June 27, 2025 is my last day as your Police Chief at the City of Devine Police Department. As I approach this next phase in my life, I reflect on my time with the Devine Police Department with great fondness and satisfaction. It has been a great honor and privilege to serve the citizens of Devine, these 9 ½ years along with the amazing officers and employees at Devine Police Department. I have made a lot of friends, and have a lot of memories that will last a lifetime. The success we have enjoyed at Devine Police Department is not because of the Chief but because of the dedicated officers and staff who fulfilled the mission and goals of the department. I would like to express my sincere thanks for the opportunities I’ve had to grow and the leadership that has guided my journey. The experiences I’ve gained here are invaluable and have shaped my career in countless ways. As I prepare to depart, I am committed to ensuring a smooth transition. Thank you all for your continued support. Thank you once again for an unforgettable and rewarding journey. Warm regards, Kandy L. Benavides
Medina County Commissioners’ Court will conduct a public hearing on Thursday October 5, 2023 at 10:00 a.m., in the Commissioners Courtroom, 1300 Avenue M, Room 165, Hondo, TX to allow the public to discuss the application to vacate and replat Lot 51 of Lytle Ranch Subdivision, Unit 1; Located in Precinct 4 off of County Road 6816.
Medina County Commissioners’ Court will conduct a public hearing on Thursday October 5, 2023 at 10:00 a.m., in the Commissioners Courtroom, 1300 Avenue M, Room 165, Hondo, TX to allow the public to discuss the application to vacate and replat a portion of Lot 9-A of San Antonio Trust Subdivision; Located in Precinct 2 off of County Road 6710.
Make sure to get your pipes wrapped, and bring the animals indoors. As of this Tuesday, the National Weather Service forecast is showing a low of 19 degrees Thursday night, 18 Friday night, and 23 degrees Saturday night, and 29 Sunday night. It could feel like 3-10 degrees with the windchill Thursday night going into the early hours of Friday morning according to NWS warnings.
The National Weather Service is predicting four nights of below freezing temperatures for our area starting this Thursday and continuing through Sunday night. Thankfully, it is expected to warm up during the daytime, so there will be a little relief in that, officials hope. Thursday night, the forecast is projecting lows of 19 degrees along with winds up to 15-35MPH. With the wind chill, this could create temperatures coming into Friday morning that feel more like 3 to 10 degrees according to a NWS. Friday night, the forecast shows a low of 18 degrees, with winds 5 MPH. Saturday lows of 23 degrees, and Sunday (Christmas night) lows of 29 degrees. Local officials urge residents to be prepared. The Red Cross recommends having one gallon of water per person, per day, on hand. They also recommend having easy to prepare food that does not require electricity to cook such as bread, peanut butter and jelly, or canned meat. If you do experience an outage, don’t panic, officials say. They would like to remind residents that if you experience an outage, it’s not always the grid overloading. High winds, for example, are also a big cause of outages. NWS Forecast as of Tuesday night: Wednesday Night-Mostly clear, with a low around 42. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Thursday-Sunny, with a high near 67. Breezy, with a light and variable wind becoming north 20 to 25 mph in the morning. Thursday Night-Clear, with a low around 19. Blustery, with a north wind 15 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. Friday-Sunny, with a high near 37. North wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Friday Night-Mostly clear, with a low around 18. North northeast wind around 5 mph. Saturday-Sunny, with a high near 42. North northeast wind around 5 mph. Saturday Night-Mostly clear, with a low around 23. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Christmas Day-Sunny, with a high near 50. Sunday NightMostly clear, with a low around 29. Monday-Sunny, with a high near 59. Monday NightMostly clear, with a low around 35. TuesdaySunny, with a high near 61.
August 11, 2022 – The Medina County Sheriff’s Office is asking for your assistance in identifying a person/persons responsible for multiple fires that have been started in the last 48 hours.
“The fires have been started along our rural roadways, in the Castroville, Mico, Dunlay, Quihi, New Fountain, Hondo, and D’Hanis areas,” said Keith Lutz, MC Emergency Management Coordinator in an I-Info press release.
“Please report any tips or suspicious activity to the Medina County Sheriff’s Office dispatch at 830-741-6153, Medina County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-FOR-CUFF, or dial 911.”
Customers who purchased allotments for agricultural irrigation with the Bexar-Medina-Atascosa Counties Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 have until Sept. 15 to submit orders water for the remainder of the year, BMA field manager Brian Sullivan said.
By Anton Riecher Failure by residents to post address numbers on either their homes or mail boxes continues to hinder emergency responders trying to find rural locations in the shortest time possible, Allegiance Mobile Health District Chief Patrick Bourcier said.
Correction and more info on fire protection in Devine area
Devine VFD’s tender truck (which hauls a majority of the water to the scene of fires) is broken down, beyond repair. It’s a pressing issue for the City of Devine and rural Devine community. “Our other trucks, the fire engines, can carry 1,500 gallons of water, but on a house fire, that literally lasts about three minutes,” Chief Atkinson said. “If we have two engines there, that’s about six minutes that we have water to fight a fire. Whereas if we have a tender truck, it hauls around 3,000 gallons to the scene and goes back and forth to supply water to our engines as we fight a fire. A new tender truck is estimated to cost between $350,000 and $500,000. Right now, Devine Volunteer Fire Department is relying on mutual aide to bring their tender trucks from other cities when a working fire hydrant is not available or there is a fire outside City limits where there are no hydrants. “Our ESD is great and they can budget for the purchase of a tender truck in the future, but that might take a couple of years, and then once it’s ordered, it takes another year to build it. There aren’t a lot of good used tender trucks for sale, because fire departments tend to hang onto them as long as they can. So we are looking into grants, and we are speaking to city and county leaders as well, to see if they want to pitch in to make this happen sooner,” Chief Atkinson said. NOTE OF ERROR LAST WEEK: There was a misunderstanding in the headline of the article about fire hydrant testing in Devine last week. According to Fire Chief Greg Atkinson, 1 out of every 7 tested was not functional, a concerning trend, but not as drastic as the numbers reported last week which we had gotten backwards. There are 125 fire hydrants in the City of Devine in all, and about 50% of them have been tested so far. With one in seven not working, and fire hydrants not being placed every 1,000 feet as recommended, the tender truck is important for fighting fires in city limits as well. “They are already not spaced out at 1,000 feet (which is the length of hoses), so if you have a fire hydrant not working at the scene of a fire on top of that, then you’re really in trouble,” Atkinson said. “So far, we’ve not had that situation happen yet in the short time I’ve been here. We’ve been very lucky. And we are also fortunate to have area departments willing to provide mutual aide with their tender trucks, but there are times when you have a fire in your own community and you aren’t able to provide mutual aide.”
