City council approves GVEC’s use of tower for wireless Internet

Karnes City residents will soon have a different company in charge of picking up their trash, according to an announcement made by a Waste Management representative at Karnes City’s June 26 council meeting.

Fred Medrano told council straight out his company would not seek or offer a renewal of their contract. Waste Management simply is pulling back and will no longer be offering their services this far away from their base of operations in San Antonio, he said.

"There’s an accumulation of things that have gone astray," he said. "As you well know, there’s a big brush issue. We’ve taken a look at what recently occurred here and … we did not meet the standards of the city."

Medrano said Waste Management will deliver on their promise to pick up all of Karnes City’s brush and large trash before their contract expires September 30.

A Karnes County sheriff’s deputy was involved in a vehicle accident at the intersection of Crockett and Browne streets June 29 while on the way to the scene of a different collision.

Stephen Monsivais was heading to the scene of a vehicle accident near Browne Street in Karnes City when the wreck happened, according to Karnes County Sheriff David Jalufka.

"We had a major (wreck) over by the elementary school. Steve was trying to get there and a guy ran a yield sign," Jalufka said. "The guy was injured (badly) because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt."

The injured man, 38-year-old Paul Gonzalez of Karnes City, was extracted from his vehicle by Karnes County Rescue and was airlifted to University Hospital in San Antonio hospital where he was treated and released the following day.

With all the rain falling lately, it may surprise some Texans to hear we’re not yet out of a drought. At least that’s the situation according to one of Karnes County’s leading agriculture experts.

That may not make a difference to most people when they’re navigating road closures trying to get to work or getting soaked to the bone trying to fill the car trunk with groceries. To the cattle producer, though, it should mean quite a bit, says Karnes County Agriculture Extension Agent Dennis Hale.

"We are really not out of the drought," he said.

Hale recognizes the viewpoint isn’t entirely popular with all the rain falling from the sky and South Texas’ drought weariness after several previous dry years. However, he thinks it’s important to remember for people who make their living based on how the weather goes.

The district attorney’s office has dropped the aggravated assault charges against Hector "Miguel" Grimaldo.

Originally charged in the March 4 shooting of his wife Susana, District Attorney Rene Pena recently made the decision to drop the charges against Grimaldo, citing several witnesses that claim the incident was an accident.

The re-telling of the events revealed more detail than police initially released.

Hector Grimaldo and his wife Susana were eating at the residence of Isidro and Jamie Amaya along with Susana’s son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Ashley Tobar. Hector Grimaldo left the room, according to Pena’s version of the events, and returned with a hand gun.