The selection is over, as the 2008 Bluebonnet Days royalty was chosen and announced Sunday afternoon, March 2. Miss Veronica Rodriguez was crowned the 2008 Bluebonnet Days Queen. Veronica is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Rodriguez. The 2007 Bluebonnet Days Queen, Miss Katie Ihrig, crowned the queen and her royal court.

The four princesses in order of selection are: first runner-up, Rikki Crenshaw, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Crenshaw; second runner-up, Cecilia Vasquez, daughter of Zacarias and Clara Cantu; third runner-up, Jenna Diaz, daughter of Rudy and June Diaz; and fourth runner-up, Felicia Villarreal, daughter of Marcus and Virginia Villarreal.

The coronation of "her majesty" will be April 25, at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Bluebonnet Days events. Festivities at the coronation will include entertainment by the young people from Kenedy schools.

The coronation theme will be "The Fabulous Fifties" and will be in the Kenedy High School Gym.

A Kenedy woman was killed by injuries sustained when the motorcycle she and her husband were riding struck a car on Highway 181 in Kenedy near Scrubber’s Car Wash.

The accident happened around 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5, according to information from Kenedy Police Sergeant Jeremy Stevens.

A black Harley Davidson motorcycle was traveling northbound on Highway 181 near the car wash when a blue Plymouth Neon pulled out onto the highway hitting the motorcycle.

Driving the motorcycle was Juan Guzman, Jr. (48) and the passenger on the motorcycle was his wife Virginia Guzman (46). Both were Kenedy residents.

Both were ejected from the motorcycle and Virginia Guzman was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband was airlifted from the scene to University Hospital in San Antonio for treatment to injuries sustained in the crash.

Karnes County voters turned out in big numbers for the March 4 primary elections.

3,551 of Karnes County’s 8,010 registered voters cast ballots in the elections – that’s a voter turnout of about 44%, which is higher than the statewide turnout of 33%.

Although the state turnout was unusually high, local election officials said that the turnout in Karnes County was fairly typical. About 30 to 50 percent of Karnes County registered voters will vote in any given election, they said.

Karnes County Sheriff David Jalufka won the Democratic primary with 1,738 votes (53.68%) defeating challenger Charlie White who received 1,500 votes (46.32%). Jalufka will run unopposed in the general election in November.

Carl Hummel won the open seat of County Commissioner Precinct 1 with 541 votes (61.27%) over Robert Leal who received 342 votes (38.73%). Hummel will face Republican Steve Ryan in the November general election.

By Jeff Steele

Adrian and Dominic Zapata attended school on Feb. 28 like any other day.

Unbeknownst to them their day would turn out other than ordinary. The children were going to have a surprise visitor, someone they have not seen in a year, their Dad.

Eloy Zapata, a staff sergeant (SSG) in the United States Army, returned home on Feb. 28 after a year-long deployment in Afghanistan with his unit, the 2nd Aviation Battalion, 82 Airborne Division. Zapata deployed in January of 2007 and has just recently returned to the states.

Zapata is a 2000 graduate of Runge High School and is the son of Philip and Gloria Zapata of Runge.

The visit was organized by his mom, Gloria, teacher Veronica Patton and aides Lorenza Mendoza and Dora Philips, in order to surprise Adrian and Dominic. The boys knew their Dad was coming home on leave, but were unaware when he would arrive.

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