE PARTY: Dances from Bulgaria, Romania, Macadonia, Greece, and Israel with live music from Troika & Karamfil. F, 11/7, 7:30pm. Donations.

Chico Women’s Club, 592 E. Third St., (530) 894-1978.

DRIVER: Live music from the Paradise

guys. Sa, 11/8, 9pm. $3. Studio Inn Cocktail Lounge, 2582 Esplanade, (530) 343-0662.

8SATURDAY

HAPPY HOUR: Radio Relapse Sa, 11/8, 69pm. LaSalles, 229 Broadway, (530)

80S NIGHT: Wear your best 80s attire and dance the night away. Sa, 8pm.

LaSalles, 229 Broadway, (530) 893-1891, www.lasallesbar.com.

893-1891, www.lasallesbar.com.

HARVEST PARTY: Sa, 11/8. $10. Empire Club, 9391 Midway in Durham, (530) 343-1301.

show with local indie rockers The Lolos, Solar Estates (feat. former members of French Reform) and singer/songwriter Donald Beaman & The Spirit Molecules. Sa, 11/8, 8pm. $5.

1078 Gallery, 820 Broadway, (530) 3431973, www.1078gallery.org.

MUSIC SHOWCASE: An open mic hosted by local country musicians Rich and Kendall. Sa, 5-9pm. Free. Scotty’s Landing, 12609 River Rd., (530) 7102020.

SEAN HAYES: San Fransisco based folk singer/songwriter with Eric & Erika opening the night. Sa, 11/8, 7:30pm. $20.

The Rendezvous, 3269 Esplanade 142.

SPACE ODDITY: A tribute to David Bowie.

Sa, 11/8, 9:30pm. $5. Feather Falls

Casino Brewing Co., 3 Alverda Dr. in Oroville, (530) 533-3885, www.feather fallscasino.com/brewing-co.

Laxson Auditorium, Chico State, (530) 898-6333, www.csuchico.edu/upe/ performance/artists/CaliforniaGuitar. html.

newsreview.c

THE CAREY ROBINSON TRIO: Jazz trio. Tu, 6-9pm. Shenanigan’s, 3212 Esplanade,

OPEN MIC: An all-ages open mic for musicians, poets, comedians, storytellers and dancers. Tu, 7pm. Free. 100th Monkey Community Cafe, 642 W. Fifth St.

Leg

(via Nova Scotia) singer/songwriter Steve Poltz is joined Boston-based folk-pop pioneer Ellis Paul. W, 11/12, 7:30pm. $17.50. Sierra Nevada Big Room, 1075 East 20th St., (530) 3452739, www.sierranevada.com/bigroom.

THE FUNCTION: Live music. Su, 11/9.

LaSalles, 229 Broadway, (530) 893-1891, www.lasallesbar.com.

RED WHITE AND BLUES FESTIVAL: A day long celebration of blues and craft beer with entertainment from Marcia Ball, Roy Rogers with Carol Reyes, Terry Hanck, and Crazy Texas Gypsies.

Su, 11/9, 1pm. $30. Feather Falls Casino Brewing Co., 3 Alverda Dr. in Oroville, (530) 533-3885, www.featherfalls casino.com/brewing-co.

REGGAE NIGHT: Rise the Vibes with live DJs, pool, and shuffle board. This week Jams from Bay-area’s Rocker T. Su, 8pm-2am. Seeva’s Pub, 6093 Lincoln Blv in Oroville.

SUNDAY FUNDAY: The annual bartender contest sponsored by Power 102FM. Su, 11/9. LaSalles, 229 Broadway, (530) 893-1891, www.lasallesbar.com.

DOIN’ TIME IN DURHAM

It’s harvest season in the North State, a time to celebrate the abundance of fruit, nuts, rice and—uh, huh huh, other things that grow well around here.

Durham’s fantastic Empire Club (one of Butte County’s finest dives) is celebrating the bounty of Butte County on Saturday, Nov. 8, with a Harvest Party, featuring tattooing by the Pimp My Tattoo Road Show, a potluck and live music by Sublime tribute band Doin’ Time.

Happy Hour Live Music 6 - 9 pm

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CN&R

25

Less than Jake.

Somebody’s watching

Reviewers: Craig Blamer, Bob Grimm and Juan-Carlos Selznick.

Opening this week Big Hero 6

In Disney’s latest 3-D computer-animated feature, a young robotics genius and his big white inflatable robot team up with a crew of do-gooders to foil a criminal plot. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG. A satirical drama that takes a look at race relations in America today via the story of a group of black students navigating college life at a predominately white Ivy League school. Pageant Theatre. Rated R.

Interstellar

he title may smack of some kind of creepy-crawly, Tcrawler, super-slimy horror film. But Dan Gilroy’s Nightwith Jake Gyllenhaal in the title role, is

mostly a nocturnal character study with a darkly satirical edge to it. And the slime in by this case is metaphorical, while the Juan-Carlos chief horrors are moral and psychoSelznick logical.

The nightcrawlers of this tale are the freelance photojournalists who deal in sensationalistic video footage of crime scenes, traffic smash-ups, and any local calamity gory enough to grab the attention of TV broadcastNightcrawler ers. Gilroy’s movie shows the inner Starring Jake workings of this dubious but lucraGyllenhaal, Rene Russo, tive little industry in a Los Angeles Riz Ahmed and setting, and puts primary focus on Bill Paxton. one Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal), a perCinemark 14, versely adept newbie.

Feather River At the outset, Bloom is a loneCinemas and wolf thief dealing in stolen metals.

Paradise Cinema 7. Rated R. Soon enough, however, a chance incident draws him into the peculiar, morbid excitement of the “nightcrawlers.” He parlays stolen goods into the equipment he needs and promptly finds a market for his lurid footage in Nina Romina (Rene Russo), the news director at a ratings-starved TV station.

After his first successes, he hires a young homeless guy named Rick (Riz Ahmed) as a brutally underpaid assistant, and begins making noises about building his own little “news service” empire. By the time he starts urging Russo’s Nina to add sexual favors to their business arrangement, it’s becoming clear not only that his priorities are seriously askew, but also that his calmly deranged machinations are tapping into power and success of a particularly destructive sort.

Gyllenhaal is superb with a character who seems nerdy and naive even when his actions have lethal consequences. A quick thinker who brings a calm, reasonable tone to even the most unreasonable of assumptions, Bloom is thoroughly enterprising and industrious as well as habitually indifferent to an evergrowing list of moral, ethical and legal distinctions.

Ultimately, Louis Bloom seems more like a satirical concept than a fully realized human character.

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November 6, 2014

But the concept and the satire have some very sharp and brilliant edges. Bloom is rather like an alien creature wrapped in an identity/disguise devised entirely from stuff “learned” on TV and the Internet.

Once or twice, Russo exudes cold fury à la Nancy Grace, but even as a concept rather than a fully drawn character, Nina Romina is more pungent and relevant than Gilroy’s film can permit itself to acknowledge.

Bill Paxton is effective and a little bit too disposable as the most generous and abrasive of Bloom’s rivals in the nightcrawler racket. Ahmed is so good with the scruffy desperation and scraggly integrity of the homeless assistant that he becomes the one “nightcrawler” for whom the audience might feel a modicum of real sympathy. Ω

Dead right Kill the Messenger

4

Pageant Theatre. Rated R.

by Juan-Carlos Selznick

In no small way, Kill the Messenger is an unusually

scary movie—not exactly a thriller or a horror pic, but really haunting in terms of the compounded horrors of recent American history. As such, it has the virtue of being a movie which calls attention to history and issues still seriously in need of full national attention.

Jeremy Renner delivers a good, gritty, multifaceted performance in the Gary Webb role, but his is the only fully dimensional character in a film that has nearly a dozen actors of note in small supporting roles. Andy Garcia (as mobster Norwin Meneses), Michael Sheen (as a troubled political insider), Tim Blake Nelson (as a flummoxed lawyer), Ray Liotta (as a fugitive whistleblower), and Rosemarie DeWitt (as Webb’s wife) all make distinctive impressions.

