Coming&going

Military

Sgt. Rich Laca of Chico was recently given the Operation Blue Suit award, presented to the top 10 Air Force recruiters in the country. He met and exceeded his goal of 29 recruits. He ended up with 228 percent of his original goal, 66 recruits in all. Laca attributes this influx to his urging recruits and interested parties to tell their friends. Laca adds that his boss, Sgt. Brooke, was also a guiding factor.

Retail

More and more consumers are turning to a new type of retail—closeout stores—to find bargains. Accordingly, Big Lots is making over the outlets it supervises: Big Lots, Odd Lots, Pic ‘N Save and MacFrugal’s.

On Oct. 3, the renovation will begin with Chico’s own MacFrugal’s at 1927 East 20th St. Features of the improved stores will include: adoption of the name Big Lots, updated store design, wide aisles, better lighting, quick checkout, friendly service and clean restrooms.

Contracting

VCE-PRO, a new virtual online plan room, is changing the way contractors work. An online version of a real plan room, VCE-PRO does everything a reality plan room can, and more. A real plan room is a place where contractors can view potential jobs, give bids and secure business. The online version gives several advantages, including the fact that the plans can be viewed at any time of the day or night.

Award

Magda Mueller, Ph.D., director of the German Studies Program at Chico State University, will be presented with a top honor on Nov. 16 at the annual meeting of the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG). Mueller is being recognized for outstanding achievement in furthering the teaching of German in the United States.

Mueller organized the first German Day in 1994, only a year after she began teaching at Chico State. In addition, Mueller instituted the German brown-bag lunch series and German film festivals. Before bringing her talents to Chico, Mueller taught at Stanford and Columbia universities. A specialist on German feminists, she is a co-editor of German Feminist Writings and two collections of scholarly articles.

Her award comes with a cash prize and a certificate toward the purchase of materials to aid in teaching German.

Charity

On Sept. 13, the Paradise Exchange club decided to assist those affected by Butte County’s Poe Fire and the New York tragedy. President Jeannette Herndon and Secretary Kevin MacPhail suggested matching individual donations with a club contribution, and right away more than $600 was collected from the present members.

Students at Chico High West have put together a book that will be read starting next week to fifth-grade classes, where the younger students will be encouraged to make their own books. The books, which address Sept. 11’s terrorist attacks with “compassion and understanding for the sensitivity of young people,” are modeled after Margaret Wise Brown’s The Important Book.