The rock group “Head East ” will be the feature entertainer for Sundown Salute in Junction City on July 3rd.

Sundown Salute Chairman Terry Heldstab said the celebration’s event coordinator Mick Wunder has been working with promoters and bands. Heldstab stated, “They’re a 70’s rock band. They’re from southern Illinois, had a lot of hits back in the 70;s, and I think they’ll bring a big crowd.”

The band is best known for their AOR hit “Never Been Any Reason.”

Sundown Salute will extend from June 30th through July 4th this year in downtown Junction City.

Heldstab confirmed officials are working on scheduling other performers for the celebration. “Friday evening ( June 30th ) there will be something new. The CVB is working with Michael Brown at the high school. JC’S Got Talent will be the name of it. ” There will be a country night, gospel night, plus a blues and soul night in addition to the rock night at Sundown Salute.

Sundown Salute officials have also announced that performing on the main stage on July 3rd and 4th will be Ron Diamond, who is a nationally known Hypnosismagic, or as his show is called, “Comedy at the Speed of Sleep.”

 

 

 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Chinese national who lived in Manhattan, Kansas, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to steal proprietary rice seeds developed in the U.S. and giving them to visitors from China.

Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that 51-year-old Weiqiang Zhang was sentenced for two counts of conspiracy and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property. He was convicted in February 2017.

Zhang was a rice breeder for Ventria Bioscience in Junction City, Kansas, which developed genetically engineered rice for therapeutic and medical fields.

Prosecutors said Zhang stored hundreds of seeds from Ventria at his home. In 2013, Zhang toured facilities in the Midwest with officials from a crop research institute in China. Federal officials found Ventria seeds in the visitors’ luggage as they prepared to return to China.

Irwin Army Community Hospital at Fort Riley invites military retirees and
their family members to a Retiree Health Fair April 14 from 9 a.m. to noon.

Retirees will be able to get health screenings and needed vaccinations.
Team members from specialty care clinics and ancillary services will also be
on hand to talk with retirees and family members to address specific health
interests.

Attendees will be able to learn more about nutrition, public health, the pharmacy, the Army Wellness Center, women’s health, general surgery,
physical and occupational therapy.

Representatives from Fort Riley’s Staff Judge Advocate office will be available to assist retirees with wills or powers of attorney.

Retirees and family members will also have the opportunity to tour the hospital facility and get a behind-the-scenes look.

Irwin Army Community Hospital opened its new facility in 2016 and is located at 650 Huebner Road at Fort Riley.

 

The Geary County Senior Center will be closed on Thursday ( April 5 ).

Center Director Debbie Engel said this will allow officials to get their kitchen back in order. “So that we can be open then on Friday, April 6, serving meals out of the Senior Center.”

On March 9 a car was accidentally backed into the side of the wall adjacent to the area where the kitchen and dining room are connected in the building. No one was injured.

Repairs to the building are nearly complete, according to Engel. “Just about. There’ a couple of small items left to do yet, but we can make do around that.”

TOPEKA, KAN. – A Colorado man pleaded guilty Monday to robbing a bank in Manhattan, Kan., according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Kenneth Wayne Fisher, Jr., 42, formerly of Colorado Springs, Colo., pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery. Fisher admitted that on Aug. 26, 2015, he robbed Sunflower State Bank at 2710 Anderson Ave. in Manhattan. He gave a teller a note saying, “Give me the money and no tricks.”

A few months after the Manhattan robbery, Fisher was arrested in California. He was extradited to Arkansas to face charges of robbing a bank in Bentonville, Ark., on Aug. 28, 2015. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than eight years for the Arkansas robbery.

  Sentencing in this case is set for July 9. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison. McAllister commended the Riley County Police Department, the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Maag for their work on the case.

Ji

Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf last week called for putting at least one officer in every school for safety and security.

There was a possibility mentioned of trying to obtain federal funding help to pay for that effort.

1st District Congressman Roger Marshall noted Congress just passed some significant funding that would help schools make their facilities safer. “In addition a lot of other money to help for training for teachers and principals on an ongoing basis to recognize those kids that did have potential problems going on.”

Marshall doesn’t know if the money can be used to pay for officers. “I don’t know that it can be used to pay officers or not. ” Marshall said he thought the money was for use in making the schools safer physically. ” So it would be like permanent things, like lock systems and video cameras, panic buttons and those types of things.”

