For decades, anyone driving along Interstate Highway 280 in Hillsborough could look up and see a giant statue of Father Junípero Serra watching over the Peninsula next to the Crystal Springs rest stop.

But this summer, Caltrans quietly removed the statue, and the move is reigniting a debate over the 18th-century missionary's legacy.

Patricia Gonzalez knows the Crystal Springs Rest Area better than most, since she manages it.

"As a kid, I remember going to Blackberry Farm and passing the statue and knowing, 'Okay, we're almost there,'" she said.

For the past three years, Gonzalez has watched travelers pull off I-280, some for a quick break, others to take photos with the figure that stood guard above them.

"The last people to come were from Ireland, and they came to see the statue, and

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