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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. 

I am perplexed at how dangerous the access to Christmas Hill Park is for anyone coming in from the levee. Especially for families with children! In my opinion, any family should have a stress-free stroll to the park and back from their home in a nearby neighborhood. There are two areas of concern, which have been enough to deter my family from visiting the park for years while our kids were toddlers. The first is the intersection at Miller and Tenth. It’s a four way stop, but a very busy intersection. I would love to see a crosswalk with flashing lights, like downtown has. That gets a family safely to the levee, yay! But now, the anxiety sets in; how are we all going to get to the park safely? If you have a stroller, a dog, a couple kids on bicycles, it is really sketchy there going down and back up Miller Avenue over the Uvas Crossing and trying to keep everyone in the so-called bike lane, out of harms way, with cars on your left and 5-foot drop on your right. Wouldn't it be amazing if the City of Gilroy installed a pedestrian bridge over Uvas Creek from the levee into Christmas Hill Park? Maybe it could exist about 100 yards east of Miller and go from the eucalyptus grove to the grassy landing near the BBQ area by the first baseball field. So, I want a crosswalk and a bridge! What are the odds?

Kaiya Stewart was ambitious from an early age. When she was 5, she made it a goal to play Division I college soccer.  In August, the Christopher High senior attained her pursuit of playing at the next level when she made a verbal commitment to...

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