Everybody’s business

Coming clean
If you’re still feeling down on students after the Labor Day tube-and-trash event, take heart: A huge group of them are gathering Saturday, Oct. 4, to clean up various spots around town.

As part of the annual Scour and Devour cleanup, volunteers from Chico State and organizations such as church groups and the South Campus Neighborhood Association will spend three hours picking up trash before gathering on campus for a tri-tip barbecue.

Look for the following areas to be a lot cleaner come Sunday: Chico State, north and south of campus, near the railroad tracks, Nord Avenue, downtown Chico, Humboldt Road and—a first—the University Farm.

Sun suit
Following news of the shift of Chico Creek Care and Rehabilitation from Albuquerque-based Sun Health Care to another corporation comes word that at least one local doctor has sued Sun Health for allegedly not paying for services rendered.

Dr. Roy Bishop of Chico’s Argyll Medical Group filed a small-claims suit on Sept. 11, seeking $2,000 for unpaid contract work.

“I’m suing Sun Corp. because I believe a large powerful corporation deliberately didn’t pay contractors in Chico after they knew they were terminating operating the SNF [skilled nursing facility],” he said in an e-mail interview. “I and others did the work and never got paid by a company that was quite able to pay. It hurts small businesses (which a doctor’s office is) when they have to meet ever-rising overhead, like workers’ comp rates up 60 percent this year, and those who use our services choose to treat us with such cynicism.”

Krispy Kult
I braved the eager crowds for the sneak preview of the Krispy Kreme opening. It wasn’t quite as good as the sneak preview of the School of Rock movie opening, but we had a good time and enjoyed some hot, glazed goodies.

It’s hard not to get caught up in the hype, and as far as corporate citizens go you can do a lot worse than Krispy Kreme. My past experiences with Krispy Kreme have been overwhelmingly positive, save the time I sought to test the limits of Krispy Kreme consumption. Suffice it to say, my personal limit is six. Man, I was sick. Those puppies are pure grease. Tasty, though.

My friend was horrified to see a worker plucking donuts off the conveyor belt and plunking them, seemingly, into the trash. She begged me to investigate and I did, finding that indeed the donuts met an untimely end because they were not uniform in shape or weight. But once Krispy Kreme management learns of an appropriate soup-kitchen-type charity, future doomed donuts may find homes in human stomachs.