MH enjoys relatively trouble-free Fourth of July
Celebrations of the nation’s birthday in Morgan Hill were less treacherous than celebrations in Gilroy, according to area police and fire officials.
“Things seemed to be pretty quiet,” said Sgt. David Swing of the Morgan Hill Police Department. “Of course we had more calls for service on the Fourth, many of them related to people with fireworks, but there were no serious incidents.”
Swing said the type of fireworks involved and the situation itself determine what action the officer responding to the call will take.
“We try to insure public safety, that’s our primary goal,” he said. “What the officer will do will vary from situation to situation. If we found someone lighting off commercial-grade fireworks, obviously that’s more serious, it would pose a greater risk to public safety.”
Although the MHPD beefed up staffing for the Independence Day Inc. -sponsored events, including the 5k run, the parade, the family festival and the fireworks display, Swing said no extra officers were brought on for patrol duty that day.
The events were relatively trouble-free, he said.
“We had a couple of kids fighting before the fireworks started, but officers were there right when it broke out and were able to quickly put a stop to it,” he said.
Hollister also had relatively trouble-free celebrations.
Despite record crowds that topped 120,000 at the annual Hollister Independence Rally, the city experienced few problems connected to the event, according to organizers.
Rotary Club member and Hollister resident Bruce Beats supervised the beer garden. He said overall beer sales increased about 20-25 percent over last year. Sales on Friday tripled the 2002 opening day, largely because it fell on July 4 this year, according to Rotary member Mark Vivian.
“The weather has been good. The people have been good. The whole crowd has been cooperative,” Vivian said. “It’s a great fundraiser, and it all goes back to the community.”
Area officials also worry about the possibility of fires on the Fourth.
There were no major fires in Morgan Hill, said El Toro Station Operations Manager Tom Tornell. Windy conditions, combined with dry brush and grasses and amateurs using fireworks could have created problems, but city residents were fortunate.
Gilroy residents were not so lucky.
“They appeared to take the bulk of the heat from the Fourth celebrations,” Tornell said. “We had two minor calls, but they pale in significance to what they experienced.”
The Gilroy Fire Department responded to at least six small vegetation blazes, an apartment fire that destroyed part of a roof and a house fire.
Although investigations are not complete, illegal fireworks are the expected cause of the series of blazes, Gilroy fire officials said. The vegetation fires occurred over a six-hour time span Friday, from 4 to 10 p.m. The structure fires happened at roughly 9:45 and 11:05 at night.
Morgan Hill also saw less road-related problems over the holiday weekend. Officer Terrie Mayes of the California Highway Patrol said officers handled more calls outside the city and in Hollister and Gilroy.
“There were a few minor things, mostly in the Watsonville Road area,” she said. “All of our really major incidents were on Pacheco Pass. That speaks volumes to me about the benefits of the four-lane.”
There were no major incidents on the recently-widened Hwy. 101.
On Hecker Pass, a 53-year-old Aptos woman died when her auto collided head-on with a Santa Clara County fire engine on patrol for fireworks use. Cheryl Christopher was pronounced dead at the accident scene.
Another weekend fatality involved a motorcycle and a van. A Salinas man driving the motorcycle on Fairview Road ran into a Dodge van at the Spring Road intersection in San Benito County. The motorcyclist was killed. The driver of the van, Robert Orbuena, 41, of Gilroy, was arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter, felony driving under the influence and being under the influence of a controlled substance. He is currently being held at the San Benito County Jail.
A Sacramento motorcyclist was killed Saturday night on Highway 152 in a head-on accident just west of mile marker 159, the CHP said.
Guadalupe Palafox-Banderas, 50, was pronounced dead at the 10:30 p.m. accident, the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office said Sunday.
Fatal crashes and drunken driving arrests were higher across the state compared to last year, the California Highway Patrol said Sunday.
From Thursday evening through Sunday morning, 1,330 people were arrested statewide for driving under the influence, whereas 1,121 DUI arrests were made last year, the CHP said. During the same period, 29 people died on the state’s highways and roads, up from 24 last year.
Staff Writers Kollin Kosmicki, Dave Steffenson and Eric Leins contributed to this story.