It would be very nice to have more of those other stories, and more of the story as well. But that of course would call for a much longer movie as well as some kind of confrontation with the dilemmas posed by classified information, redaction, forced confessions, recantations, the many devices of disinformation and “deniability,” etc. Ω

Director Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight, Inception) returns with a sci-fi fantasy in which explorers have discovered wormholes in space through which astronauts will attempt to travel to other parts of the universe in order to find other planets for residents of an environmentally devastated Earth to inhabit. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG-13.

Now playing Before I Go to Sleep

Based on S.J. Watson’s best-selling thriller of the same name about a woman (played here

by Nicole Kidman) with a kind of amnesia that causes her to wake up every day not knowing who she is. In trying to reconstruct memories of her life, she soon finds that there may be some terrifying truths in her past. Feather River Cinemas. Rated R.

The Book of Life

An animated feature that follows young Manolo (Diego Luna), who embarks on a journey through three fantastical worlds on a quest for true love. Also starring the voices of Zoe Saldana and Channing Tatum. Cinemark 14. Rated PG-13.

4

Fury

Writer-director David Ayer’s intentions are to show the effects of war on a group of men who are clinging to the last threads of sanity after years of claustrophobic, bloodsoaked terror inside a tank during WWII. Brad Pitt leads the crew as Don “Wardaddy” Collier, a grizzled, scarred up individual resorting to arguably insane behavior as he treks across Nazi Germany. When he’s saddled with new recruit Norman (Logan Lerman), his behavior becomes a strange mix of paternal and completely unhinged. Other members of the crew include Boyd “Bible” Swan (Shia LaBeouf), Trini “Gordo” Garcia (Michael Peña) and Grady “Coon-Ass” Travis (Jon Bernthal). Much of the film takes place inside the tank, with few breaks, and the carnage in the battle scenes is unrelenting. It all builds up to the key sequence where the tank breaks down and Wardaddy decides he isn’t going to run away with a large group of enemy soldiers approaching. As action films go, it’s a real winner. As war films go, it’s one to be remembered. As horror films go, I doubt you’ll see anything scarier this month.

Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated R —B.G.

3

John Wick

This dazzling action movie is basically a savage ballet, superbly orchestrated for Keanu Reeves (in the title role) and a small army of shooters, fighters, urban miscreants, combat junkies, etc. Chad Stahelski, a stuntman-turned-director, uses the simplest of revenge plots as the occasion for a cinematic circus of high-energy action— hand-to-hand combat, gangster shootouts, car chases, etc. The script, credited to Derek Kolstad, has a plot premise that smacks of

1 Poor

3

The Judge

Dear White People

Dark look at media and modern man

travesty: Wick, retired as the hitman’s hitman and grieving over his wife’s recent death, returns to furious action when the son of a Russian mafia honcho steals his vintage automobile and kills his dog. But travesty may be part of the deal here: When the main villain pauses in his final battle with Wick to lament the younger generation’s lack of respect for civilized combat, Keanu/Wick— moving in for the face-to-face kill, and looking thoroughly barbaric—asks, “Do I look ‘civilized’ to you?” Cinemark 14 and Feather River Cinemas. Rated R —J.C.S.

2 Fair

3

Good

Early on, The Judge looks as though it is mainly going to be a courtroom drama with a provocative father-son twist. The father and son are played by Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr., respectively, and the key plot hook has the estranged son, an abrasive defense attorney, called on to defend his stand-offish father, a small-town judge with a reputation for stern rectitude, against charges of vehicular manslaughter, or worse.

Director David Dobkin and screenwriters Nick Schenk and Bill Dubuque play all that to the hilt, and Duvall and Downey deliver the goods in their respective tailor-made roles.

But Dobkin and company load up the fatherson drama with more back-story baggage than this particular narrative vehicle can carry. To its credit, the film does linger over some powerful emotional nuances—the role of mutual delusion, for example—in its portrayal of father-son antagonism. And there’s something to be said for any movie that recognizes, at least in part, that a father-son conflict is something that has repercussions for all of the immediate family. Paradise Cinema 7. Rated R —J.C.S.

4

Kill the Messenger

See review this issue. Pageant Theatre.

Rated R —J.C.S

4

Nightcrawler

See review this issue. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated R —J.C.S.

3

St. Vincent

Much of the sweet sentimentality here centers on the relationship that forms between the title character (Bill Murray) and the sprightly grade-schooler named Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) who moves in next door with his beleaguered mother, Maggie (Melissa McCarthy). And the comedy’s brashness comes from Murray’s much-troubled Vincent as well as from an array of quirky secondary characters. Murray brings a surprising number of expressive shadings to a familiar role—the rambunctiously grouchy derelict with a good heart. Naomi Watts does an unexpectedly rowdy turn as a pregnant Russian prostitute. There’s a nightmarish collection of social and domestic problems lurking just below the surface of this tale— broken families, alcohol and gambling addictions, schoolyard bullying, loan sharks, debilitating illness, embittered Vietnam vets, etc.

All of that, ultimately, serves mainly as a kind of short-hand “realism”—bits of real-life sadness used mainly to heighten the sense of relief we’ll feel when the movie reaches its feel-good conclusions. Cinemark 14 and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG-13 —J.C.S.

Still here Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Cinemark 14. Rated PG.

3

Gone Girl

Cinemark 14. Rated R —J.C.S.

Ouija

Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG-13.

4

Very Good

5

Excellent

Souled Out Jhené Aiko ARTium Records/Def Jam On her raw, emotional debut full-length, Souled Out, Jhené Aiko’s eclectic musical influences pour out through diverse melodic patterns and a voice that fluidly transitions between hip-hop, reggae and neo-blues styles. Souled Out chronicles a woman’s voyage through the wreckage of a broken heart following the death of her lover. The opening track, “Limbo Limbo Limbo,” applies a distorted CB-like voice effect to words that bleed like new millennium techno-blues: “Her celestial frequency was needed/ to fulfill the prophecy/ She was too real to believe in/ though if they would, she could free them … Life is on a ride, your whole life is on a ride.” “To Love & Die” is a replay of the love affair, while the chorus on “Spotless Mind” points to feeling lost as Aiko bemoans, “I’m a wanderer … He’s a wanderer.” On the deluxe version of the album, four additional tracks (including one featuring Common) complete the story. On “Promises,” Aiko shares how her heroine begins the healing process. A small child (Namiko) assists on the chorus, singing, “Promise I’ll be all right.” Aiko responds: “Don’t think I can make it/ but then I hear you say/ That, I bet’ not do nothin’ crazy/ ’cause Nami really needs you/ And I would never leave you/ ’cause I am in the stars/ and everywhere you are.”

—Mazi Noble

MUSIC

Live at the Gallery Elias Haslanger

Healing Arts Festival & Psychic Fair

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Cherrywood Records Although tenor saxophonist Elias Haslanger was born, raised and lives in Austin, Texas, he’s pretty far afield from such tenormen as Illinois Jacquet and Arnett Cobb, the famous saxophonists whose full-bodied playing in Lionel Hampton’s band back in the 1940s established the tradition of the Texas Tenors. Recorded at an Austin club with his band, Church on Monday—Dr. James Polk, B3; Jake Langley, guitar; Daniel Durham, bass; and Scott Laningham, drums—Haslanger’s sound on Live at the Gallery ranges from the screeching on “One for Daddy-O” to the thin soup of “I Thought About You” to the robust slow blues of “Goin’ Down.” For me the real attraction on this CD lies in the playing of Polk and Langley, whose solos are always meaty and enhance each tune. Durham gets a couple of nice solo spots and Laningham earns extra points for his supportive—rather than commandeering—playing throughout. That said, Haslanger—whose 25-year career includes having toured in Maynard Ferguson’s band and releasing six CDs since 1994—does a very nice job on Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father” and “Adam’s Apple,” an upbeat original. Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” is one of those tunes you can’t play badly and this group gets into the groove right off the bat. In sum, I give the sidemen more points than the leader.

