Tag: Morgan Hill

A “hot load” of freshly roasted garlic caught on fire while being transported on a flatbed truck in southeast Morgan Hill Friday, authorities said. The truck, which was decorated with a George Chiala Farms logo on the driver’s side door, was traveling east on Middle Avenue when one of three large plastic boxes full of roasted garlic ignited, according to Morgan Hill Fire Battalion Chief Tim Main. The garlic had just been roasted at a different location, and was in transit to a nearby farm facility for processing, Main explained. Fire crews responded to the blaze about 3:40 p.m. Friday, Main said. “It didn’t take long for this truck to get fully involved,” Main said. Due to the gusty winds blowing south at the time of the blaze, fire crews took precautions to keep the fire from spreading to a nearby home on Middle Avenue, Main said. The only property damage reported was to the truck and two overhead phone or cable lines that were damaged by the blaze, authorities said. No injuries were reported. Crews from Morgan Hill Fire Department, South County Fire District and CalFire responded to the incident. Middle Avenue remained closed between Murphy and Sycamore avenues as of about 4:30 p.m. while crews cleaned up the scene. 

The Poppy Jasper International Film Festival started with humble beginnings as a fundraiser, and 10 years later has persevered to become an ingrained, well established event that attracts filmmakers from all over the world.

Thousands of visitors and Morgan Hill residents attended the 2013 Kihncert, which was also the Morgan Hill Outdoor Sports Complex’s first attempt to pull off an all-day rock and roll concert complete with food, beer, wine and merchandise vendors. Kihncert organizers said about 7,000 people attended the show throughout the day. Performances started at 12 p.m and continued to about 11 p.m.“For a first-time effort, I think this was a good showing,” said Gary Harmon, President of Kihncert co-producer Arts Related Technical Training for Entertainment Careers (ARTTEC). “That says something about the capabilities of (the OSC).”The Kihncert is a South Bay live entertainment tradition emceed by Greg Kihn and featuring a full day of classic rock performers. Neil Marlow, 46, and his wife Christine traveled to the OSC with a group of friends from San Jose for the Kihncert. Veteran attendees of the annual South Bay classic rock concert, the Marlows were drawn to the event this year by one act - Greg Kihn himself.“He always puts on an awesome show - lots of energy,” Neil Marlow said. In previous years, the Kihncert has been held at larger venues such as Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. Earlier Kihncerts might have featured bigger names on the lineup than the 2013 Kihncert, Marlow explained while standing a few feet from the front of the stage between sets, but the OSC was a “more intimate” venue than places like Shoreline.The headliner at this year’s Kihncert was former Poison frontman Bret Michaels. Also performing were The Tubes, dada, Tommy Tutone and the Brodie Stewart Band. The event also featured an “emerging artists” stage featuring local and youth acts. Police reported no significant incidents related to the event, other than a few complaints of concert noise from nearby residents. The Kihncert was co-produced by ARTTEC, ISE Entertainment and the Morgan Hill Youth Sports Alliance. ARTTEC’s mission is to work with local youth who are interested in careers in video and concert production. About 50 students participated in the production of the 2013 Kihncert through ARTTEC, Harmon said. “My opinion is we’ve demonstrated to the music industry that the Morgan Hill Outdoor Sports Complex is a viable concert venue,” said Jeff Dixon, president of MHYSA which runs the City’s OSC. It was the first time the OSC had hosted an event as complex as the all-day Kihncert, with two stages, more than a dozen vendors and even a video arcade. Harmon and ISE Entertainment President Mike DiRubio said they “definitely” hope to produce more concerts - including hopefully the 2014 Kihncert - at the OSC and other Morgan Hill venues in the future. Kihn and Michaels have already offered the producers positive feedback on the venue and the city of Morgan Hill.“The show was great, the artists enjoyed being here, there was a lot of crowd from outside Morgan Hill,” DiRubio said. “We believe we definitely generated some revenue for the City.”Dixon called the event a “community success,” as scores of local businesses, volunteers, residents and local agencies worked together to make sure all the logistical details were taken care of, right up to the day of the show. ARTTEC’s only “disappointment” with the event was the cancellation of a flyover and transportation of military servicemen to the show due to the federal government shutdown, DiRubio said. Kihncert producers organized the show of support for the troops through the nonprofit Operation: Care and Comfort weeks before the Kihncert, but the effort was nixed due to lack of federal funding. “Greg Kihn is a big supporter of the troops and the military, so is Bret Michaels. It was really important to them that we recognize (the troops),” Harmon said. “But for everybody that did go, the feedback we got was very positive.” 

Downtown Morgan Hill merchants have reported a flurry of recent attempts by customers to pass suspicious $100 bills for retail purchases. The owners of at least six stores downtown reported the suspicious currency last week, according to Morgan Hill Downtown Association Office Manager Raquel Crowell. One of the store owners reported on Thursday that two women tried to pass a $100 bill, and refused to let her mark the note with a special pen used to detect counterfeit currency when they presented the cash to her. Another downtown store owner - Krystal Thomas of SleepPlayLove Children’s Consignment Boutique - said she received a fake $100 bill last week “that had all of the correct markings and holograms,” according to an e-mail Thomas sent to the MHDA. “It even passed the pen test.” Thomas recently purchased a “UV counterfeit bill detector” that lights up a “security strip” in higher denomination bills when the cash is placed under the light, according to her e-mail. The possibly fake $100 bill she received last week did not show a security strip when placed under the detector. She added especially with the holidays coming up, retail store owners and employees should be aware of the presence of counterfeit bills and how to detect them.“Most people are really unaware how sophisticated the counterfeit bills have become and we have found that in most cases people are unknowingly passing these bills they’ve received as change at gas stations or even from banks,” Thomas said. Staff at the Morgan Hill Downtown Association spent Monday morning getting the word out about the recent incidents. The MHDA seeks to further educate store owners and cashiers about how to detect counterfeit bills, according to Crowell.As a result of the suspicious currency last week, many stores downtown are no longer accepting $100 bills, Crowell said. Earlier this year, Morgan Hill police conducted a class for Chamber of Commerce members on how to spot counterfeit currency, and Crowell said it might be time for another such class for MHDA members. “That may help people detect counterfeit bills,” Crowell said. 

