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City council condemns gun violence, assault weaponsThe Morgan Hill City Council last week adopted a resolution condemning gun violence.  The resolution commits the city to “advocate for state and federal bans on both military style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, stronger background checks for all gun and ammunition purchases, revoking the prohibition on federally funded research on gun-related deaths, and rescinding the gun industry's immunity.The resolution also states that the council will consider local actions to regulate gun and ammunition sales in the City of Morgan Hill. Graywater “laundry-to-landscape” is topic in Morgan HillLearn how to safely reuse water from washing machines to irrigate your landscape in a free class that will discuss residential graywater reuse, common types of graywater systems, garden-friendly soaps and detergents, and how to construct a laundry to landscape graywater system.The workshop, hosted by the Santa Clara Valley Water District, will be from 7-8pm on Monday, March 26 in the Morgan Hill City Council chambers, 17555 Peak Ave., Morgan Hill.Attending the workshop will help participants qualify for the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s graywater rebate, of $200 ($400 in some areas).

The Mast Street Industrial Project in Morgan Hill is finished, and tenants are being sought to fill the 30,100 square foot “industrial condo.”The rent of $1.17 per square foot, along with the flexibility offered by the building, may provide a solution for businesses in need of expansion, or a place to get started for new enterprises, said city officials.“We call it an industrial condo because of the small unit sizes; the units can be tied together, which allows for greater flexibility,” said Morgan Hill Economic Development Coordinator John Lang.The Mast Street Industrial Project is broken up into smaller, 1,000 to 2,000 square foot spaces. The spaces are designed to be used as either offices or industrial space. Further adding to the building’s versatility, high ceilings and a dock entrance offer small manufacturers the space for taller pieces of equipment.“It just came on the market, and it’s the first such building to come to Morgan Hill in recent years,” said Lang. “The space appears to appeal to distilleries and breweries, given the high ceilings.”The estimated value of the building is $2.2 million, according to city staff.Owner Mike Rauschnot began seeking permits for 155 Mast Street in October 2016, and the building was approved for occupancy in January 2018.

A Morgan Hill man is accused of making explosive materials in a home that is neighbored by schools, a church and other residences.On March 13, police arrested Dennis Fritsinger, 63, of Morgan Hill, on suspicion of possessing “materials and compounds and mixtures to make explosive materials,” Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Troy Hoefling said. He is also accused of being a felon in possession of ammunition, namely handgun and rifle rounds. No weapons were recovered during the police search of his home.The crimes Fritsinger is suspected of are felonies. He has not yet been charged by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, which has up to 72 hours after his arrest to arraign him.Fritsinger’s identity and the crimes he is suspected of were revealed after MHPD and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad spent the afternoon March 13 searching his home on McLaughlin Court.That search, which lasted several hours and closed McLaughlin Court to traffic, yielded the materials that Fritsinger was planning to combine to make explosives, police said. He also had “hundreds of pieces of equipment” that constituted a sort of home chemistry lab in Fritsinger’s house.McLaughlin Court—which forms an “L” shaped residential neighborhood off East Central Avenue, just north of downtown Morgan Hill—was covered with patrol cars, bomb squad trailers and fire trucks during the six-hour-plus search. Residents neighboring Fritsinger’s home were asked to stay away while authorities executed the search warrant.Hoefling did not know the exact names or types of materials and compounds that were found, and noted that they will be sent to the county crime lab for analysis.Hoefling further noted that Fritsinger is “definitely a hobbyist,” and the search did not reveal any obvious intent to cause harm outside the home.  “Nothing we found in there was specific to any threats, (nor was there) anything that would lead us to say he was trying to destroy anything,” Hoefling said. “But for him to do (this) in a neighborhood is concerning, at best, especially with its location (near) the church and a pre-school.”The home is about one block east of Monterey Road just north of downtown. The Morgan Hill Pre-School Academy and Shadow Mountain Baptist School, among other commercial properties, are nearby. Britton Middle School is about two blocks away, on the west side of Monterey Road at West Central Avenue.The March 13 search of Fritsinger’s home was prompted by two explosions reported by neighbors the previous day. About 2:45pm March 12, a nearby resident called police to report “a firework or explosion,” Hoefling said. Officers responded but did not find a source of the disturbance at that time.Then about 6pm March 12, another resident called to report a “louder explosion” than the previous one, Hoefling said. That caller offered more details, including the sighting of a puff of smoke from a specific residence following the explosion.Police returned to the neighborhood and contacted the homeowner where the explosion allegedly occurred. Authorities contacted the homeowner in his garage, where officers saw suspicious chemicals and what looked like a small laboratory similar to what might be found in a high school chemistry class, Hoefling said. Officers could not immediately determine the purpose of the home laboratory on their initial March 12 visit, but the visible evidence was suspicious enough to call in the county bomb squad.At that time, police detained Fritsinger—the only occupant of the home at the time—and “backed out” of the area until a search warrant was acquired and the bomb squad arrived, Hoefling said.The Monday evening discovery of possible bomb-making chemicals and other materials led authorities to evacuate the neighborhood. The evacuated residents returned home Monday night, but police asked them to leave again Tuesday morning until the bomb squad completed the search, Hoefling said.

