The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch until 11 p.m. Friday evening for multiple counties including Geary, Dickinson, Clay, Morris, Riley and Pottawatomie.
Other counties in the watch area include Wabaunsee, Cloud, Ottawa, Republic, Washington, Brown, Jackson, Marshall and Nemaha.
The Junction City Blue Jay – Manhattan Indian football game Friday night will begin one hour earlier than originally scheduled.
JCHS Athletic Director Matt Westerhaus said the starting time for the contest has been moved up to 6 p.m. The game had initially been scheduled at 7 p.m.
The decision to play earlier is due to weather concerns later on in the evening on Friday.
One of the candidates for a seat on the Geary USD 475 Board of Education will have to leave the race. Geary County Clerk Rebecca Bossemeyer confirmed Sammy Harris will not have his name on the ballot. “He has a great amount of integrity and he came to my office, and just wanted to verify about the school district he lived in. We did discover that he lives in school district 473. ”
Bossemeyer added under the law a candidate cannot run if they do not live in the school district where they are seeking office. Because Harris resides in USD 473 ( Chapman district ) he will not be on the ballot in USD 475.
This situation was missed when Harris first filed for election in Geary County. Bossemeyer stated, “Yes it was. We do have a process in place to look for that with a double check and it was missed in both places. We’ll be looking at refining that process for future elections.”
In the race for the USD 475 Board of Education the candidates for the four-year terms on the board include David Walker, Bill Brooks, Sarah Talley, Rina Neal and Larry Young. LaDonna Junghans and Stephanie Holloway are vying to fill an unexpired term for the next two years on the board.
Junction City Commissioner Mick McCallister has heard from local residents asking why not Junction City as a future home for a major Tyson chicken plant.
Tonganoxie and Leavenworth County have rejected the proposed location of the facility there.
McCallister has made it clear this week that local economic development personnel are looking at the possibility of trying to attract this plant, but there would be substantial challenges involved with locating it in Geary County.
McCallister stated the plant would process 1.2 million chickens per week, “have a two-million gallon requirement for water at the plant, have a million gallons of worth of wastewater at the plant.” He said that would require the City to provide five miles of sewer and water. “And the only place we have to go is either west or south. It starts becoming problematic as all these things add up. But we’re still looking, we’re still looking to see if this is a fit that we want to do here. Historically it would change the landscape of Junction City and Geary County forever, but we’ve got to make sure it’s going to fit.”
The plant would require 400 acres of land and would have to be located at least five miles from any residential area. The jobs would not be high paying with the range averaging $11.50 to $12.50 per hour.
No final decisions have been made on any attempt to try and recruit this facility for a Junction City and Geary County location. Accommodating the project would appear to be challenging.
The plant would be a $320 million dollar project and create an estimated 1,600 jobs.
Junction City firefighters were called back to Rex’s Smoke Shop at 1824 North Washington Street Tuesday afternoon about 4;30 p.m.
That business was the site of a fire this past Saturday, which Fire Chief Terry Johnson caused estimated damage totaling in the $50,000 to $75,000 range.
Johnson stated when firefighters arrived on Tuesday they found smoke coming from the inside of the building. “We quickly gained access and firefighters were able to quickly douse the fire that was on the floor inside the front of the structure. No additional damage to the building, and we ventilate the building real quick, got the smoke out.”
Johnson said this is still an ongoing investigation and authorities do not know what caused the fires. He did note that an electrical in nature cause is suspected in the initial fire last Saturday but that has not been confirmed. “We do suspect it’s electrical in nature, exactly where and what item we can’t pinpoint because of the damage.
No one was injured during either fire call on Saturday or Tuesday.
The Geary County Commission has approved a request from Westar Energy for construction of six culvert accesses.
They will stretch from East Lyons Creek road to Skiddy, Wolf and Beck Roads, said commissioner Keith Ascher. He noted now they are pretty narrow entrances. “So now with this new substation they’re going to be building a new transmission line, so they needed wider accesses to get into the properties to get their bigger equipment in. We went ahead and authorized that.”
Westar Energy is building a major new electric substation adjacent to Hawkinsmith Road in southeast Geary County.
The sound of marching bands will fill the air across the Kansas State University campus on Saturday for the Central States Marching Festival.