Tickets are still available for Saturday’s Kihncert, which will take place at Morgan Hill’s Outdoor Sports Complex and features a full day of live entertainment including The Greg Kihn Band and former Poison frontman Bret Michaels as the headliner. With gates opening at 12 p.m. (or 11 a.m. for “soundcheck party pass” holders”) the Kihncert grounds will also host a variety of food, arts and merchandise vendors, a classic car show, and a “Kihntoberfest” beer and wine garden. The main stage will feature Bret Michaels, The Greg Kihn Band, The Tubes, Dada, The Brodie Steward Band and Tommy Tutone. The Kihntoberfest Garden Stage will also feature a full day of local emerging artists. The music goes until 11 p.m.The Kihncert is an annual South Bay tradition that started about 12 years ago. Previous Kihncert events have featured legendary acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boston, Eddie Money, The Who, Steve Miller Band, George Thorogood, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, .38 Special, Yes, Foghat, Kansas and more. Kihncert tickets cost $15 each, or $95 each for the “soundcheck party package” which includes a preferred parking pass, early entry, a soundcheck party lunch and access to Kihn’s soundcheck. General parking passes can be purchased separately for $10 per vehicle, and preferred parking passes for $25. Tickets and more information about the Kihncert are available on the Web at kihncert.com. Parking will be available at the OSC lot, the Aquatics Center next door to the venue, along San Pedro Avenue and in a nearby lot on Tennant Avenue. The Kihncert is produced by Arts Related Technical Training for Entertainment Careers, ISE Entertainment and the Morgan Hill Youth Sports Alliance. The Morgan Hill Outdoor Sports Complex is located at 16500 Condit Road in east Morgan Hill. 

After months of volleying back and forth between district staff and charter school leaders, as well as dozens of testimonials from parents and educators on both sides of the fence, the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Board of Education finally voted Tuesday to reject Navigator Schools’ charter petition.

Interim Superintendent Steve Betando’s recommendation to the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Board of Education is to deny Navigator Schools’ charter petition to open an elementary school within district boundaries for the fall of 2014, according to the Board’s meeting agenda for next week. The agenda was posted online Friday afternoon. 

An east Morgan Hill resident reported seeing a mountain lion in her neighborhood early Tuesday morning. The wild animal was spotted in the area of Morgan Avenue, according to the resident, who said she reported the sighting to police. “We were alerted by our dogs about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, as I looked down into our neighbor’s backyard (the) motion lights were triggered and I was surprised when I saw a mountain lion strolling near the back of (the neighbor’s) buildings,” said an e-mail sent by the resident to the Times. Mountain lion sightings are not unheard of in Morgan Hill, which is surrounded by dry, rugged hills that provide an ideal habitat for the predators, according to authorities.As recently as Sept. 20, a resident near Uvas Reservoir submitted a photo of a mountain lion at night to the Times' website. The closeup image appears to have been snapped by a stationary automatic camera.In September 2010, police used pepper spray guns to scare off a mountain lion who was resting near a backyard of a home in Holiday Lake Estates, just up the hill from Tuesday’s sighting. That mountain lion had been lying still before police frightened it away with the pepper-gun pellets. The resident reported the animal to police, who estimated the mountain lion weighed about 100 pounds. In May 2011, at least one mountain lion was confirmed to have been an ongoing nuisance for a resident and her sheep on the 100 block of West Dunne Avenue, less than one mile from downtown Morgan Hill. The animal returned to the property multiple times to feast on sheep the resident owned, which were grazing in a pasture in the resident’s front yard, according to police. Authorities even set up a trap to try to catch the mountain lion, but the effort to ensnare the feline failed, police said at the time. The mountain lion or lions killed four of the resident’s Galapagos sheep over the course of about six weeks. After she removed the surviving livestock to another location the predator was not seen again on the property. The California department of fish and game confirmed by examining the carcasses of the sheep that the deaths were the work of a mountain lion. Police said at the time that even though mountain lion attacks against humans are rare, the animals are dangerous and should be avoided. Mountain lion sightings can be reported to Morgan Hill police by calling (408) 779-2101. 

More than a year ago, Morgan Hill partnered with Cal North Soccer to bring a regional tournament to the Outdoor Sports Complex.

A house fire in an east Morgan Hill neighborhood caused about $50,000 worth of structure damage Wednesday night, according to authorities.About 6:18 p.m. the 911 dispatch center received a call reporting the fire on Darnis Circle, according to CalFire Fire Prevention Specialist Pam Temmermand. The blaze started in the garage of the home, and spread to the attic, Temmermand said. Crews estimate about $50,000 worth of damage was inflicted by the blaze.The fire started accidentally, but authorities did not elaborate on the cause.No injuries were reported.