Sycamore Pool in the One Mile Recreation Area, which was built around Big Chico Creek, turned brown early this week.
Big Chico Creek turned chocolate brown earlier this week after a light May 12 rain washed vegetation and eroding bank sediment from the Park Fire burn scar into the water. Today the water look somewhat clearer.
Environmental studies professor Mark Stemen said the wash-off has environmental benefits, but also poses potential danger.
“We should be seeing this happen for a while,” Stemen said. The dry weather that followed rain “freed up much more sedimentation.”
Some of the sedimentation “will end up in the creek and provide good sediment for spawning.” But if there’s too much, he warned, “it could suffocate [salmon] eggs. One of the things that’s really striking is how much of our watershed has burned and destabilized the sediment.”read more
Charles Barnes of Forest Ranch said he showed up today because “it’s an emergency.”
About 850 protesters turned out for the “Signs of Resistance – No Kings!” protest today in Chico, lining the Esplanade with anti-Trump Administration signage almost as far north as Chico Nut Company. The Esplanade sometimes became raucous with passing vehicles honking their support.
Some demonstrators hoisted signs encouraging supportive honking, and in general signs protested the administration’s radical approach to government reform and its movement to concentrate power in the executive branch. Signs were waved in support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who was shipped to an El Salvador prison because of an administrative error, and in opposition to cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
The protest was organized by a group of local organizations and coincided with a national day of protest. Reuters reports that thousands of people rallied against the Trump agenda across the country, and protests were held in places outside the country, such as Merida, Mexico.
Chico’s Janet Leslie said she hoped the protest would “remove some of the fear of standing up for what we hold dear.” She said she wanted people to see that “we can come out.”
Would a functioning alarm system have saved the building?
by Leslie Layton | Posted April 18, 2025
photo courtesy of district attorney
Kevin Alexander Carlson
This is the second story in a three-part series on the fire that destroyed Bidwell Mansion and the role the Mansion played in our community. Read the first story here.
The report issued by Butte County Probation in the Bidwell Mansion arson case begins to answer this troubling question: Why did a 30-year-old man with no criminal record set fire to the iconic Victorian?
But though it begins, it doesn’t entirely answer the big “why”: Why Kevin Alexander Carlson shattered a window with a hammer and doused the interior with a gallon of gasoline in a series of maneuvers that began the day before the early Dec. 11 fire. Or how the building became engulfed in flames before Chico Fire Department had a chance to respond.
Carlson is serving an 11-year prison sentence — the maximum possible for his conviction — at North Kern State Prison in connection with the fire that destroyed the 146-year-old former home of John and Annie Bidwell, the couple who are considered Chico’s founders. The medium-custody prison’s website says his earliest possible parole date — which is subject to change — is July 2030.
“The defendant deliberately set fire to a historic building of deep cultural and communal significance,” said the Butte County District Attorney’s Office in asking for the maximum sentence. “This level of premeditation distinguishes his conduct from impulsive or reckless arson …”
The Butte County Probation Department recommended a middle term, but Superior Court Judge Corie Caraway said she had received more than 100 victim impact statements from community members as well as other “aggravating factors.”
Chico Police Department said Carlson began preparations for the crime on Dec. 10, traveling to Oroville from Chico where he “purchased supplies needed to commit the arson.” He removed the license plates from his vehicle prior to setting the building on fire, Chico PD said.
Depressed and anxious
Carlson told investigators that he had awoken that December Tuesday feeling “manic” and “anxious,” and his mood had been affected by the “genocide” – a reference to the war on Gaza. He said he was “stressed about making rent.” His statement to investigators tracks his deepening alienation and despair over both his personal circumstances, as well as the contrast between the costly renovation of the Mansion and homelessness.
Chico PD reported on an interview with Carlson’s mother, who said her son was “was suspected of being autistic, is highly intelligent, and graduated at the top of his class.” Carlson graduated from Chico State in 2018 with a BA in mathematics.
She mentioned Carlson’s “alcoholism” and “intense hatred toward capitalism” as sources of tension for the Chico family.
Carlson, who would later plead no contest to a felony arson charge and accept the DA’s “special allegation,” told investigators he had only slept in “small increments” for a couple of weeks prior to the arson and “did not intend to burn the entire structure.” He wrote that he was “extremely depressed.”
“I remember feeling a deep sense of alienation as I walked by people going about their day,” he wrote about Dec. 10 in a statement submitted by the probation department. “… Looking at the disparity between those parts of my community, my grief shifted quickly to anger and in a snap judgment I decided I wanted to vandalize the mansion.”
Carlson’s statement includes a reference to John Bidwell as a man who was “known to exploit people.” But it was the disparity that seemed to disturb him, the fact that there was an effort underway to protect Bidwell’s “legacy” while “ignoring the less fortunate who live near the base of the mansion.”