—Miles Jordan

Admission $5

Healing Arts Festival Sponsored by:

MUSIC

FRIDAY 11/7 – WEDNESDAY 11/12 AlexAnder And The Terrible, horrible, no (Digital) (PG) 1:05PM 3:15PM 5:25PM 7:35PM 9:45PM big hero 6 (3D) (PG) 11:55AM 2:35PM 3:25PM 5:15PM 6:10PM 8:00PM

Mended With Gold The Rural Alberta Advantage Saddle Creek/Paper Bag The third album from The Rural Alberta Advantage is a powerful experience. Centered around the idea that shattered jars that have been put back together with gold are more beautiful now despite their breakage, the 12 songs on Mended With Gold reinforce this truth on a human level. Tracks like “Terrified” and “To Be Scared” delve into the human psyche and how we respond to the advent of trials and uncomfortable situations, while “On the Rocks” focuses more simply on a relationship going through a bad patch with more trouble on the horizon. But all three tracks are representative of the album’s theme of struggle making you stronger in the end. The majority of the album is quick-tempo indie rock, with rapid-fire drums, acoustic guitars that play with a fire that is electric, and Nils Edenloff’s earnest crooning, which is reminiscent of Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman’s more ebullient moments. Despite the songs’ serious content, you can’t help but want to rock out, largely because a lot of them have a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel that is quite attractive. The formula gets a little repetitive by the end, but Mended With Gold is still a rip-roaring good time.

—Brian Palmer

MUSIC

5:00PM 6:20PM 8:45PM 10:00PM inTersTellAr (XD) (PG-13) 12:00PM 3:45PM 7:30PM John Wick (Digital) (R) 12:20PM♠ 2:50PM♠ 5:20PM 7:50PM 10:25PM

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Underground treasure Delicious Chinese food in a downtown basement

A cozy and tasty Chinese-food hideaway just steps from campus.

PHOTO BY BRITTANY WATERSTRADT

t had been years since I walked down the stairs past Iunderground the cigar shop on Second Street and entered the world that is Peking Chinese Restaurant.

But no fewer than two friends in the past month had told me that this was their favorite Chinese food in Chico. I had to get by reacquainted. So, with one of those Meredith J. friends in tow, I recently moseyed Graham on down for dinner.

“Their special chow mein is meredithg@ newsreview.com amazing,” my companion gushed.

Obviously, we ordered that ($8).

We also opted for the cream cheese ★★★ fried wontons (a steal at $5.75 for eight) and the sesame chicken ($8.25). We washed it all down with some sake ($3.25 for a botPeking Chinese tle—about four servings).

Restaurant The interior of the restaurant is 243 W. Second St., traditional, but its location in the Ste. 4 basement makes for a more cozy 895-3888 atmosphere than most eateries www.peking enjoy. The dining room wasn’t too chinesechico.com crowded that night, though a large group of college-age patrons sat Open MondaySaturday, behind us, and they seemed to 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. either be celebrating something or Closed Sundays. really enjoying their meals.

Before long, our waitress brought out the wontons and sweet and sour sauce. Perfectly crispy, ★★★★★ with plenty of delicious crab-andEPIC cream-cheese filling, they started ★★★★ the meal off with a bang (and a AUTHORITATIVE crunch). ★★★ The entrees weren’t far behind, APPEALING and I admit I gawked a little at the ★★ portion sizes. It was enough food HAS MOMENTS to at least serve as a decent lunch ★ FLAWED the next day as well. And let me 28

CN&R

November 6, 2014

just say, the chow mein lived up to the hype—steaming hot, thick noodles, mixed with shrimp, chicken, pork and beef. Simply delicious. The sesame chicken was awesome, too. Smothered in a slightly sweet sauce, the hunks of fried chicken stayed crunchy even when I opened the to-go box later that night for a snack.

As we were preparing to leave, I noticed they were setting up for the late-night Bassmint dance party in Peking’s adjoining bar. The idea of turning the traditional Chinese restaurant into an electronic dance club had always intrigued me, and the intimate locale has a reputation for being fun, late-night hotspot. If I enjoyed that type of music, I might have stuck around long enough to see for myself.

My first visit clearly was successful. I needed to go back, though, to try a few more things before my mind was made up. This time I ordered to go—online, so simple!—and my food was ready when I arrived to pick it up (they also deliver). I opted for the special fried rice ($8) and the teriyaki chicken ($8.25), along with an appetizer of meat (they also offer veggie) pot stickers ($6).

Upon arrival home, I had to fight the dogs off before I could dig in to the once again huge portions of food. My second visit, however, wasn’t quite as impressive as my first. The rice, while including a good amount of the various meats, was a little dry and bland. The chicken was good, though, and once I poured a few heaping spoonfuls of the flavorful— but not too sweet—teriyaki sauce onto the rice, it was an awesome dish. The pot stickers were large and tasty.

I’ll definitely be going back to Peking, for the chow mein and cream cheese wontons at the very least, and for the cozy ambiance. The downtown location also is convenient—especially for students or before a night out on the town—they have a huge menu from which to choose, and you can’t ask for much more bang for your buck. Ω

MUSIC Studio co-founder Robert Brockman talks local music in the Energy Plant Arts control room.

PHOTO BY BRITTANY WATERSTRADT

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Energy Plant Arts builds ground floor for a flourishing music scene hen an organization is said to have been built by W the founders “from the ground up,” it is generally a figure of speech. In the case of local recording house

Energy Plant Arts, however, it’s quite literal.

“The studio was built entirely by by volunteers,” said Robert “Bo” Hunter Brockman, director of operations at Du Puy Energy Plant, as he discussed the studio’s history during a recent tour.

Brockman and his likeminded coFOLLOW THE founders—Nasser Qabazard, Blag ENERGY Ivanov and Tyler Weber—started Energy Plant Energy Plant in 2011 with the goal of Session, featuring providing local musicians a place to CITIES, Tuesday, record and master their art on a reaNov. 11, 7:30 p.m., sonable budget. at Energy Plant.

The studio started out as a single Seating limited, visit cement-floored warehouse in the www.facebook.com Gasoline Alley industrial complex on /energyplantarts Highway 32, to which an entire secfor more info. ond floor was added to house a conEnergy Plant trol room stocked with professional Arts recording equipment. There’s also an 2961 Highway 32, isolation room, as well as a beautiful Ste. 57 live-recording room—lined with 520-2812 sound-dampening wall panels—that www.energy plantarts.com doubles as a cozy performance venue. All of the work was completed thanks to the efforts of local volunteers and paid for out of the founders’ collective pockets.

The finished product is impressive. Patterned rugs now cover the stripped and stained floor, and a large piece of avant-garde metalwork hangs from the ceiling against the backdrop of the warmly painted walls.

The day-to-day operations are handled by a board of directors composed of Brockman, Qabazard, YJ Carson and the recently added Josh Hegg. Both Qabazard (the chief financial officer) and Carson (director of programs and development) are Chico State alums, having majored in business and music, respectively. Hegg (community relations) and Ivanov (who has since moved, but remains involved remotely) also majored in music at Chico State, graduating with recording arts degrees. Brockman, a Chico native, is a self-taught musician and producer who began recording and mixing as a DJ in high school. Co-founder Weber is in charge of Web design, and does some

work as an assistant engineer.

The studio also employs a handful of independent sound engineers, and since opening has recorded a wide range of local acts, including Strange Habits, metal crew Sorin and power-rockers Furlough Fridays. But as much as the studio is a studio, it’s also a hub for a range of local-arts activities—from live concerts and art shows to video shoots and band rehearsals.

“Ultimately what we want to see is Chico becoming a musical destination, instead of just a stopping point,” Brockman said. “Chico has produced tons of amazing bands over the years, and they’ve grown up here, developed their sound, and then when they get big enough, they have to move to the Bay, or to Portland. … We want to build support in Chico and make it feasible to stay here.”

To help in the scene-building, Energy Plant wants to focus on music education for the area’s musical youth, perhaps offering courses in audio engineering.

“We would like to make it accessible to some of the high-school-age kids in the area who may be underprivileged and would otherwise not have access to this kind of knowledge,” Brockman said.

Energy Plant already has begun making scholarship offers of sorts to local musicians—both bands and solo artists—in which community members are encouraged to donate and vote via Bandcamp and GoFundMe, and the group or artist with the most votes receives a series of free recording and mixing sessions to produce a 10-song album.

