This survey has been on my mind for some time, long before I decided to move back to Karnes City after retiring. The persons below are the first to be interviewed. The same six questions were asked of all interviewed to make this a true survey format.

They are:

6. Do you think there is something special about Karnes County?"

Mayor Pro-Tem Ken Reiley opened the Kenedy City Council meeting on Dec. 11 following a workshop and review of the five-year Veolia contract.

Karen Kibbe asked for approval to go forward with an application for a renewable energy grant that would enable the city to purchase ten solar panels plus five-day battery backups that could save the city some of its electricity costs.

The grant is part of a state pilot project to help the effort for "greening" areas of Texas. A portion of the grant for the city would be about $33,400 dollars.

"We’re going to buy this anyway," Councilman Bob Patton said, adding that the city would welcome the help of the grant. The council authorized the grant application.

Karnes City ISD is gaining far more students from incoming transfers than it is losing students to outgoing transfers, according to data recently obtained from the district.

The number of students moving from another school to Karnes City has continued to increase since 2002. During that school year, Karnes City accepted 79 students from other schools. In the following years, the numbers jumped up to 80 in 2003, 99 in 2004, 108 in 2005, and 123 in both 2006 and 2007.

Meanwhile, the number of students transferring out during that time period averages at around 49, indicating Karnes City is receiving far more students through transfers than it is letting go.

A large majority of the students coming to KCISD arrive from Kenedy, according to the report. While Falls City only accounts for 16 of the student transfers this year and Runge accounts for 12, 86 students from Kenedy ISD have chosen to leave their school and attend KCISD during 2007’s first semester.

After years of borrowing equipment from Yorktown, Runge’s city council voted to consider the purchase of a new sewer jetter during their regular meeting Dec. 11.

The status of Runge’s sewer jetting equipment has been shaky over the years.

"It was already outdated when they purchased the thing years ago," Mayor Homer Lott said during an interview after the meeting. "The pump is antiquated. You’re talking about $12,000 (to fix it) and when you get through, you still have an old machine, so it’s time for us to go and buy a new one."

A sewer jetter uses 1,500 pounds of water pressure to blast open blockage inside sewer lines and Runge has required the equipment about once every ten days, lately.

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Karnes City firefighters are breathing easier after a receiving a $22,300 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Dec. 12.

The grant provides 95 percent of the funding that Karnes City’s rescue unit needs for the purchase of a new breathing-air compressor. The device will allow more air to be compressed into air tanks and will increase the quality of the air that firefighters breathe while on the job.

"Our (current air compressor) won’t even pass air quality standards any more, so we applied for a grant to replace that," Karnes City Fire Chief Charlie Malik said. "It will provide our people with the quality breathing air they need when they’re fighting a fire. This will be a 6,000-pound compressor. That’s what our storage bottles on the rescue truck are, but we’ve never been able to fill them that full because our old compressor only goes to 4,500."

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