New burger joint gets green light from planning commission for Auburn Blvd.

Sentinel staff report–
Does Citrus Heights need another burger joint? Businessman Ben Aibuedefe thinks so, and on Wednesday night he received unanimous approval from planning commissioners to move forward with his plans to bring a new walk-up and drive-thru burger restaurant to a vacant corner on Auburn Boulevard in front of Steve Cook’s Fireside Lanes.

“We are bringing in a value burger,” Aibuedefe told The Sentinel after the June 13 planning commission meeting. “This is really a different (restaurant). I will consider this a Cadillac of a burger.”

The new eatery will be a franchise location of the Florida-based Checkers Drive-In Restaurant Inc., which has over 800 locations nationwide — the nearest location currently being over 150 miles away, near Fresno. The fast-food chain offers items like seasoned fries, big burgers, chicken wings and milkshakes, and markets itself in different parts of the country under the brand names Rally’s and Checker’s.

Plans approved at the June 13 planning commission meeting include…

Jury finds burglar guilty of attempted murder of Citrus Heights woman

Sentinel staff report–
A 24-year-old man was convicted by a jury of burglarizing a Citrus Heights home last August and brutally stabbing a 47-year-old woman in the neck and side, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday. The incident made headlines last year after neighbors tackled the fleeing suspect and held him until police arrived.

According to a news release from the DA’s office, Jordan Byers Lynch attempted to enter the victim’s bedroom window on the morning of Aug. 9, 2017, located on the 6000 block of Rowan Way, near Greenback Lane and San Juan Avenue. The woman awoke and closed the window before he could enter, but he then smashed through a sliding glass door with a metal pole and “grabbed the victim and stabbed her in the side, lacerating her kidney.”

When the woman tried to escape, Lynch stabbed her in the neck, the news release said. After finally escaping, neighbors who were awakened by her screams came to her aid and tackled Lynch while he tried to flee.

The DA’s office said Lynch was convicted of attempted murder and burglary, with jurors also finding true that he “personally used a deadly weapon and caused great bodily injury.” Sacramento County Superior Court records also indicate he had been released on probation for a prior robbery in 2016, but had already violated his terms of probation at least twice before his latest crime last August…

Citrus Heights-based footwear company acquires Flip Flop Shops

Sentinel staff report–
Bearpaw Holdings LLC, a global footwear company headquartered in Citrus Heights, announced its acquisition of Flip Flop Shops last week.

The acquisition marks another step in Bearpaw’s expansion, with the company announcing its move into European markets last year and the 12,000-square-feet corporate headquarters at Sylvan Corners recently completing its own expansion and remodel.

“As everyone knows, Bearpaw is a winter brand, and we are now making a move into the summer-spring market,” Bearpaw founder Tom Romeo told The Sentinel in an interview. “Where they’re strong we’re weak, where we are strong, they are weak.”

Flip Flop Shops was founded in 2004 and has grown to 59 locations globally, focusing on casual footwear and flip flops. The company’s closest store is currently in…