And for its latest project, Energy Plant has started collaborating with Hegg and the multidiscipline Uncle Dad’s Art Collective to produce a video series by the name of Energy Plant Sessions, in which artists will play intimate shows to small audiences at the studio, with professionally shot videos of the sets being released online the first Sunday of every month. The first session, which features local folk group Western Divide, was just recorded and posted online at www.energyplantsessions.org, and taping of the next one—featuring indie-experimental trio CITIES—takes place Tuesday, Nov. 11.

“We had a lot of help from a lot of other people,” read a post on the studio’s Facebook page. “And to Energy Plant that’s the most exciting part—that members of the community are increasingly willing to put in the time and love to collaborate with us.” Ω November 6, 2014

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Serving Butte, Glenn & Tehama Counties

THIS IS SOME NEW SHIT Anyone who complains about music “these days” is out of their freaking minds. First, some of the greats are still making great music. Thurston Moore has a new album with a new postSonic Youth band that is nearly as fun as Sonic Youth, and Sleater-Kinney has announced that a new album, New Love, is coming Jan. 20.

Second, since the Internet Borged into my life, I get more recommendations for good new songs than I can keep up with. The latest being the excellent just-released single from Kendrick Lamar (recommended by Facebook fairies) simply titled “i”—an instantly infectious, funky (thanks, in part, to a sample from the Isley Brothers’ “That Lady”) self-affirming jam.

Next on my very-recent-faves list are two from the garage: L.A. riffrockers Meatbodies, presented to me by former CN&R Arts Editor (and Arts DEVO BFFF) Mark Lore. Seek out “Tremmors,” and shake at the feet of the huge, fuzzed-out noise monster. Also, Kendrick Lamar, “i” Pittsburgh indie-punkers The Gotobeds (courtesy of AD BFFF no. 2, Red Bluff Phil), and their hectic fist-pumper, “New York is Alright (If You Like Sex and Phones).”

But, best of all would have to be “O’Clock,” by Australia’s ScotDrakula, a most perfect slice of snappy noisy fun sent my way by the master of new-music recommendations, and AD BFFF no. 3, Conrad Nystrom.

It’s seriously perfect. Well, more perfect than most things you’ll hear this year.

OH! I SEE WHAT THEY DID French Reform didn’t break up. They just

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the band name to Solar Estates. Sneaky jerks! Yes, it turns out that frontman Aric Jeffries has been making music with some of his old French Reform mates—Phil Anker and Nik Burman—as well as his fiancé, Ashley Penning, in this “new” crew.

In fact, they just released their first recording—The Quiet Season—a five-song EP (www.solarestates.bandcamp.com) that is a less-frenetic, somewhatquieter version of what us French Reformers were used to. Part of the new sound is due to the fact that guitars have, for the most part, been traded in for synths and samples. While it may be different and a little subdued, it’s still rad and danceable and pretty much Solar Estates, The Quiet Season perfect, blending everything from crunchy hip-hop beats and synth-washed chillwave to quieter electronic ambience and hand-clapping indie rock. Regarding the latter, “Repetition” is my anti-depressant jam right now—running in place on repeat. Hear the live version Saturday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m., at 1078 Gallery.

WHAT’S UP, DR.? And while I’m talking about new recordings, I have to give a long-overdue shout out to local alt-rockers Dr. Luna. In May, the four-piece, led by outspoken local musical impresario Rachelle DeBelle, released Riot of Comprehension, a dramatic and impressively bombastic six-song album of crunchy rawk. Not content to sit and wait for shit to happen, DeBelle and crew have busied themselves by hitting the road since the release to tour throughout the West and Dr. Luna Southwest, and they’ll continue to rock into the holidays with couple of California tour stops with Sac rockers Fallrise, a DeBelle-produced gig at the Blue Lamp in Sac, and even a couple of acoustic gigs up in Seattle. Look for a new album in early 2015. Visit www.drlunamusic.com.

FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 6, 2014 ARIES (March 21-April 19):

Shape-shifting is a common theme in fairy tales, says cultural historian Marina Warner in her book From the Beast to the Blonde. “A rusty lamp turns into an all-powerful talisman,” for example. “A humble pestle and mortar become the winged vehicle of the fairy enchantress,” or a slovenly beggar wearing a dirty donkeyskin transforms into a radiant princess. I foresee metaphorically similar events happening in your life sometime soon, Aries. Maybe they are already underway. Don’t underestimate the magic that is possible.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The technical scientific term for what happens when you get a headache from eating too much ice cream too fast is sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. I urge you to be on guard against such an occurrence in the coming week. You should also watch out for other phenomena that fit the description of being too-much-and-toofast-of-a-good-thing. On the other hand, you shouldn’t worry at all about slowly getting just the right amount of a good thing. If you enjoy your pleasures with grace and moderation, you’ll be fine.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

“Pregreening” is a term for what impatient drivers do as they are waiting at a red light. They partly take their foot off the brake, allowing their car to creep forward, in the hope of establishing some momentum before the light changes to green. I advise you to avoid this type of behavior in the coming week, Gemini— both the literal and the metaphorical variety. Pregreening might make sense by, say, November 15 or 16. But for now, relax and abide.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Ger-

man composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was one of the greats. His influence on the evolution of Western music has been titanic, and many of his best compositions are still played today.

He was prodigious, too, producing more than 350 works. One of the secrets to his high level of energy seems to have been his relationship with coffee. It was an indispensable part of his diet. He was fastidious in its preparation, counting out exactly 60 coffee beans for each cup.

I recommend that you summon a similar attention to detail in the coming days. It will be an excellent time to marshal your creative energy and cultivate your lust for life. You will get the best results if you are precise and consistent and focused in your approach.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): By the time we

have become young adults, most of us don’t remember much about our lives from before the age of five. As we grow into middle age, more and more childhood memories drop away. Vague impressions and hazy feelings may remain. A few special moments keep burning brightly.

But the early events that shaped us are mostly gone. Having said that, I want to alert you to the fact that you are in a phase when you could recover whole swaths of lost memories, both from your formative years and later. Take advantage of this rare window of opportunity to reconnect with your past.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Photogra-

pher Joel Leindecker can kick himself in the head 127 times in one minute.

Guinness World Records affirms that his achievement is unmatched. I’m begging you not to try to top his mark any time soon. In fact, I’m pleading with you not to commit any act of mayhem, chaos, or unkindness against yourself—even if it it’s done for entertainment purposes. In my view, it’s crucial for you to concentrate on caressing yourself, treating yourself nicely, and caring for yourself with ingenious tenderness in the coming weeks.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The writing

of letters is becoming a lost art. Few people have a long enough attention span to sit down and compose a relaxed, thoughtful report on what they have been doing and thinking. Meanwhile, the number of vigorous, far-reaching conversations is waning, too. Instead, many of us tend to emit and absorb

BY ROB BREzSNY short bursts of information at frequent intervals. But I invite you to rebel against this trend in the coming weeks. Judging from the astrological omens, I believe you would stir up some quietly revolutionary developments by slowing down and deepening the way you communicate with those you care about. You may be amazed by how much richer your experience of intimacy will become.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Near the

end of the 19th century, an American named Annie Londonderry became the first woman to ride a bicycle around the world. It was a brave and brazen act for an era when women still couldn’t vote and paved roads were rare. Her 15-month journey took her through countries that would be risky for a single woman on a bike to travel through today, like Egypt and Yemen. What made her adventure even more remarkable was that she didn’t know how to ride a bike until two days before she departed. I’d love to see you plan a daring exploit like that, Scorpio—even if you do not yet have a certain skill you will need to succeed.

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All advertising is subject to the newspaper’s Standards of Acceptance. Further, the News & Review specifically reserves the right to edit, decline or properly classify any ad. Errors will be rectified by re-publication upon notification. The N&R is not responsible for error after the first publication. The N&R assumes no financial liability for errors or omission of copy. In any event, liability shall not exceed the cost of the space occupied by such an error or omission. The advertiser and not the newspaper assumes full responsibility for the truthful content of their advertising message.

