A vehicle crashed into the Geary 4-H / Senior Center Friday.

There were no injuries.

The vehicle ran into the side of the wall adjacent the area where the kitchen and dining room are connected in the building. The Director of the Senior Center, Debbie Engel, estimated at the time of the accident, about 10:50 a.m.  approximately seven to eight people were in the building.

Engel stated, ” I was in the office at the time. There was a vehicle parked outside. The lady ( Carol Ibarra of Junction City ) backed around, I’m not sure how it happened, and backed into our building fairly strongly. ” Engel added “quite a bit of the back end of the car was inside the building.” Counter tops and counters were damaged and will need to be replaced.

No noon meals were served at the Senior Center Friday, but meals to home bound residents were delivered in the community.

Engel stated that beginning Monday the meals will be prepared and served at the First Christian Church at 1429 Saint Mary Road in Junction City. Home bound meals will also be delivered from that location.

Engel noted that the activities for seniors on the east side of the Senior Center building can continue, but the arrangement for food preparation and service at the church could run anywhere from two weeks to a month.

 

 

 

The new Children’s Mercy pediatric clinic operation located on the lower level of Geary Community Hospital was the focus of a recent tour.

Geary County Commissioner Keith Ascher noted on a recent tour, officials learned there were 12 exam rooms. “For now they’re just going to have two clinics operating, endocrinology and cardiology. And then based off of just a matter of time seeing kind of what the demand is. They do have room for expansion to have more clinics but right now that’s the only two.”

The grand opening and ribbon cutting for the Children’s Mercy Hospital pediatric clinics at the Geary Community Hospital location is set for next Thursday, March 15th from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Junction City police have reported six cases of damage to property involving damage to vehicle tires.

The first incident was reported at 7:39 a.m. Wednesday and the last one at 9:31 a.m.

The locations where the incidents occurred included 439 West Spruce, 325 West Spruce, 221 West Spruce, 229 West Spruce, 925 West 6th Street and 621 South Jefferson.

The information was contained in the Police Department Tour Log report released early Thursday morning. There have been no arrests reported in connection with those cases.

There were assemblies for Junction City Middle School students on Monday that followed the series of recent student arrests on suspicion of Criminal Threat stemming from alleged threats within the school or to the school.

Junction City Police Chief Dan Breci noted that the principal, Mary Wright, and Police Dare Officer Jay Wigton talked to all three classes of students emphasizing school safety and comments by students. Breci explained, “kids that make comments even though some may think they are jokes, people have been in fear and they have talked to their parents, their parents have called us or the school has called us.”

Breci felt the discussions with the students were a good start. “Hopefully it will be a good impact that this will stop.”

A total of nine students in USD 475 have been arrested on suspicion of Criminal Threat, including seven from Junction City Middle School.

Junction City Police Chief Dan Breci has confirmed that a Junction City High School student was arrested on suspicion of Criminal Threat at the JCHS career campus late on Friday afternoon.

That arrest comes in addition to the recent arrests of six Junction City Middle School students and one Freshman Success Academy student in recent days on suspicion of Criminal Threat in connection with alleged threats within the schools or at a school.

Breci stated Tuesday night that he hoped that was the end of it, in terms of number of arrests. But a check of the JCPD Tour Log report Wednesday morning has revealed that another Junction City Middle School student has been arrested on suspicion of Criminal Threat. That arrest was reported at 9:38 a.m. on Tuesday.

Geary USD 475 officials have reported that they are working on a new notification system for threat assessments. That comes in the wake of the recent arrest of seven students in the district in connection with alleged threats at a school or within a school. Six of the seven arrests occurred at Junction City Middle School.

Matt Droge, Executive Director of Communication for USD 475, is working on the process. “When we release this expanded threat assessment program we’re going to do that simultanously with a notification system.” That system has already been established on usd475.org. in the emergency management threat assessment page on the district’s web site. ”

Droge stated the page will allow parents to obtain the district’s assessed feed notification which provides them with an email whenever something new is posted to the district’s web site. “So they can see the result of these threat assessments. It’s not going to be in great detail because there’s a lot of information we can’t release because it’s information that’s held by the police department. But we’ll do our best to keep the parents informed about everything that we’re doing as far as threat assessment.”

Droge provided details on the effort at the Board of Education meeting this week.

 

 

 

Geary County rural firefighters responded to a major fire about 12 miles east of Junction City Monday evening.

According to Geary County Rural Fire Chief  Garry Berges the grass fire began on the south side of Interstate 70 and burned about 600 acres. There were no injuries.

Berges said Geary County Rural Fire assisted by Riley and Fort Riley fire personnel worked the blaze. A back burn was started to bring the fire under control.

The rural fire chief added the blaze was probably started by discarded smoking materials.

One bass fisherman will emerge from the 2018 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Classic Bracket Tournament presented by Bass Pro Shops at Milford Lake to advance to the prestigious Bassmaster Classic championships.

The top four finishing teams from the College Series National Championship in July will advance to the tournament August 14-16 at Milford Lake. Those eight fishermen will then fish for one berth in the national Bassmaster Classic.

The Youth Director for Kansas Bass Nation, Richard Heflin, explained the tournament at Milford Reservoir could be a big draw. “I would guess for that bracket series event you could draw a couple of thousand spectators pretty easy.”

The Director of the Geary County Convention & Visitor’s Bureau Michelle Stimatze,said local officials have been working on this project for about a year. “We’re really, really excited about what’s coming to our community.” Stimatze noted the benefits for the local community from this event. “It’s an economic impact for our community. people will stay overnight. They’ll buy gasoline, food and other things.”

Stimatze explained officials want to have a trade show at Acorn’s Resort during the tournament and those attending the event can watch a live stream of the tournament at that site. In addition a stage where the weigh-in’s will be conducted will be set up in the State Park.

Stimatze stated, “Very, very excited. I love hosting these type of things.”

In addition on April 8, Milford Lake will be the site of the first ever BASS College State Championship. College anglers will be able to qualify for the College National Championship by winning the state title or by fishing and placing in a 2018 Carhartt BASSMASTER College Series Event. The winner there advances to the National Championship at Tenkiller Lake in Oklahoma. From there the top four teams, or eight anglers, will come to Milford Lake to compete August 14-16.

The National Weather Service has issued a fire weather warning from noon until 8 p.m. Monday for multiple counties including Geary, Dickinson, Riley, Pottawatomie, Ottawa, Clay, Washington, Cloud, Republic, Morris, Wabaunsee, Shawnee, Lyon, Osage, and Coffey counties.

The wind speed will be sustained in the 20-30 mph range with gusts of up to 35-40 mph. Humidity will fall into the 17-24% range. Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly. Outdoor burning is not recommended.