Coming&going

Law

After 10 years with Legal Services of Northern California, Managing Attorney Coleen Jarvis (pictured) is moving over to the Butte County Public Defender’s Office, where she will work on juvenile dependency cases, representing either children or parents whose children are in the Child Protective Services system.

Jarvis—who is also a Chico City Council member—started her new job Oct. 15 and said that while she will miss the team and clients at Legal Services, she is looking forward to getting more court experience and helping families to “make sure the system treats them fairly.”

Evanne O’Donnell will serve as interim managing attorney at Legal Services, while Kimberly Merrifield has been hired as the interim clinic coordinator.

District Attorney Chief Investigator Ed Szendry (pictured) was honored with a standing ovation and a plaque at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting last week. He’s retiring Nov. 2 and accepted his accolades alongside his wife while holding his toddler granddaughter.

Szendry has worked for the District Attorney’s Office since 1991, and he’s been in law enforcement since the 1960s, when he worked in Los Angeles. His focus in Butte County, said District Attorney Mike Ramsey, has been the protection of children. He specializes in child abuse investigations. He’s testified in child abuse cases all over the state and is recognized as a statewide expert in the hideous sub-crime of satanic child abuse.

After he accepted a proclamation for his years of service to children and Butte County, Szendry said simply that he plans to relax in his retirement.

Culture

The local Southeast Asian immigrant community has announced the opening Oct. 11 of the new Lao Veterans of America office in Oroville. Located at 1566 Huntoon St., the office serves Lao, Hmong and Mien veterans who fought in the Vietnam War on behalf of the United States.

Also located in the building are the offices of Hmong Cultural Heritage and Grace Unlimited Productions.

Awards

The state’s official Web site, MyCalifornia at http://my.ca.gov, has received the 2001 Council of State Governments Eagle E-government award of excellence for its “sophisticated use of technology” and design.

Butte College’s men’s teams, coaches, trainers and equipment managers have received an athletic sportsmanship award. Named for the former Golden Valley Conference commissioner, Tom O’Connor, who was also Butte’s athletic director and dean, the award honors a men’s team whose players and coaches “have shown the highest respect and regard to the true meaning of sportsmanship.”

Also, the college’s women’s basketball team was nominated for the Golden Valley Conference Team and will progress to the state competition.

Charity

Students around Chico have been collecting pennies to send to help the people affected by the terrorist attacks. Children at Emma Wilson Elementary School raised more than $1,000, which the Student Leadership Team presented to the Red Cross. Students in Barbara Kemper's first-grade class at Neal Dow Elementary held a similar drive, gathering spare change to the tune of more than $800.