His public defender, Larry Pilgrim, described Carlson as a “rebel looking for a cause,” and believes that Carlson was truthful in stating his expectation that Chico Fire Department would save the building. No psychiatric examination was ordered, in part because Pilgrim said Carlson didn’t consider himself “insane.”
Pilgrim said he doesn’t think Carlson was moved to action because of a singular and strong animosity toward John Bidwell. “I don’t think it was Bidwell per se; it was the haves versus the have-nots,” Pilgrim said. “It was a social justice thing.”
An alarm system failure
Pilgrim said he’s baffled that fire alarms and motion sensors didn’t alert Chico Fire Department much sooner and said the equipment should have been checked on a regular basis.
“It’s inexcusable that the fire department was not notified within minutes,” Pilgrim said. “The damage would have been minor, a hole in the carpet.”
Instead, Carlson has been ordered to pay $37,414,083 in restitution with 10% interest that runs from the date of the arson. Pilgrim called that restitution sum “ridiculous.”
“The whole question about the fire alarm … is still under investigation” — Matt Teague
Chico Fire arrived at the scene four minutes after Chico PD was advised that the Mansion was on fire. Pilgrim said the fire, though, had been “smoldering for over an hour.”
Fire Department Chief Steve Standridge said it’s true that there was a “delayed response because [the fire] didn’t get called in.” Standridge said the alarm system was under the responsibility of the Office of the State Fire Marshal. And in fact the Chico Fire Department’s web page notes that the “response … showcased the expertise and determination of our firefighters …”
Matt Teague, district superintendent for the Northern Buttes District of California State Parks, acknowledged that the fire alarm system didn’t operate as it should have. He noted that the system should issue an alarm if there is a fire, and the contracted monitoring company should make the appropriate calls.
“The whole question about the fire alarm and why it didn’t go off is still under investigation,” Teague said. “We may never have an answer though.”
Teague said there was also a burglar alarm system tied to motion sensors in the building that also failed.
There were no suppression sprinklers in the building, which is commonplace in historic buildings when there’s concern over possible water damage during a small fire or false alarm, Teague noted.
The alarm system failures don’t absolve his client of responsibility, Pilgrim said. Still, he argues that his client believed the Mansion would be saved by a sprinkler or other fire protection system.
“He thought he was committing an act of vandalism,” Pilgrim said. “I think he was just trying to make a little statement — stop spending this money on repairs when you could be spending it on nobler causes.”
Leslie Layton is editor of ChicoSol. Reporter Yucheng Tang contributed to this story.
In the Northern Sacramento Valley, immigration attorneys are hard to find
by Natalie Hanson | Posted April 9, 2025
photo by Karen Laslo
Sergio Garcia
Immigrant advocacy organizations are racing to block the Trump Administration’s attempts to enforce the campaign promise of “mass deportations” that could potentially affect millions of people.
But in the North State, many people live far away from immigration attorneys who could help them with their existing cases or new threats from ICE, said Chico attorney Sergio Garcia, who practices personal injury law, and in 2014, became the nation’s first undocumented person to obtain a law license. Garcia is now an American citizen.
Garcia regularly directs immigrants needing legal help to attorneys practicing in Sacramento.
In recent weeks, the federal government has revoked green cards and student visas — sometimes because of political views — and is pressuring the IRS to provide tax information that will help detain and deport people.
Legal experts joined an American Community Media panel March 28 to explain how the administration, through these actions, has circumvented due process – particularly by deporting hundreds of people to detention centers in Panama or El Savador.
Zenobia Lai, executive director of Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative, said there are two approaches within the administration’s strategy. The administration has first focused on “let no one in” — making the border crossing process more difficult, for one — and then moving to “kick everyone out,” she said.
“The process begins with (accusing people) of an unlawful presence, denying birthright citizenship and then shutting the door behind people … by creating a situation where young people are also denied a future after removal of the older generations,” Lai said.
Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, a bipartisan political organization focused on immigration and criminal justice reform using the FWD.us Education Fund, said Trump will not stop expanding the definition of who he determines cannot live in America.
Schulte said the president will seek to remove people who secured legal entry from under many violent regimes, such as Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion of their country and people fleeing Afghanistan under the Taliban regime. That will exacerbate pressure at the border and in the overwhelmed court system, he said.
“We heard so much during the campaign — to go back nine and a half years — about Mexicans and Muslims. We’ve seen an effort to expand this effort of criminalizing folks,” Schulte said.
David Leopold, former president and general counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, emphasized how Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act is the first such example since the federal government employed it during World War II to incarcerate Japanese Americans in internment camps. He said the goal is to remove Venezuelans from America, establishing a dangerous “policy by rhetoric” practice to bypass the country’s well-established courtroom processes and rules protecting due process for immigrants.