More investigation will be needed to see if any of the funding could be used to help pay for officers in the schools.

 

 

Slick roads Sunday afternoon resulted in a series of accidents.

In Geary County no one was transported to a hospital.

The Junction City Police dispatch confirmed there were 13 accidents including three involving vehicle rollovers. Nine of the accidents occurred on I-70, three on the K-18 bypass and one on U.S. 77.

The accidents first began to be reported about 12:30 p.m. and by mid-afternoon were not occurring any more.

The Northeast Kansas Regional Notification System reported about 1:30 p.m. that westbound traffic on K-18 from the Manhattan Regional Airport to I-70 was nearly impassable. Traffic was diverted while officers worked several accidents. At 2:52 p.m. the roadway had been reopened.

The Geary County Sheriff’s Department on Sunday afternoon implemented their emergency accident reporting procedure for more than three-and-a-half hours before resuming normal reporting at about 4:20 p.m. Sunday.

The emergency accident reporting occurs during weather conditions where numerous accidents occur when the Sheriff’s Department can be overwhelmed by calls for service involving minor accidents. When vehicles are operable the Sheriff’s Department will not respond to non injury accidents when the vehicles are operable. Drivers are told to move to a place of safety and exchange personal and insurance information, and report the accident to their insurance company as soon as possible. You need to file a report when there is property damage over $1,000 with the appropriate law enforcement agency within 48 hours.

Keith Esau, Olathe, made Stacy’s Restaurant in Grandview Plaza a stopping point on Saturday in his campaign for the Kansas Secretary of State position.

Esau, a Republican, said he’s always been interested in how election maps are drawn and the method for conducting fair elections to ensure proper representation for the public.

Esau also stressed his strong interest in computer technology. “There’s a lot of computer things that go on in the Secretary of State’s Office with business records and lien holdings and other records. I want to make sure that we keep them all safe from cyber-security threats.” Esau has been a computer programmer for 35 years, and currently serves as the 14th District State Representative in the Kansas House.

Esau said on his campaign flyer that as Secretary of State his number one priority would be to ensure that the vote of every Kansan counts and is secure.

 

 

 

Former longtime Junction City resident, Ruby Stevens, 85, died Thursday at in Topeka after a long battle with Alzheimers disease.

Her son Pev Stevens, Topeka, confirmed her death. He said she tried what could to make people aware of different social injustices, not just in Junction City, but around the world.  “And that was her main thing, is to try and keep the people informed and go from there.”

Ruby Stevens was credited with starting the annual Martin Luther King Jr. observance in Junction CIty with the Komomantyn Club at Junction City High School, and then coordinated the annual observance in the community for many years afterward.

Daphne Maxwell of Junction City noted that as a young girl she remembered Ruby Stevens teaching English classes at the high school, and that Ruby was instrumental in the starting of the Komomantyns. “And also in her movement of civil rights one of the first educators to actually bring the focus and the light of the black community in Junction City High School and the starting of the Komomantyns and African American studies for the students there at Junction City High School.” Maxwell noted she would also see Stevens in the community involved in the NAACP and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations.

Maxwell noted Stevens made an impact in Junction City. “A tremendous impact on the black community, however I believe it was for all of Junction City.  She truly is a legacy in her own right. They say you stand on the shoulders of giants, we’re still walking on trails that she has blazed for all of us, but I just think it’s for the community of Junction City and surrounding communities as a whole.”

 

 

1st District Congressman Roger Marshall has introduced legislation honoring those that have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the 1st Infantry Division. The bill allows those soldiers’ names to be added to the 1st Division Monument on the White House grounds.

The 1st Infantry Division was established in 1917 and has been on continuous active duty for more than 100 years.

“It is with great honor that I introduced legislation that will recognize our 1st Infantry Division fallen heroes, ” Rep. Marshall said. “These men and women in uniform sacrificed their lives for our nation and I am humbled and proud to recognize our fallen service members on this historic monument at the White House.”

The monument was developed by the Society of the 1st Division, to honor the heroic efforts of the soldiers who fought in World War I. Throughout the years, additions have been made to commemorate soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division who lost their lives in World War II, Vietnam War and Desert Storm.

The future additions will honor the members of the 1st Infantry Division killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn, Operation Enduring Freedom and future U.S. operations.