Authorities are searching a home on McLaughlin Court, just north of downtown Morgan Hill, for explosive material and bomb-making supplies.As of 11:30am March 13, the street that spans less than a block and ends in a cul-de-sac was closed with crime scene tape while police served a search warrant. Morgan Hill Police called in the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad to conduct the search. Santa Clara County Fire District's hazardous materials team was also at the scene.The search was prompted by two explosions that occurred less than four hours apart in the area of the McLaughlin Court home March 12, according to Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Troy Hoefling.About 2:45pm March 12, a nearby resident called police to report “a firework or explosion,” Hoefling said. Officers responded but did not find a source of the disturbance at that time.Then about 6pm March 12, another resident called to report a “louder explosion” than the previous one, Hoefling said. That caller offered more details, including the sighting of a puff of smoke from a specific residence following the explosion.Police returned to the neighborhood and contacted the homeowner where the explosion allegedly occurred. Authorities contacted the homeowner in his garage, where officers saw suspicious chemicals and what looked like a small laboratory similar to what might be found in a high school chemistry class, Hoefling said. Officers could not immediately determine what the home laboratory was for, but suspected its purpose could have been to produce explosives or narcotics.The homeowner was arrested on suspicion of possession of “bomb-making material or explosive ingredients,” Hoefling said. Police are not releasing the suspect’s name until the search of the home is complete. He remains in custody.Officers determined nobody else was in the home and “backed out” of the area after they saw the suspicious chemicals Monday night, and waited until the county bomb squad was available before continuing a search of the property, Hoefling said.The Monday evening discovery of possible bomb-making chemicals and other materials led authorities to evacuate the neighborhood. The evacuated residents returned home Monday night, but police asked them to leave again Tuesday morning until the bomb squad completed the search, Hoefling said.The search of the McLaughlin Court home is expected to be complete by about 6pm March 13, police said.McLaughlin Court is located about one block east of Monterey Road, and just north of East Central Avenue. The Morgan Hill Pre-School Academy and Shadow Mountain Baptist School, among other commercial properties, are nearby. Britton Middle School about two blocks away, on the west side of Monterey Road at West Central Avenue.Check back later for updates to this developing story.

Auto burglary

With a goal of spurring additional commercial and industrial growth in Morgan Hill, the city council approved a Development Impact Fee Freeze Program, which will peg impact fees at the 2016-17 rate for the next three years.

The weather was perfectly wet Saturday, March 3 for local children attending the “Raincoats and Rubber Boots” event put on by the Pine Ridge Association of Morgan Hill. The event, which took place at Henry W. Coe State Park drew little and big kids alike to its annual creek walk and scavenger hunt.

