Coming&going

Law enforcement

District Attorney Mike Ramsey swore in a new chief investigator this week, Kristin J. Simpson (pictured).

Simpson will lead a bureau of 37 investigator with responsibilities for investigating crimes of child abuse, elder abuse, domestic violence, child abduction, narcotics and insurance fraud, to name a few. Simpson, 51, started her career in 1973, when she worked for the Stanford University Police Department. She has also worked for the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office, along with the Palo Alto and Chico police departments, where she was an officer.

Simpson started working for Butte County in 1984 as a welfare fraud investigator and in 1986 she was sworn in as an investigator for the District Attorney’s Office. Since 1997, she has been the senior investigator in charge of the department’s Special Victim’s Unit, which oversees investigations of child abuse, elder abuse, child abductions and domestic violence.

Simpson replaces longtime Chief Investigator Ed Szendrey, who retired last month after 20 years with the department.

Agriculture

Awards for some of Butte County’s biggest ag supporters were given at an invitation-only ceremony at the Sierra Nevada Brewery last week.

The Ag Service Award was given to Dick Cassady (pictured), for his long-term support of the ag community through his “personal service, research and financial contributions.” The California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation’s Rice Experiment Station got the Agri-Business of the Year Award, for contributions of time, money and research this year.

The Special Recognition Award was given to Kathy Chance for her “significant contribution” to the industry.

Last year’s winners were Sue Murphy for the Ag Service Award, Golden West Nuts for the Agri-Business of the Year Award, and Roger Swanson for the Special Recognition Award.

Education

The Butte College Foundation will honor four Outstanding Alumni at a dinner scheduled for Nov. 7. Honorees are Robert B. Anderson, Leonard B. Estes, Candace J. Grubbs, and William R. Hunter.

Estes and Hunter were the Butte County Sheriff’s deputies killed in a shootout this summer in Inskip, and Grubbs is the county clerk. Anderson is a financial planner in Paradise.

Charity

Chico High School students sponsored a fundraiser called “The Miracle Minute,” designed to raise money to help the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

After a school bell rang at exactly 9:11 a.m. on Oct. 30, every classroom had exactly one minute to collect all the money it could from the students. They raised more than $1,100, related student Steven Valentino, and “we felt really good about it.”

Students in Chico State’s Department of Theater Arts raised more than $5,600 during the Show Must Go On fundraiser last month. The event was held in cooperation with the Red Cross.

Correction

In the Oct. 25 edition of this column, the departure times on SkyWest’s new schedule from the Chico Municipal Airport were confused with the arrival times in San Francisco and misreported.

Planes leave Chico daily at 6:55 a.m., 10:34 a.m., 1:56 p.m. and 8:21 p.m.