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As Thanksgiving shrinks in the rearview mirror, the goodie-focused holiday season continues with festive music playing on the radio, the scent of pumpkin spice tickling the nose and colorful lights dazzling the eyes. And the taste buds?

An intoxicated 16-year-old boy drove a dirt bike into a vehicle in east Morgan Hill, injuring himself and a female teen riding with him, according to police.About 6:30 p.m. Dec. 9, police responded to a vehicle versus dirt bike collision in the area of Hill Road and Diana Avenue, according to Morgan Hill police.When officers arrived they found two injured juveniles lying in the lanes of traffic, police said. Morgan Hill Fire and EMS arrived and provided first aid, and transported both to San Jose Regional Medical Center.Witnesses told officers the juvenile male was driving the 80cc dirt bike south on Hill Road at an unknown speed just before the accident, according to authorities. The other juvenile was a 15-year-old female riding as his passenger.As the dirt bike neared the intersection of Diana Avenue, the 56-year-old female driver of the other vehicle crossed Hill Road while traveling west on Diana after stopping at the stop sign, police said.The driver of the dirt bike was unable to stop and struck the vehicle on the passenger’s side, police said. The dirt bike was not an authorized vehicle for use on a public roadway.The driver of the dirt bike showed signs of intoxication, and police cited him on suspicion of felony DUI, police said.The 56-year-old driver of the other vehicle was not intoxicated and was uninjured in the accident, police said.Anyone with information about this accident can contact Morgan Hill Police Department at (408) 779-2101.

With newly elected trustees David Gerard, Gino Borgioli and Donna Foster-Ruebusch sworn in prior to the Dec. 9 board of education meeting, Morgan Hill Unified School District’s new seven-member caucus went right to work by electing a new president and vice president.“This is a wild and wonderful new experience,” said Foster-Ruebusch, a retired teacher who spent her career at Live Oak High School. “I have sat on the other side of this table for a long time, and I look very much forward to the next four years working with my colleagues.”Trustee Bob Benevento, who has been a member of the board since being appointed in 2011, was elected president by a 4-3 roll call vote to succeed former president Don Moody, whose 10 years of service ended with him not seeking re-election in November.A second 4-3 roll call vote followed with Trustee Ron Woolf, a retired MHUSD educator who was elected to the board in 2010 and re-elected to a second four-year term last month, winning the vice president seat. He replaces 12-year board veteran Shelle Thomas who also decided not to run in the general election.In both votes, for which trustees filled out ballots that were then read aloud to the audience inside the district office boardroom, Benevento, Foster-Ruebusch, Woolf and Trustee Amy Porter-Jensen—chiming in via a teleconference call from an offsite location—voted in the majority. Meanwhile, Trustee Rick Badillo, who was up for both the president and vice president spots, was given support from Gerard and Borgioli.“One of the reasons I ran for the board was to try to bring more community involvement into this board, and that’s one of the reasons I seconded the nomination for Rick Badillo,” said Gerard, praising Badillo’s completion of the California School Board Association’s Masters in Governance.“He’s shown to me that he’s an agile learner and I think that he would be someone who would continue to learn,” Gerard added.After Woolf’s motion to nominate Benevento was seconded by Foster-Ruebusch, Gerard did the same for Borgioli’s nomination of Badillo—who has sat on the board since 2012.“I’d like to thank the parents of Morgan Hill for the vote of confidence in me and the other candidates during the election,” Borgioli said. “I look forward to really working with everyone here at the district, listening to our parents and really bringing a lot more voices to the board.”Council incumbents sworn inMorgan Hill City Council members Rich Constantine and Gordon Siebert, along with Mayor Steve Tate, were also sworn this month. The three incumbents, beginning their next terms, took the oaths of office at the council’s Dec. 3 meeting.City Clerk Irma Torrez administered the oaths of office.Constantine and Siebert are both beginning their second four-year terms, while the mayor is in his fifth two-year term. All three candidates won re-election in the Nov. 4 general election.“I’m overjoyed the electorate was willing to return all of us to office so we can continue to make progress for the citizens of Morgan Hill,” Tate said after being sworn in. “And I want to thank my wife, Jennifer, for allowing me to do this.”

Recent rains and cooler temperatures across the region have lowered the threat of wildfires, allowing CalFire’s Santa Clara Unit to transition out of fire season as of Dec. 8, 2014 at 8 a.m., according to a press release from CalFire. The transition takes place in Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa and the west side of Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties.Unit Chief Derek Witmer noted his thanks to “the public and our local government fire partners for assisting us in achieving our goal of keeping 90 percent of our fires 10 acres or less this fire season.”As drought conditions continue to have a hold on California, CalFire is maintaining staffing that meets the current threat, and will be strategically moving resources to areas that remain at a higher threat level, according to the press release. CalFire will also continue to monitor weather conditions closely and still has the ability to increase staffing should the weather conditions change or if there is a need to support wildfires in other areas of the state.The 2014 fire season has been an extremely active year, authorities said. Statewide, CalFire and firefighters from many local agencies battled more than 5,500 wildfires within the State Responsibility Area. These fires burned nearly 91,000 acres. This number is over 1,000 more wildfires than normal at this time of year. In the Santa Clara Unit, CalFire responded to 164 wildfires that charred 666 acres.Residents are urged to continue to take precautions outdoors in order to prevent sparking a wildfire, according to the press release. A leading cause of wildfires this time of year is from escaped agricultural burning. Before you burn, ensure it’s a permissive burn day by contacting the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.During burning, make sure piles of agricultural debris are no larger than established restrictions, and provide a 10 foot clearance down to bare mineral soil around the burn pile, authorities caution. Make sure a responsible adult is in attendance at all times with a water source and a shovel.For more ways to prevent sparking a wildfire, visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org.