Coming&going

Politics

Assemblyman Sam Aanestad (R-Chico) announced he hired a new field representative for Butte County this week. The new team member is Reuben Williams, and he’s a student at Chico State University. Williams, a finance major, moved to Chico from the Sacramento area in 1997 to finish college. He plans to graduate this year.

Until then, Williams will divide his time between school and Aanestad’s office.

Aanestad, a Nevada County oral surgeon, related that he’s thrilled by his new staff addition. He called Williams a “bright young man eager to learn and ready to serve the constituents.”

Photography

Gary Quiring Photography announced that it hired Valerie Bivens recently. Bivens, who has five years of experience in Adobe Photoshop, will provide customers with expert photo retouching, restoration, colorization and manipulation. She will also provide scanning, CD burning and file archiving and says she’s especially excited about being able to restore photographs that have been damaged—sometimes severely—by fire, water, sunlight and tears.

Gary Quiring Photography specializes in commercial photography, modeling portfolios and portraiture and has been in business for 20 years.

Education

Dan Takasugi, a former member of the Coast Guard, started his new job April 2 as Chico State University’s associate vice president for facilities management and planning. Takasugi will oversee the departments of Environmental Management, Health and Safety, Facilities Management and Services, Facilities Planning, and University Police. His main focus in the coming months will be reducing the amount of energy the university uses.

Takasugi graduated with bachelor’s degrees in computer science and civil engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He also holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana.

Donations

Brownie Troop 431 presented County Fire Rescue’s Volunteer Company 42 with a $150 check to help buy a new mobile fire hydrant. The money came from a whole bunch of cookie sales that the troop organized. Brownie Troop 431 is the same troop that baked over 1,000 homemade cookies for the firefighters who battled the summer 1999 lightning fires, which devastated much of Butte County.

The United Way Thrift Shop in Willows donated a $5,000 check to the Glenn County Senior Nutrition project April 4. The funds, generated by earnings from the volunteer-operated thrift shop, will be used for the Homebound Meals project, which provides hot meals to elderly housebound Butte and Glenn County residents.

Dedications

The Chico Fire Department dedicated a new fire truck at a formal ceremony April 11. The new truck—a 2000 American LaFrance—has all the bells and whistles of a brand-new fire truck, including a 100-foot aerial platform apparatus.

Also at the ceremony, the department presented Engineer Aaron Lowe with his department badge. Brownie Troop 431 donated 168 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to Lowe, which he will give to child burn survivors at a special camp this summer.