A statewide initiative to ask voters to change portions of three crime-related laws is picking up steam in Santa Clara County.Over the last week and a half, both the Morgan Hill City Council and Gilroy City Council passed support resolutions for a Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018, which would change portions of voter-approved Proposition 47 and 57, as well as Assembly Bill 109, to reclassify current “nonviolent” crimes as “violent” to prevent the early release of inmates convicted of various sex and assault crimes.The initiative also aims to reform the parole system to stop early release of violent felons, expand parolee oversight, strengthen penalties for parole violations, reform theft laws, and expand DNA collection for drug, theft, domestic violence, and other crimes. It is supported by the California Police Chiefs Association, The California District Attorney’s Association, and the Peace Officers Research Association of California.Morgan Hill’s city council is supporting the initiative because they think it supports their top ongoing annual priority for the city: enhancing public safety, according to Morgan Hill Public Information Officer Maureen Tobin.Certain types of crime are on the rise in Morgan Hill, where overall property and violent crime is up 13 percent, in recent years. While city staff and MHPD can’t directly connect the local crime uptick to Props 47 and 57, and AB109, they are convinced that the long-term impact of these laws will be to reduce safety in the community.The Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act will “add more crime types to the list of violent crimes,” Tobin said. These include rape of an unconscious or intoxicated person, shooting into an inhabited dwelling, assault with a firearm or other deadly weapon, solicitation to commit murder and abducting a minor for prostitution.“The crimes listed above are not on the rise; however, the early release of those who have committed heinous acts as (those reclassified by the earlier laws) foretell a future with increasing crime,” Tobin said. “The initiative seeks to prevent future residents from becoming victims of violent crime.”The proposed ballot measure will also “provide some of the necessary sanctions to help hold offenders accountable in custody and post-release, and restore some of the necessary tools that officers to ensure safety,” Tobin said. These tools include conditions of probation that can be imposed years after a defendant is released from prison or jail.  South Valley supportCity and police officials in Gilroy have been hitting the pavement in support of the Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act.“The bottom line is I think that if we can find ways to rehabilitate people, that is fantastic. I completely support that,” Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said Tuesday. “The idea of this (initiative) is not aimed at those people. It is aimed at those who do not choose to avail themselves of those opportunities and continue to choose a life of crime. There needs to be consequences to deal with those people.”Gilroy Mayor Roland Velasco spent a few hours Saturday morning at First Street Coffee helping residents collect signatures for the new initiative, which needs 365,880 signatures by August to qualify for the November election. Over 100 signatures were gathered in two hours, he said.Velasco said he supports the Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018 because of the ill effects of Prop 47, 57, and AB 109.“It is creating havoc in cities up and down the state,” Velasco said Tuesday. “It is impacting the quality of life of our residents. It is becoming a strain on public safety services.”AB 109, which Governor Jerry Brown signed in 2011, transferred responsibility of supervising certain felony offenders and state prison parolees from state prisons and state parole agents to county jails and probation officers.California voters approved Proposition 47 in November 2014, which reduced certain drug possession felonies to misdemeanors and also required misdemeanor sentencing for petty theft, receiving stolen property, and forging or writing bad checks all to the amount of $950 or less. Prior to Prop 47, the dollar threshold for theft to be considered a felony was $450.“If someone comes into your house and steals something from you, as long as the value is less than $950, if we caught and arrested them we would give them a citation ticket and let them go,” Smithee said. “They could come back and do the same thing and still get the same ticket. It does not matter how many times. The result is never going to be more than getting a ticket and let go again because there is no sanction for how many times something has been done. It is each a separate case.”Morgan Hill city staff reported that the Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act would allow local officers to book “serial property thieves” into the county jail, rather than be forced to release them back onto the streets with a citation. The act would also ensure these offenders have the “appropriate restrictions” after their release from custody to help them return to being productive members of society.Former Gilroy Police Officer and current Hollister City Councilman Jim Gillio is another supporter of the Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018.“Over the past several years we have had Proposition 47 and Proposition 57 that have essentially, in an administrative way, decriminalized certain crimes,” Gillio said by phone Monday. “Certain violent crimes have been lowered, so you are eligible for early release.”California voters approved Proposition 57 in November 2016, which allowed parole consideration for nonviolent felons, authorized credit-earning opportunities for good behavior, and changed some juvenile prosecution policies.According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Proposition 57 moved up parole consideration for nonviolent offenders who served the full term of a primary offense sentence and demonstrated their release to the community would not pose an unreasonable risk of violence.“The overall intent of both Prop 47 and 57 was to increase the opportunities for rehabilitation and try to minimize mass incarceration, but there were unintended consequences,” Gillio said.The Hollister councilman is currently working with Acting Chief of Police Carlos Reynoso to have a support resolution for the new initiative placed on the next city council meeting on March 5.“I will present it to the city council for their consideration,” Reynoso said. “If passed, all we are asking for is their support in getting this initiative on the ballot and letting the citizens of our community and the state vote on it.”San Benito County Sheriff Darren Thompson, who supports the Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018, said he hopes to approach the San Benito County Board of Supervisors in the near future to see if they would support the initiative.“The previous measures, Proposition 47, 57, and AB 109, are designed to reduce state prison population, they are not designed to increase public safety,” Thompson said. “Certainly some adjustments are in order to those original measures.”Velasco said he hopes the initiative will be able to collect enough signatures to go before voters statewide in November.“Hopefully California voters will support this proposition,” he said. “I think it will go a long way in making sure that people who should be locked up, are locked up.”For more information on the Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018, visit www.keepCALsafe.org.

A suspected burglar broke the front door window of GVA Café early Sunday morning and entered the downtown coffee shop before Morgan Hill Police arrived to the scene.The suspect smashed the window of the café located at 17400 Monterey Road about 3am March 4, according to police reports. Police who responded when the break-in tripped an alarm found the suspect inside and arrested him on suspicion of burglary.GVA Café owner Renee Carrillo also responded to the shop early Sunday morning after police contacted her. She said it appeared the male suspect was intoxicated, and he didn’t seem interested in trying to steal anything as he sat calmly at a café table when officers responded to the alarm.Carrillo added the man returned to the café the following morning, in a more sober state, and apologized for the damage to the GVA front door. He even offered to pay for the damages, Carrillo said.