Briefly
$300,000 settles discrimination suit
Chico State University is paying out $300,000 to settle a discrimination and harassment lawsuit filed by one of its lecturers.
Moon Jee Yoo-Madrigal, who has been teaching sociology at Chico State part-time for 23 years, alleged, according to a summary provided to the California State University Board of Trustees, the “she has been the victim of discrimination and harassment because of her race (Korean), gender (female), marital status (married) and age (56), in violation of several state and federal laws.
“She also claims that, due to the ongoing discrimination and retaliation, she has been repeatedly denied appointment to any of the tenure-track positions she has sought over the years.”
Under the terms of the settlement, Yoo-Madrigal will also continue teaching for three and one-half years, at which point she will resign, confirmed Gale Baker, the CSU’s attorney in the matter.
Baker said that the agreement forbids discussion of the case. “It was amicably resolved,” she said. “Certainly, it’s not an admission of any wrongdoing.”
Rob Jaret, Yoo-Madrigal’s San Rafael attorney, said, “The parties did agree not to make comments on the settlement.” He did confirm that the suit was settled “to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Open it, please, but don’t peek!
File this under “Careful what you ask for.”
A 16-year-old girl was arrested at Johnny’s Lock and Safe in Chico on the afternoon of November 10 after she asked locksmiths there to open a safe that she had allegedly carried into the shop, apparently unable to pry it open at home. After doing what they were asked, the locksmiths allegedly found a considerable amount of bagged methamphetamine—6.8 grams—along with scales, drug paraphernalia and packaging materials. Then they did something they weren’t asked to do: They called the cops.
Chico police arrested the girl on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance for sale. She was booked into Juvenile Hall. Her name was not released because she is a minor.
DA gets coverage galore for well-publicized “Bad Check Strike”
District Attorney Mike Ramsey dispatched a whole bunch of his investigators on the morning Nov. 8 to arrest 35 people for allegedly writing bad checks—many of which were for less than $40.
This bust is an annual event for Ramsey, who also plans sweeps for deadbeat moms around Mother’s Day and deadbeat dads around Father’s Day. The bad-check bust, Ramsey noted in a press release, reminds check writers that they “can write, but they can’t hide.” Of the 35 people sought by investigators, nine were arrested.
At least one television news camera operator (tipped off beforehand) taped the arrests and aired them that night—without disclosing the nominal amounts owed by those arrested. And the Enterprise-Record and Paradise Post also took Ramsey up on his invitation to publicize his bouncing checks sweep.
Ramsey said that since the program’s inception in 1993, it has netted upward of $1 million in bad-check revenues for local merchants and about $250,000 for the District Attorney’s Office.