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

P. G. Wodehouse wrote more than 90 books, as well as numerous plays, musical comedies, and film scripts. When he died at age 93, he was working on another novel. He did not suffer from writer’s block. And yet his process was far from effortless. He rarely churned out perfection on his first attempt. “I have never written a novel,” he testified, “without doing 40,000 words or more and finding they were all wrong and going back and starting again.” The way I see your immediate future, Sagittarius, is that you will be creating your own version of those 40,000 wrong words. And that’s OK. It’s not a problem. You can’t get to the really good stuff without slogging through this practice run.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

It’s a favorable time for you to meditate intensely on the subject of friendship. I urge you to take inventory of all the relevant issues. Here are a few questions to ask yourself. How good of a friend are you to the people you want to have as your friends? What capacities do you cultivate in your effort to build and maintain vigorous alliances? Do you have a clear sense of what qualities you seek in your cohorts and colleagues? Are you discerning in the way you choose your compatriots, or do you sometimes end up in associations with people you don’t truly enjoy and don’t have much in common with? If you discover any laziness or ignorance in your approach to the art of friendship, make the necessary fixes.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Before

the invention of the printing press, books in Europe were handmade. Medieval monks spent long hours copying these texts, often adding illustrations in the margins. There’s an odd scene that persistently appears in these illuminated manuscripts: knights fighting snails.

Scholars don’t agree on why this theme is so popular or what it means. One theory is that the snail symbolizes the “slowmoving tedium of daily life,” which can be destructive to our hopes and dreams— similar to the way that literal snails may devour garden plants. In accordance with the cosmic omens, I am bestowing a knighthood on you, Aquarius, so you will be inspired to rise up and defeat your own metaphorical version of the snail.

BEWARE OF FAKE CHECK SCAMS Fake check scams are clever ploys designed to steal your money.

You can avoid becoming a victim by recognizing how the scam works and understanding your responsiblity for the checks that you deposit in your account.

If someone you don’t know wants to pay you by check but wants you to wire some of the money back, beware! It is a scam that could cost you thousands of dollars. For more information, go to www.fraud.org/scams.

This reminder is a public service of the N&R

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): To be

in righteous alignment with cosmic forces, keep the Halloween spirit alive for another week. You have a license to play with your image and experiment with your identity. Interesting changes will unfold as you expand your notion of who you are and rebel cheerfully against your own status quo. To get started, try this exercise. Imagine that your gangsta name is Butt-Jugglin Smuggla. Your pirate name is Scallywagger Hornslasher.

Your sex-worker name is Saucy Loaf.

Your Mexican wrestler name is Ojo Último (Ultimate Eye). Your rock star-from-thefuture name is Cashmere Hammer. Or make up your own variations.

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Whenever doing business by telephone or email proceed with caution when cash or credit is required in advance of services.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as CLOUD 9 A SWEETWATER DAY SPA, CLOUD 9 DAY SPA, WELLWATER WELLNESS SPA at 260 Cohasset Road Suite 190 Chico, CA 95926.

CHRISTAN NICOLE ALLISON 3070 Silverbell Road Chico, CA 95973.

JUSTIN ALLISON 3070 Silverbell Road Chico, CA 95973.

PATRICIA MARIAN THATCHER 624 Larch Street Chico, CA 95926.

This business is conducted by A General Partnership.

Signed: PATRICIA M THATCHER Dated: October 10, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001273 Published: October 16,23,30, November 6, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as CALIFORNIA ONSITE WATER ASSOCIATION at 111 Mission Ranch Blvd, Suite 100 Chico, CA 95926.

CALIFORNIA ON-SITE WASTEWATER ASSOCIATION 111 Mission Ranch Blvd, Suite 100 Chico, CA 95926.

This business is conducted by a Corporation.

Signed: STEPHEN BRANDS, JUNIOR TECH Dated: September 24, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001214 Published: October 16,23,30, November 6, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following person is doing business as AZTECAS VIDEO AND GROC at 324 Walnut Street, Suite A Chico, CA 95928.

FRANCISCO J REYES 324 Walnut Street, Suite A Chico, CA 95928.

This business is conducted by an Individual.

Signed: FRANCISCO J. REYES Dated: October 9, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001267 Published: October 16,23,30, November 6, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as C AND T’S BARGAIN MARKET

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at 2157 Pilsbury Road Chico, CA 95926.

C AND T’S BARGAIN MARKET 4320 Earnscliff Ave. Fair Oaks, CA 95628.

This business is conducted by A Corporation.

Signed: CHRIS HOSTETTLER, PRESIDENT Dated: October 2, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001237 Published: October 16,23,30, November 6, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as K & K AUTOGISTICS LLC at 1624 10th Street Oroville, CA 95965.

K & K AUTOGISTICS LLC 1624 10th Street Oroville, CA 95965.

This business is conducted by A Limited Liability Company.

Signed: ANGELA CLOSSON, OWNER Dated: September 30, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001227 Published: October 16,23,30, November 6, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following person is doing business as ON YOUR MARK MOBILE NOTARY SERVICES at 1212 Downing Avenue, Suite 2 Chico, CA 95926.

ANGELA C. COOK 1212 Downing Avenue, Suite 2 Chico, CA 95926.

This business is conducted by an Individual.

Signed: ANGELA COOK Dated: September 23, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001206 Published: October 16,23,30, November 6, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following person is doing business as PAINTED CELLARS at 1751 Forty Niner Ct Chico, CA 95926.

ERIKA NORIEGA 100 Penzance Ave #31. Chico, CA 95973.

This business is conducted by an Individual.

Signed: ERIKA NORIEGA Dated: Semptember 2, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001141 Published: October 16,23,30, November 6, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following person is doing business as PILES OF PAPER at 91 Northwood Commons Place Chico, CA 95973.

CAROLYN W SANGER 91 Northwood Commons Place Chico, CA 95973.

This business is conducted by an Individual.

Signed: CAROLYN W. SANGER Dated: October 15, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001286 Published: October 23,30, November 6,13, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following person is doing business as MOUNTAIN THYME PHOTOGRAPHY at 1300 Deodara Way Paradise, CA 95969.

DAVID A BERMANN 1300 Deodara Way Paradise, CA 95969.

This business is conducted by an Individual.

Signed: DAVID A. BERMANN Dated: October 8, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001266 Published: October 23,30, November 6,13, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as NOSLO RANCH at 9850 Jones Avenue Durham, CA 95938.

RYAN OLSON 9850 Jones Avenue Durham, CA 95938.

STEFANIE OLSON 9850 Jones Avenue Durham, CA 95938.

This business is conducted by A Married Couple.

Signed: STEFANIE OLSON Dated: September 18, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001193 Published: October 23,30, November 6,13, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as B & S ENTERPRISES at 641 Circle Drive, Oroville, CA 95966.

BARBARA FLETCHER 641 Circle Drive, Oroville, CA 95966.

STEVEN F FLETCHER 641 Circle Drive, Oroville, CA 95966.

This business is conducted by A Married Couple.

Signed: BARBARA FLETCHER Dated: October 1, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001230 Published: October 30, November 6,13,20, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following person is doing business as LOUNGHAI at 5670 Nicolai Ave Oroville, CA 95966.

KENNETH ROBERT FORD 5670 Nicolai Ave Oroville, CA 95966.

This business is conducted by an Individual.

Signed: KEN FORD Dated: October 21, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001303 Published: October 30, November 6,13,20, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following person is doing business as MOON PIE ENTERPRISES at 1421 Swedes Flat Road Oroville, CA 95966.

RICARDO VILLALOBOS 1421 Swedes Flat Road Oroville, CA 95966.

This business is conducted by an Individual.

Signed: RICARDO VILLALOBOS Dated: October 24, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001321 Published: October 30, November 6,13,20, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as NEWTON REALTY at 1230 Esplanade Chico, CA 95926.

JEANNE NEWTON CHICO REALTY, INC. 1230 Esplanade Chico, CA 95926.

This business is conducted by A Corporation.

Signed: JEANNE NEWTON, CEO Dated: October 8, 2014 FBN NUmber: 2014-0001256 Published: October 30, November 6,13,20, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as RUSSELL’S at 185 Cohasset Rd Chico, CA 95926.

PEACH TREE RESTAURANT INC 1080 N Beale Rd Marysville, CA 95901.

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N o v e m b e November r 6 , 2 0 1 46, 2014

ATTENTION SN&R Design Dept: Can you please add the horizontal rule at top, full width of page. And, a vertical rule that separates ASTROLOGY from CLASSIFIEDS?