“This is about due process, and taking all of these complicated laws together is an abridgement and an encroachment,” Leopold said.
He added: “A majority of people held in ICE jails and prisons are in privately operated facilities — many of these are in the South, and Louisiana has many of them.”
Garcia, the Chico attorney, emphasized how crucial Trump’s rhetoric has been to not only make people fearful, but embolden people who are prejudiced against migrants.
“The reality is that the rhetoric is frankly what’s most harmful because it emboldens others to no longer hide their racism,” Garcia said. “The fact remains (while) Trump has deported less people than Biden and Obama, what’s truly harmful are his terror tactics that affect the most vulnerable.
“In the end, his economic policies will sink us all,” Garcia added, “but I guess the philosophy of some is, ‘That’s ok as long as he gets rid of immigrants first.’”
Garcia was approved for his green card soon after coming to the United States, but then waited in the so-called “line” for the actual card for more than 20 years.
There are a few resources available for people living in rural Northern California. Chico State’s DREAM Center offers support for undocumented students and those from mixed-status immigrant families, including consultations with its immigration legal services provider, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).
NorCal Resist – an immigrant advocacy organization – posts regularly about potential ICE raids in the Sacramento Valley.
“Please remember many people are terrified right now,” NorCal Resist said in an April 6 Facebook post. “Sharing unverified rumors causes harm and distress to people who we all care about. We will immediately post information once verified. If you are a student who has had a visa revocation you are also welcome to reach out to us for assistance connecting with legal and other resources.”
Natalie Hanson is a contributing editor at ChicoSol.
U.S. District Court Judge Dale A. Drozd has denied the City of Chico’s motion for relief from final judgment in the case Warren v. Chico.
The case led to a settlement agreement in 2022 that prohibited the City from enforcing anti-camping ordinances when adequate shelter was unavailable. The City later sought to modify or terminate that agreement, citing changes in the law (the Grants Pass v. Johnson decision by the U.S. Supreme Court) and changed circumstances, such as public health and safety concerns.
The court order says the City failed to prove that some public safety issues, like fires and crimes, have worsened after entering the Settlement Agreement.
“It is undisputed by the parties that the number of fires attributable to homeless people in general has been reduced during the operation of the Settlement Agreement compared to the number that took place prior to their entry into the Settlement Agreement,” the order says. “…nor have they presented evidence showing that the level of crime in Chico has changed since their entry into that agreement.”
District 4 Councilmember Addison Winslow commented in an Instagram post.
“What the judge gave us is the resounding rejection of everything that the City claimed,” Winslow says.
“We can negotiate a plan that can outlast the Settlement Agreement so we find a way to really workably handle homelessness in our community,” Winslow said, “or we can sit and complain.”
Changemaker: Bonnie Pipkin will tackle language barriers in next week's program
by Leslie Layton | Posted March 29, 2025
photo by Karen Laslo
Bonnie Pipkin was thoughtful during an interview in her downtown Chico office.
This is ChicoSol’s third monthly profile in our Changemaker series that features people whose work benefits or brings together the community.
Bonnie Pipkin has resurrected the spirit of what some people call “old Chico”: During a couple of recent decades, Chico, to many of us, felt like a city that was big enough to value artistic freedom and small enough to feel like a friendly rural town.
Pipkin accomplishes this every other month when she stages her multi-generational storytelling program “Bonfire” at the Chico Women’s Club. For a couple of hours, an audience of 180 people sits spellbound listening to a 10-minute story from each of six storytellers that will somehow relate to the evening’s theme.
Think NPR’s The Moth storytelling hour in a Sacramento Valley college town, and you’ll picture Bonfire.
At next week’s show, six storytellers will each tell a personal story related to the theme “Lost and Found in Translation.” ChicoSol senior reporter Yucheng Tang will tell a story in his native Mandarin that will be translated. (No spoiler alerts here — Tang won’t tell this reporter what the story is about.)
The storytellers, coming as they do from the community, will each have their unique style; they may be soft-spoken or shy, boisterous or funny as they tell a story about a life experience. But Pipkin will set the mood on stage, her poised presence made more striking by her blunt bangs, red lipstick and an outfit that will be quirky, fun, arty, elegant, or all of that.
In addition to running Bonfire, Pipkin, 45, chairs the City’s Arts Commission, teaches at Butte College, works on her second novel and is mother to two young children. (While Pipkin is clearly at home on the Bonfire stage, she admitted that her “heart was pounding” the evening before when she addressed the Chico City Council on behalf of the Arts Commission.)
“I think Bonnie is the most exciting theatre producer in Chico,” said Denver Latimer, a frequent member of the Bonfire audience who has founded and led theatre projects of his own, including Chico’s Slow Theatre and the Blue Room.
“She’s relentlessly optimistic and extremely dedicated to having a diversity of storytelling perspectives.”
