Get a free ride on New Year’s Eve, Day
Gilroy
– Free rides are available on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
on the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.
Get a free ride on New Year’s Eve, Day
Gilroy – Free rides are available on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day on the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.
Free service will be available on all buses, light rail and trolleys from 7 p.m., Friday, until 2:59 a.m., Sunday. VTA will operate on a regular schedule on Dec. 31 and a holiday schedule on Jan. 1.
There will be extended service on the Express Bus Line to the Fremont BART station and the Alum Rock to Santa Teresa Light Rail line.
Details: 321-2300, or visit www.vta.org.
Missing girl found safe in Sacramento
Morgan Hill – A 12-year-old Morgan Hill girl missing since Sunday evening was found early Wednesday morning and returned home.
The girl apparently went willingly with a 25-year-old man she allegedly met on a telephone “party line.” She told friends she arranged to meet Arvel D. Lopez of San Jose in Community Park Sunday night so she could party with him and his friends. Police said the girl was seen at Community Park getting into a van at about 10pm Sunday. On Monday evening, the girl told her mother she was in San Jose during a brief telephone call.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies located Lopez’s van abandoned and broken down on Interstate 5 just outside of the Sacramento city limits early Wednesday morning. That led police to reinterview relatives of Lopez, who said the girl had been at a Sacramento area home of a Lopez family member sometime between Sunday and Tuesday. Sacramento Police officers found her in a house on El Camino Street.
MHPD officers picked up the girl in Sacramento and returned her to her mother in Morgan Hill.
Lopez and another suspect possibly involved in the incident are believed to have returned to Santa Clara County.
No charges had been filed as of Wednesday afternoon, according to MHPD Lt. Joe Sampson, but the investigation is continuing.
Gas leak leads to evacuations
Morgan Hill – A strong smell of gas brought emergency personnel to East Dunne Avenue and Condit Road just after noon Wednesday, and forced the evacuation of at least six businesses. The area was evacuated as a precaution and businesses closed for nearly four hours, wreaking havoc with the lunchtime crowd.
The problem stemmed from a hole in a 3-inch underground natural gas line located on the west side of Condit that PG&E discovered at 3:45pm by drilling holes in the sidewalk in front of the gasoline station. By 4pm the roads and businesses were reopened.
Pizza Hut, Subway, Taco Bell and Sweet Retreat plus King’s Cleaners and a dental office were evacuated just after noon because authorities could not tell the level of danger.
Capt. Ken Kehmna, safety officer for the Santa Clara County Fire Department, initially said the strong odor was coming from a storm drain, but they didn’t know if it was a gas leak or decomposing vegetable material.
Kehmna said every county fire engine carries a gas meter that can tell the difference between a potentially explosive gas and hydrogen sulfide, the product of decomposition, but it takes time. Readings at one time reached a level that might have resulted in an explosion, fire officials said.
Send news items to City Editor Robert Airoldi. FAX to 842-2206, mail to Gilroy Dispatch, 6400 Monterey Road, Gilroy, CA 95020, or e-mail
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