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following person is doing business as EAT PLANTS ALIVE at 17 Bowers Lane Chico, CA 95973.

JILL MARIE STEWART 17 Bowers Lane Chico, CA 95973.

This business is conducted by an Individual.

Signed: JILL MARIE STEWART Dated: October 27, 2014 FBN NUmber: 2014-0001329 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are do-­ ing business as HALEY GROUP, HALEY REAL ESTATE GROUP at 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

BCHM CORPORATION 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

CRYSTAL ANN COATS 1557 Filbert Ave. Chico, CA 95926.

ROBERT EMMET HALEY 1557 Filbert Ave. Chico, CA 95926.

This business is conducted be a Corporation.

Signed: ERICA MARTINI, PRESIDENT Dated: October 23, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001307 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as GILMOUR REAL ESTATE GROUP at 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

BCHM CORPORATION 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

JOSEPH TODD GILMOUR 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

This business is conducted by a Corporation.

Signed: ERICA MARTINI, PRESIDENT Dated: October 23, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001308 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as WINSLOW AND ASSOCIATES at 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

BCHM CORPORATION 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

HEIDI WINSLOW 480 Cinnamon Dr. Chico, CA 95973.

KEN WINSLOW 480 Cinnamon Dr. Chico, CA 95973.

This business is conducted by a Corporation.

Signed: ERICA MARTINI, PRESIDENT Dated: October 23, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001311 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as PORCH-TO-PORCH REAL ESTATE at 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

BCHM CORPORATION 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

KENNETH M. DICKSON 1423 Arcadian Ave. Chico, CA 95926.

This business is conducted by a Corporation.

Signed: ERICA MARTINI, PRESIDENT Dated: October 23, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001312 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as PLATINUM PARTNERS REAL ESTATE TEAM at 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

MARISA BAUER 1275 Banning Park Dr. Chico, CA 95928.

BCHM CORPORATION 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

LISA BRISTOW 573 E. 4th St. Chico, CA 95926.

ERICA MARTINI 1239 Peninsula Drive Chico, CA 95928.

This business is conducted by a Corporation.

Signed: ERICA MARTINI, PRESIDENT Dated: October 23, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001313 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

NOTICES NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE THOMAS EDWARD GOUGH, aka THOMAS E. GOUGH To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of: THOMAS EDWARD GOUGH, aka THOMAS GOUGH, THOMAS E. GOUGH A Petition for Probate has been filed by: DEBBIE S. TAYLOR in the Superior Court of California, County of Butte.

The Petition for Probate requests that:DEBBIE S. TAYLOR be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.

The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: Date: November 20, 2014 Time: 9:00a.m.

Dept: PROBATE Address of the court: Superior Court of California County of Butte 655 Oleander Ave Chico, CA 95926.

IF YOU OBJECT to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney.

IF YOU ARE A CREDITOR or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal repre-­ sentative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or per-­ sonal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code.

Other California statutes and le-­ gal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult an attorney knowledgeable in California law.

YOU MAY EXAMINE the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250.

A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.

Attorney for Petitioner:

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NICOLE R. PLOTTEL 3120 Cohasset Rd., Ste. 10, Chico, CA 95973.

(530) 893-2882 Case Number: PR41213 Published: October 30, November 6,13, 2014

NOTICE OF INTENTION TO SELL REAL PROPERTY AT PRIVATE SALE Superior Court of California Butte County In the Estate of RUTH BALDRIDGE aka RUTH G. BALDRIDGE, Decedent.

Please take notice that the Administrator, JERRY BALDRIDGE. intends to sell the real property which is the subject of this estate located at 2322 Monte Vista Ave., Oroville, California and more particularly described as follows: All that certain real property situate in the County of Butte, Oroville, State of California, described as follows: Parcel 1: Lot 3, as shown on that certain Map entitled, “Vista Del Cerro Unit No. 1”, which Map was recorded in the Office of the Recorder of the County of Butte, State of California, on June 2, 1977 in Book 58 of Maps, at Pages 38, 39, 40 and 41.

Parcel II: An easement for drainage purposes over the Southerly 8.00 feet of Lots 1, 2 and 4 of the above referenced Map, which map was recorded in Book 58 of Maps, at pages 38-41.

APN: 078-150-003 Offers will be accepted after the date of the first publication of this notice. The terms of the sale are as follows: a. Deposit: Deposit in the amount of $500.00 upon presenting an offer. The balance of the funds are to be placed in the escrow account prior to the close of escrow. b. Other Terms: Sale is made “as is”, no warranties express or implied.

All sales are subject to court confirmation within 30 days upon acceptance of the offer.

For questions about this property please contact the Administrator JERRY BALDRIDGE at (775) 657-8760.

Signed: JERRY BALDRIDGE Dated: November 1, 2014 Case Number: PR41182 Published: November 6,13,20, 2014

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner CINDY PHELPS filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present name: CINDY JO PHELPS Proposed name: CINDY JO MCKAY THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted.

Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objec-­ tion that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING Date: November 26, 2014 Time: 8:30am Dept: TBA The address of the court is: Butte County Superior Court 655 Oleander Ave. Chico, CA 95926 Signed: ROBERT GLUSMAN Dated: October 2, 2014 Case Number: 163033 Published: October 16,23,30 November 6, 2014

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner

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EMAN-H-AITA filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present name: EMAN-H-AITA Proposed name: HODA-DEE DEE-IBRAHAM THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted.

Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objec-­ tion that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING Date: November 19, 2014 Time: 8:30am Dept: TBA The address of the court is: Butte County Superior Court 655 Oleander Ave. Chico, CA 95926 Signed: SANDRA L. MCLEAN Dated: September 30, 2014 Case Number: 163034 Published: October 16,23,30 November 6, 2014

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner BRYCE ROSSI filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present name: BRYCE VINCENT ROSSI Proposed name: BRYCE VINCENT WOFFORD THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted.

Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objec-­ tion that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING Date: DECEMBER 10, 2014 Time: 8:30am Dept: TBA The address of the court is: Butte County Superior Court 655 Oleander Ave. Chico, CA 95926 Signed: ROBERT A. GLUSMAN Dated: October 16, 2014 Case Number: 163126 Published: October 30, November 6,13,20, 2014

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner DA SHAWNA LA RAYE MELVIN filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Present name: DA SHAWNA LA RAYE MELVIN Proposed name: DA SHAWNA LA RAYE SLIGHTOM THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted.

Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objec-­ tion that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING Date: December 3, 2014 Time: 8:30am Dept: TBA

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The address of the court is: Butte County Superior Court 655 Oleander Ave. Chico, CA 95926 Signed: ROBERT GLUSMAN Dated: October 10, 2014 Case Number: 163117 Published: October 30, November 6,13,20, 2014

SUMMONS SUMMONS NOTICE TO RESPONDENT JENNIFER F. NEWMAN You are being sued by plaintiff: JERROD A. NEWMAN You have 30 calendar days after this Summons and Petition are served on you to file a Response (form FL-120 or FL-123) at the court and have a copy served on the petitioner. A letter or phone call will not protect you.

If you do not file your Response on time, the court may make or-­ ders affecting your marriage or domestic partnership, your property, and custody of your children. You may be ordered to pay support and attorney fees and costs. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the clerk for a fee waiver form.

If you want legal advice, contact a lawyer immediately.

You can get information about finding lawyers at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp) at the California Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org), or by contacting your local county bar association.

The name and address of the court are: Butte County Superior Court One Court Street Oroville, CA 95965 The name, address, and telephone number of the petitioner’s attorney, or the petitioner without an attorney, are: JERROD A. NEWMAN 1420 Oro Dam Blvd. West Oroville, CA 95965.

AFFORDABLE DOCUMENTS 1751 Oro Dam Blvd. #4 Oroville, CA 95966 (530) 534-7777 LDA #11 Signed: KIMBERLY FLENER Dated: September 26, 2014 Case Number: FL-046422 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association.

NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case. The court’s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case.

The name and address of the court is: SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF BUTTE, One Court Street, Oroville, CA 95965.

