Kirsten Cohoon
“You never get bored, let’s just say that.”
In April, Governor Greg Abbott appointed Kirsten Cohoon presiding judge of the Sixth Administrative Judicial Region for a four-year term. She remains on the bench over the 451st Judicial District Court of Kendall County.
I’m still going to be your 451st, and I still intend to run for another term. This is in addition to, not in place of, my current position. There are 11 administrative regions in the state. The sixth goes from Kendall County all the way west to El Paso. So, if courts need a visiting judge or help with dockets, they come to me. If there are new rules in the legislature, we make sure we have their backs and everything judges need to succeed.
I was in total shock. It’s a big honor. I’m really appreciative and looking forward to it. I haven’t been confirmed yet by the Senate. So I’m not official, but I’m close. When I took the bench, Judge Ables, who is our current presiding judge and is retiring, was a huge help and a mentor to me. I look forward to being a mentor to others.
I know we still call ourselves rural, and I deal with the ranching issues, but I can also recognize the more urban issues that plague the larger counties. We deal with a little bit of it all in Kendall County. You never get bored, let’s just say that.
We don’t have a county court at law, which means I handle everything. So it’s an interesting case load. We recently had a civil case involving Kudu (antelope). And I had another case about kangaroos.
I think our challenge is growth. Our docket is growing like our county is. We have a smaller courthouse, and we don’t have a lot of capacity for the growth we’re experiencing. But this is how it is all over the county, right?
In October, we’re going to have a new District Court here. I’ve worked hard with the clerks to clean up our docket, so we’re gonna be great when the 498th comes in. It will all fit in very nicely. Whoever is elected will take half of my current workload.
I think people might be surprised to know how much I moved as a kid. I had restless parents, so we lived a little bit of everywhere. In junior high, we ended up moving six times in six years. For my family, we wanted to make a home. I’ve lived here for 15 years, so this is the longest I have ever lived in one place.
We’re a founding family of Kendall County. My maternal grandmother grew up here. Technically, my kids are sixth-generation Kendall County citizens. I remember visiting my great-aunt in Boerne as a kid. So, when my husband said he wanted to move to Boerne, I was like, “Why?” Because back then, you went nowhere and still had to go 30 more miles to get to the middle-of-nowhere. It was totally different.
One thing I hope never changes in this county — the people. I just love the people. I love our county. I love our town, and I’ve been blessed to serve for 15 years. It took my husband’s vision to come here, but he was 100 percent right.
