SAN ANTONIO — The runner-up who was briefly named Miss San Antonio after the pageant stripped the winner of her crown has decided not to compete for Miss Texas, avoiding a second showdown in a beauty queen battle that grabbed headlines nationwide.
Seventeen-year-old Domonique Ramirez caused a stir in January when she claimed she was unfairly booted by pageant officials who accused her of gaining weight and told her to "get off the tacos." The pageant said it stripped the teen's title because she violated her contract with conduct unbefitting a beauty queen.
Organizers gave the crown to runner-up Ashley Dixon, 23, but she lost it in March, when a Bexar County jury reinstated Ramirez after a weeklong trial. The Miss Bexar County Organization, which runs the Miss San Antonio pageant, then gave Dixon the title of Miss Bexar County, which includes San Antonio.
That made both beauty queens eligible to compete for the state title on July 1. But Ben Wallis III, an attorney for the Miss Bexar County Organization, said Monday that Dixon told Miss Texas organizers recently that she wouldn't be competing.
"The last I was told, Ashley had quit. She sent a letter of resignation to Miss Texas," said Wallis, who later clarified that he was not sure whether the resignation came in a letter, e-mail or text message