The name, address, and telephone number of plaintiff’s attorney, or plaintiff without an attorney, is: CRAIG P. BRONSTEIN [SBN 174124] Lanak & Hanna, P.C. [#18798] 625 The City Drive South, Suite 190 Orange, CA 92868-4983 (714) 550-0418 Signed: KIMBERLY FLENER Dated: September 21, 2012 Case Number: 157901 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

YOU’RE WELCOME, NATURE.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following person is doing business as ROYAL COOKIE BOUTIQUE at 1450 Springfield Drive #81 Chico, CA 95928.

RACHEL J VONASEK 1450 Springfield Drive #81 Chico, CA 95928.

This business is conducted by an Individual.

Signed: RACHEL VONASEK Dated: October 29, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001343 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as SUFUENTES REAL ESTATE GROUP at 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

BCHM CORPORATION 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

JULIO R SUFUENTES 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

This business is conducted by a Corporation.

Signed: ERICA MARTINI, PRESIDENT Dated: October 23, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001310 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following person is doing business as BELLA NATURAL at 712 Bidwell Drive Chico, CA 95926.

MARIANNE BELTRAN 712 Bidwell Drive Chico, CA 95926.

This business is conducted by an Individual.

Signed: MARIANNE BELTRAN Dated: October 6, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001246 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

SUMMONS NOTICE TO DEFENDANT: BARBARA J. SWIGART, AN INDIVIDUAL, AND DOES 1 THROUGH 75 INCLUSIVE you are being sued by plaintiff: AMERICAN CONTRACTORS INDEMINITY COMPANY, A CALIFORNIA CORPORTATION. NOTICE! You have been sued.

The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below.

You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in the proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court.

There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following person is doing business as QUEENLY CLERGY SHIRTS at 2508 Tom Polk Ave Chico, CA 95973.

DELIA FAY 2508 Tom Polk Ave Chico, CA 95973.

This business is conducted by an Individual.

Signed: SDELIA FAY Dated: October 15, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001285 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT The following persons are doing business as THE SIMPKINS TEAM at 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

BCHM CORPORATION 2080 E. 20th St. Suite 170 Chico, CA 95928.

ALISHA SIMPKINS 39 Lakewood Way Chico, CA 95926.

This business is conducted by a Corporation.

Signed: ERICA MARTINI, PRESIDENT Dated: October 23, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001309 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

RECYCLE THIS PAPER.

This business is conducted by a Corporation.

Signed: NAEEM REHMAN, OWNER Dated: October 24, 2014 FBN Number: 2014-0001326 Published: November 6,13,20,26, 2014

butte county living

LOVE’S REAL ESTATE All That Cash “Where in the world is all this cash coming from?” asked Lorena Smithson. “And who in the world are all these people floating around with boatloads of it?”

The Realtor told me cash is coming from all over the place, from first-time home buyers to investors, more than ever, covering 20 percent of sales in the North Valley.

Laura is trying to buy a house. She’s been approved for a loan and she’s ready to make her move. She’s made offers on several properties, at full-price-or-close-to-it, but lost out in bidding wars to people offering all cash.

First-time home buyer Josh Lavelle recently closed escrow and moved into a house he bought with all cash. Josh is a freshman in college. He said he “totally lucked out” because his grandfather gave him money to buy the house.

“It’s not fair!” she said. “My offer is just as good as theirs, but just because I’m getting a loan, I lose!”

“My Grampa told me he wanted to give me the money for a house before he ‘croaks,’ as he called it,” said Josh. “‘Croaks.’ Ha, ha! That’s a funny word.” I’ll bet his Grampa would say the word gets less funny the older you get.

I asked Lorena why she was yelling, but she didn’t seem to hear me.

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“Why does this keep happening?” Lorena paused a moment. “And no, I’m not yelling, I’m just really, really … frustrated!” Maybe the phone connection was exceptionally clear.

I parlayed Lorena’s questions to a Realtor.

“Sellers prefer cash over offers with loans,” he said, “because they don’t have to worry about low appraisals, loan denials and delays. Not that those things always happen with loans, it’s just that cash eliminates the possibility.”

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Investor Hal Iverland bought three homes this year, all cash. “The money I had wasn’t making any interest, so it made no sense to borrow,” he said, “and the housing market is tight on inventory, with lots of competition among buyers. My cash offers tend to beat out the buyers with loans. Sellers will even accept a lower sales price to get the cash deal.”

Which explains why Lorena Smithson is yelling, or ... frustrated.

DOUG LOVE is Sales Manager at Century 21 Jeffries Lydon Email escrowgo@aol.com or call 530.680.0817

www.chico.newsreview.com

Open Houses & Listings are online at: www.century21JeffriesLydon.com location location

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555 Stilson Canyon Rd 791 Westmont Ct 152 Landmark Dr 1946 Preservation Oak Dr 3291 Carlsbad Ct 27 Avenida Brisa Ct 2305 Ceres Ave 3027 Burnap Ave 2077 Rochester Dr 2624 Amanecida Cmn 650 Vallombrosa Ln

Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico

$460,000.00 $430,000.00 $380,000.00 $370,000.00 $350,000.00 $310,000.00 $306,000.00 $292,000.00 $279,000.00 $263,000.00 $250,000.00

5/ 3.5 4/ 2.5 3/ 3 3/ 2.5 3/ 1.5 3/ 2 4/ 2 3/ 2 3/ 2 3/ 2 3/ 1.5

3281 3352 1962 2034 1774 1507 2215 1573 1842 1292 1412

481 Hoopa Cir 1 Alden Ct 24 Camberwell Ct 756 Lorinda Ln 1609 Sheridan Ave 2319 Fair St 46 Glenshire Ln 1198 Oakdale St 946 Eaton Rd 10262 El Bandito Ln 555 Vallombrosa Ave 50

Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico Chico

$245,000.00 $242,000.00 $240,000.00 $220,000.00 $217,000.00 $215,500.00 $215,000.00 $195,000.00 $185,000.00 $180,000.00 $139,000.00

3/ 2 4/ 2 3/ 2 2/ 1 3/ 1 3/ 2 3/ 2.5 2/ 1 3/ 2 2/ 1 2/ 1

1618 1643 1215 1486 1040 1433 1324 906 1167 1075 902

November 6, 2014

CN&R 33

CN&R

REAL ESTATE SECTION Get better response from your newspaper advertising with the B U T T E COUNTY LIVING REAL ESTATE S E C T I O N in the Chico News & Review.

With 105,000-plus readers and a proven track record, we're confident you'll quickly realize the benefits of advertising in Butte County's #1 newspaper. Over 42,000 copies of the CN&R are distributed to over 750 locations in Butte County.

1975 StearnS • ParadiSe New everything! 3BR, 3BA, 3,016 sq. ft. plus 2 bonus rooms, 1.89 acres, lot split started. Views from every window! Oversized living room, cozy gas fireplace.

Call your News & Review advertising representative today, (530) 894-2300

reduced to Sell at: $319,000 Cindy Haskett | 570-3381 | Coldwell Banker/Ponderosa Realty

Vintage 2 bd/1 ba, 893 sq ft, large lot $179,900 Butte Creek, 6.23 acs on creek, 2.16 sq ft home $525,000 Open floor plan, 3 bd/2 ba, 1,126 sq ft $229,000 Building lot, .91 acre, nice area of homes $164,900 Gated community, lovely 2,531 sq ft with VIEW! $438,900 Updated beautifully, lake property, 4 bd/3 ba, 2,165 sq ft $449,900 18 acres, forest, 1,550 sq ft home, cash only $225,000

Canyon Oaks, quality 3,792 sq ft, 1 acre $699,000 View, Butte Creek Canyon, 3,114 sq ft, 4bd/4ba, 1.75 acres $590,000 Stunning park like 1.13 acres, 3bd/2ba, g 1,999 sq ft $435,000 pendin Newer 3bd/2ba, lots of nice touches 1,712 sq ft $287,500 Awesome updated kitchen, tile flooring, extras! 3 bd/2 ba, 1,370 sq ft $229,000 Huge lot, views, pool, quality 2,528 sq ft, southeast Chico $489,900

Teresa Larson • (530)899-5925

Teresa Larson • (530)899-5925

www.ChicoListings.com • chiconativ@aol.com

www.ChicoListings.com • chiconativ@aol.com

819 Colusa St. 4beds/2 baths.

List Price: $228,500

QUIET CUL-DESAC LOCATION

Newer 3 bed, 2 bath featuring separate living & dining rooms, kitchen that is open to family room w/ breakfast bar, big master bedroom w/ separate tub & shower, large back yard w/ fruit trees. Asking $279,000

907 Karen Dr. 3 beds/2 baths. REDUCED List Price: $239,000 www.907KarenDr.com 2711 Escallonia Way 4 beds/2.5 baths. REDUCED Marc Shapiro Marc ShaPiro List Price: $449,900 www.EscalloniaWay.com 530.426.2555 Quality is a Universal Language

shapirohomes.com

mark reaman 530-228-2229

Mark.Reaman@c21jeffrieslydon.com

The following houses were sold in Butte County by real estate agents or private parties during the week of October 20, 2014 – October 24, 2014.

