The San Antonio Express-News has returned to delivering Karnes County. While they’re not throwing newspapers into yards just yet, they’ve taken what area economic leaders are calling a good first step back in that direction.

Two new vendor locations — The Fillin Station in Falls City and The Tote in Karnes City — now will have the Express-News delivered daily. Delivery to a third location in Kenedy also is in the works.

The decision to service just a small portion of the county came more than a month after the Express-News discontinued all area subscriptions and canceled daily delivery to all Karnes County vendor locations in favor of promoting their new online edition.

"It’s like we’ve been in the dark — like we lost our communication. Sometimes (other papers) have more things about our area down here, but they don’t carry the ads for San Antonio where people shop," Kenedy Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Carolyn McDonald said. "They don’t carry classifieds for people that are looking for jobs (in San Antonio). My mother’s been in withdrawal because she can’t read the obituaries."

A concerted effort to reinstate delivery of the Express-News was organized in Karnes City just after the paper’s departure.

Led by Mayor Don Tymrak and Karnes City Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Maggie Hunt, upset residents made phone calls and Karnes City’s council passed a city resolution in favor of bringing the paper back.

Hunt said it’s a huge blessing to the county to have even three delivery spots reinstated.

"Regionally we are more tied into the San Antonio area than Victoria," she said. "We were really excited to hear that the paper had decided to come back. It’s going to be an economical edge for San Antonio advertisers. Karnes City just really supported the idea that if the paper claimed to be ‘the Voice of South Texas,’ they really needed to be in South Texas."

At least one other business had taken to supplementing the county during the time the Express-News was unavailable. The Busy Beaver in Falls City has been driving to Floresville once a week to pick up several copies of the Sunday edition to have available for their customers.

The Express-News has not announced any further plans to more widely distribute the Express-News, but Hunt, Tymrak, and McDonald said they support any effort to further service Karnes County readers.