Diversity is a hallmark of Bonfire events and at the heart of what Pipkin does. “My more cheeky rule is, no more than one straight white guy per show,” Pipkin told ChicoSol in a recent interview at her downtown office. This is not because she has something against straight white guys – she likes them and notes that she’s married to one.
“I’m just excited by having space for people of diverse backgrounds,” she said, noting that in every show, she tries to ensure that there will be people of color and members of the LGBTQ community presenting. “I’m excited by having a space for people of all different backgrounds and for people who haven’t always had the stage.”
Pipkin encourages a warm reception for her storytellers, and she encourages audience members to connect through participation. It’s not unusual for listeners to hiss at the bullies in a story and hoot when there’s an uplifting turn of events.
“There’s something about sharing a story that is so simple but so deep,” Pipkin said. “The possibility for connection is profound. There’s something about storytelling that breaks down biases. It’s powerful.”
The storytellers each represent an age decade; in the case of the coming show, Tang will represent the generation of young people in their 20s. Retired Chico State English Professor Ellen Walker, 85, has participated in several Bonfire events for the age decade of the 80s.
After her first Bonfire event, Walker said strangers who had attended approached her in town to tell her they had enjoyed her story. “People I didn’t know were stopping me in the street,” Walker said. “[Bonfire] knits a community of associations and personal connections. There’s a certain hunger for that.”
Pipkin grew up in a Chico home with a father who listened to a lot of conservative talk radio. As a child, she began producing shows in their basement, and as a teen, she was involved with Blue Room Theatre. At 18, she said she “hightailed it out of Chico,” moving to San Francisco and New York where she got several degrees.
Her trajectory in Chico would be influenced by a New York multi-generational story-telling event called Generation Women.
After moving to Chico with her husband and first child, she confided to her friend Ama Posey that she wanted to try a storytelling event in Chico. She named it after both herself and the concept of sharing around a campfire. The first two Bonfires were in Posey’s downtown Chico studio in 2023, and their success surprised Pipkin.
“It was soon enough after the pandemic,” Pipkin said, “that it hit right in the moment that people were needing connection. There was a collective feeling of that in 2023.”
Soon Bonfire tickets for events at the Women’s Club were selling out. “I didn’t know it would snowball to the extent that it did,” Pipkin said.
Pipkin carefully plans the storyteller lineup for each event, and once story-tellers are selected, a five-week process begins that involves shaping the story’s arc, providing coaching assistance and rehearsals. The multi-generational feature is part of what makes Bonfire unusual.
“It’s cool to have a stage that has a 20-year-old and an 80-year-old,” she said.
One of her favorite shows was developed around the theme, “If the Shoe Fits.” It was inspired by a young man in Chico who had lived unsheltered in Bakersfield.
The man told Pipkin he once traded his shoes for drugs. Later, he was walking down an alley shoeless when he spotted a woman with a shopping cart piled with her belongings. He asked if she had extra shoes. She “dug through” and came up with a pair of flip flops that were a perfect fit.
Pipkin became teary when she discussed the June 2024 show that featured storyteller Dylan Latimer, Denver’s brother, also a Blue Room co-founder who served as a coach to Bonfire storytellers until recently. Dylan Latimer told of a hilarious incident from his boyhood; in the story, university police chased one of his friends into his parents’ bedroom in the middle of the night.
At that show, 79-year-old Mary Ann Latimer, the mother of Denver and Dylan and daughter Elizabeth Latimer, was present, “laughing throughout the performance,” according to her obituary. She passed away the next morning from cancer after getting to see her son on stage one last time.
Pipkin finds satisfaction in the diversity of a typical Bonfire audience. Even her 84-year-old conservative father has “been out in the audience and heard stories from an array of people who may challenge his ideologies. But he has left feeling good.”
“We’re living at a time when there’s so much division, so much uncertainty,” Pipkin observed. “We’re all human and we all kind of want the same thing. There’s something about sharing stories that reminds people of that.”
Walker, the English professor, believes Bonfire taps into a general longing for communication and connection. “People are hungry for authenticity,” she said.
“Piece by piece, the sense we had of our relationship to our fellows, the way people have lived together, is being shredded. Bonnie brings it back for this brief time. She’s inclusive, she’s warm, she’s flashy.”
Pipkin says Bonfire is “all about diversity, equity and inclusion” at a time when DEI is being “villainized.”
“That’s the magic of sharing a story — a person becomes more than a stereoptype,” Pipkin said. “My role is just to continue to share stories to create a fuller picture of human existence.”
A few tickets to the next Bonfire are still available ($18 for adults; $15 for students) on Eventbrite and at Four Leaf Clothing Co. Next week’s show will present April 1, 3, and 4, and include several stories in Spanish, one in Mandarin, one in ASL and one which will be told by a speaker using a medical device. Translations will be available.