The housing prices are based on the stated documentary transfer tax of the parcel and may not necessarily reflect the actual sale price of the home.

ADDRESS 974 Wisconsin St 3346 Hwy 32 1955 Zachary Ct 13875 S Park Dr 14525 Asheville Dr 6490 Loyola Ct 13973 Creston Rd 18 Coventry Dr 1675 20th St 7485 Lower Wyandotte Rd 2843 Stormes Ave 34 CN&R November 6, 2014

TOWN

PRICE

BR/BA

SQ. FT.

ADDRESS

Chico Chico Chico Magalia Magalia Magalia Magalia Oroville Oroville Oroville Oroville

$133,000.00 $120,000.00 $119,000.00 $167,000.00 $142,500.00 $122,000.00 $109,000.00 $194,000.00 $160,000.00 $152,000.00 $150,000.00

2/ 1 2/ 1 3/ 2.5 3/ 2 2/ 2 3/ 2 2/ 2 3/ 2.5 3/ 1.5 4/ 2 3/ 1.5

860 792 1366 1914 1292 1337 1440 1744 1344 1283 1643

3468 Stauss Ave 70 Shadow Oak Ct 86 Greenbrier Dr 6682 Shay Ln 400 Pearson Rd 1934 Crandall Way Marywood Dr 311 Rose Ln 805 Windsor Dr 1370 Manhattan Dr 137 Coast Range Ln

TOWN

PRICE

BR/BA

SQ. FT.

Oroville Oroville Oroville Paradise Paradise Paradise Paradise Paradise Paradise Paradise Paradise

$146,000.00 $145,000.00 $130,000.00 $250,000.00 $228,500.00 $205,000.00 $195,000.00 $185,000.00 $165,000.00 $163,000.00 $122,500.00

3/ 1 3/ 1.5 2/ 2 3/ 2.5 2/ 2 3/ 2 2/ 1.5 3/ 2 2/ 1 2/ 2 2/ 1

1159 1188 1536 1578 1626 1314 1217 1859 1128 1032 1223

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open house Century 21 Jeffries Lydon Sat. 12-3

4369 Nord (X St: Esplanade) 4 Bd / 3 Ba, 2045 Sq.Ft. $1,200,000 Frank “Speedy” Condon 864-7726

Sat. 2-4

43 Taige Way (X St: Midway/ Speedway) 4 Bd / 3.5 Ba, 3167 Sq.Ft. $659,000 Alice Zeissler 518-1872

Sat. 2-4 & Sun. 2-4

4156 Spyglass (X St: Garner) 5 Bd / 3 Ba, 3,112 Sq. Ft. $599,000 Anita Miller 321-1174 Paul Champlin 828-2902

Sat. 11-1

25 Blackstone Court (X St: Coit Tower) 4 Bd / 3 Ba, 2181 Sq.Ft. $441,000 Traci Cooper 520-0227

Sun. 12-3

1806 Oro Chico Hwy (X St: Estates Dr) 3 Bd / 2 Ba, 2,456 Sq.Ft. $410,000 Kathy Kelly 570-7403

Sat. 11-1, 2-4 & Sun. 11-1 3834 Keefer Rd (X St: Hicks) 4 Bd / 2 Ba, 1945 Sq.Ft. $408,000 Ronnie Owen 518-0911

Sat. 2-4 & Sun. 2-4

6773 Moore Rd (X St: Clark Rd), Paradise 4 Bd / 3 Ba, 2669 Sq.Ft. $405,000 Katherine Ossokine 591-3837

Sat. 11-1, 2-4

Sat. 2-4

Sat. 2-4

Sat. 2-4 & Sun. 2-4

Sat. 2-4 & Sun. 2-4

Sun. 11-1

Sun. 11-1

Century 21 Select Paradise

Sat. 11-1, 2-4 & Sun. 2-4

Sat 11-1

1220 Glen Haven (X St: Oak Way) 3 Bd / 2 Ba, 2100 Sq.Ft. $379,000 Amy Bean 805-248-3903 1395 Arch Way (X St: Marigold/East) 4 Bd / 2 Ba, 2045 Sq.Ft. $359,901 Heather DeLuca 228-1480

Sat. 2-4

1225 Yosemite Dr (X St: Cal Park Dr) 4 Bd / 2 Ba, 2044 Sq.Ft. $329,000 Brandi Laffins 321-9562

Sat. 11-1, 2-4

8 Rosemary Cir (X St: Verbena) 4 Bd / 2 Ba, 1920 Sq.Ft. $329,000 Keating Murphy 707-363-1872

Sat. 11-1, 2-4 & Sun. 11-1 1466 Sale (X St: Ceanothus) 3 Bd / 2 Ba, 1718 Sq.Ft. $319,900 Kim Finlan 518-8453 Kimberley Tonge 518-5508 Sherrie O 518-5904

Sat. 11-3

43 Dacy Ave (X St: Cohasset Rd) 4 Bd / 5 Ba, 2220 Sq.Ft. $316,000 Sat. 11-3, Laura Willman 680-8962

Sat. 2-4 & Sun. 2-4

2257 Mariposa Avenue (X St: Calla) 5 Bd / 2 Ba, 2,078Sq Ft. $290,000 Nick Zeissler 520-6968 Alice Zeissler 518-1872

79 Herlax Cir (X St: W.11th Ave) 3 Bd / 2 Ba, 1712 Sq.Ft. $287,500 Jenn Stelle 515-6801 12 Coleman St (X St: East Ave) 3 Bd / 2 Ba, 1703 Sq.Ft. $279,500 Mark Reaman 228-2229 Sherrie O 518-5904 495 E. 8th Ave (X St: Palm) 4 Bd / 2 Ba, 1607 Sq.Ft. $263,500 Sherry Landis 514-4855

10 Burkeshire Court (X St: Hampshire) 2 Bd / 2 Ba, 1,034 Sq. Ft. 207,000 Garrett French 228-1305 1376 Humboldt Ave (X St: Bartlett) 2 Bd / 1 Ba, 1040 Sq.Ft. $177,900 Alice Zeissler 518-1872

2709 Pillsbury Road (X St: East/Cohasset Rd) 3 Bd / 2 Ba, 1,442Sq. Ft. $254,900 Dan Thorup 566-3474 Steve Laird 321-6375

5885 Pinewood Dr. 3Bd 2Ba 1704 sq. ft. $199,900 Chari Bullock 872-6818

Sat. 11-1, 2-4 & Sun. 11-1, 2-4

340 Pinewood Dr. 3bd 2ba 2197 sq. ft. $369,000 hari Bullock 872-6818

7 Wysong (X St: Park Village) 3 Bd / 2 Ba, 1127 Sq.Ft. $239,900 Mark Reaman 228-2229 Kim Finlan 518-8453 Keating Murphy 707-363-1872 Amy Bean 805-248-3903

Sat 2-4

Sun. 11-1

20 Parkhurst St (X St: Notre Dame) 3 Bd / 3 Ba, 1370 Sq.Ft. $229,000 Dan Thorup 566-3474

Sat. 11-1

2655 Waverly Court (X St: Cussick) 3 Bd / 2.5 Ba, 1,728Sq Ft. $215,000 Alice Zeissler 518-1872

November 6, 2014

CN&R 35

Saturday, November 29th

$10 Per Person

7:00PM

$15 VIP*

9:30PM

*1/2 OFF Well Drinks & Beer With Entry

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