Forty bands high school marching bands from four states will participate. Among them will be the Junction City High School Marching Band.
Participating bands will take part in clinics with members of the Kansas State University Marching Band staff and present a field performance that will be judged by a panel of nationally recognized march band authorities. The bands then receive individual clinics with members of the video critique panel after their field performances and obtain a rating of superior, excellent or good by class with accompanying awards.
Band clinics will begin at 10 a.m. in the indoor football facility, Memorial Stadium and Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Field performances start at noon at Bill Snyder Family Stadium and will run throughout the day and evening. General admission to the festival is $10, or $5 with a student ID.
TOPEKA, KAN. – A Geary County man was sentenced Monday to 16 years in federal prison for taking part in the kidnapping of a Junction City woman who was killed during the abduction, Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.
Drexel A. Woody, 27, who lived on Fort Riley at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping resulting in death. The body of Amanda Clemons, 24, of Junction City, was found in February 2014 in Geary County, Kan.
In Woody’s plea, he admitted that on Feb. 7, 2014, he and some of the co-defendants met the victim, who was a prostitute, at a hotel in Junction City and kidnapped her. The defendants beat the victim in retribution for comments she had made on social media. During the beating, the defendants demanded the victim pay $300. They took the victim to another hotel room in an unsuccessful attempt to get the money, after which they transported her to the Woody residence on Fort Riley.
While at the Woody residence, the defendants allowed the victim to call her young son and her mother. The victim’s mother realized the victim was in danger and called Junction City Police. When police called the victim’s number to check on her, and the defendants listened to the call on speakerphone. Fearing arrest, the defendant along with Anderson and Middleton took victim to a bridge in a remote part of Geary County, where Anderson and Middleton resumed the beating and attacked her with a knife. The victim broke free and jumped off the bridge, falling 15 feet and breaking her ankle. Anderson and Middleton found the victim in the snow and resumed the assault during which they cut her throat and killed her.
Co-defendants include:
Larry L. Anderson of Manhattan, Kan., who was sentenced to 336 months.
Marryssa M. Middleton of Fort Riley, Kan., who was sentenced to 336 months.
Shantrell D. Woody of Fort Riley, Kan., who is set for sentencing Nov. 20.
Christopher Pugh of Junction City, Kan., who is set for sentencingOct. 10.
Beall commended the Junction City Police Department, the Grandview Plaza Police Department, the Geary County Sheriff’s Office, the Riley County Police Department, the Fort Riley Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Mattivi, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Maag and Geary County Attorney Steven Opat for their work on the case.
Jim Cross – Public Information Officer for U.S. Attorney Tom Beall in the District of Kansas
Crime is down in 2017 compared this time in 2016.
Junction City Police Chief Dan Breci reported this past week it has gone down 12 percent. “When there’s only small percent of people that ever commit crimes, and so when you look at it you could have one thousand crimes, and it could be 100 people.”
As of last Thursday the JCPD had responded to 14,906 calls by comparison, for example, to 2009 when there were 32,000 calls for police service. The vast majority of those are not for crimes.
Breci noted it’s always a good thing knowing that crime is going down. “Across the country though, violent crime is going up and I’m hoping that stays out of Junction City. Back in the early 90’s it was a different town. I think we’ve done leaps and bounds. I think the majority of the community trusts the police, regardless of what’s going on around the country, it’s still a personal relationship. Do they know our officers, do they trust our officers, and that trust is every single interaction.”
Breci reported that so far this year in Junction City there have not been any homicides, 12 robberies, nine rape incidents, 59 burglaries, 317 thefts and 19 auto thefts.
A fire reported on Saturday morning resulted in extensive damage to Rex’s Smoke Shop at 1824 North Washington Street. No one was injured.
According to the Junction City Fire Department there was extensive damage to the structure from smoke and fire. The Fire Department did rescue one black lab, who was not injured and has been returned to his family.
The fire was reported at approximately 8 a.m. Information on the cause of the blaze has not been released at this point.
The fire resulted in damage to the front part of the business. The owner, Richard Rexrode, confirmed there was no insurance.
The FIre Department reported that as a result of the fire those living around 11th and Washington street area may have noticed discoloration in their water and should run their tap five to ten minutes. That should result in clear water, but if it does not contact Junction City Public Works.
