Eideard

The “unusable” bikini photo

A US beauty contest winner who claimed she was stripped of her crown because she had gained weight has won her courtroom fight to regain the title.

Seventeen-year-old Domonique Ramirez claimed pageant officials in Texas had told her to “get off the tacos”. Organisers of the Miss San Antonio contest said she was dismissed because she had breached her contract.

After nearly 12 hours of deliberation, jurors in Bexar County, Texas, ruled in favour of Ms Ramirez…

“This is about principle, this is about what’s right,” the 5ft 8in, 129lb Ms Ramirez said after the verdict on Thursday…

During the week-long trial, pageant director Linda Woods said the teenager had turned up to a bikini shoot overweight, making the pictures “unusable”.

Ms Ramirez told the court that pageant bosses had said she “needed to lay off the tacos and the junk food“…

Jury foreman Jesse Sanchez told the local newspaper, the Express-News, that the verdict was a “a hard decision”. She declined to divulge what damages and fees were awarded to Ms Ramirez.

Now that she has her title back, Ms Ramirez is eligible to compete for the titles of Miss Texas and Miss America.

The judges appointed a replacement while all this was going on – but Domonique says she’s perfectly willing to move on and compete alongside the substitute, Ashley Dixon, in the follow-on contests that can lead to Miss America.

San Antonio — Bexar County authorities Monday night arrested a man accused of posing as a sheriff’s deputy in order to live for free at a Northeast Side apartment.

Joe Luis Gonzales, 46, was being held without bail in Bexar County Jail on one count of impersonating a public servant and another of contempt of court for failing to pay child support.

Authorities said Gonzales filled out an application March 6 for a courtesy officer position and signed a lease to live rent-free at the Artisan at Salado Falls Apartments in the 3700 block of Binz-Engleman Road. It’s a common practice for deputies and officers to pay subsidized rent or none at all in exchange for performing security duties, according to authorities.

Gonzales wore a sheriff’s office uniform, carried a gun and had a deputy’s badge when he applied for the apartment, according to an arrest warrant affidavit…

Deputy Chief Dale Bennett said it didn’t appear the apartment complex called the county to confirm Gonzales’ employment. Recently, a resident attempted to file a complaint against him with Bexar County, Bennett said.

“We realized that this guy’s not an employee of ours,” he said.

Not a bad deal for coppers in South Texas. As long as someone checks to see if they’re real.

Har.