CHAPMAN, Kan. (AP) — A former middle school teacher in central Kansas has been convicted of misdemeanor battery in an incident involving a 12-year-old child.

The Salina Journal reports former Chapman Middle School seventh-grade math teacher Dick Everley was found guilty March 9 in Dickinson County District Court.

The criminal complaint states that Everley was charged in January with having physical contact with the child in an insulting or angry manner in December.

Roger Unruh, Everley’s attorney, said Wednesday that his client is no longer employed at the middle school. He was removed from his teaching duties after charges were filed.

Everley faces probation to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Sentencing is scheduled for April 6.

ABILENE, Kan. – The public is invited to a free screening of the documentary “NOT the Last Butterfly” at the Eisenhower Presidential Library on April 2 at 4 p.m. in the Visitors Center Auditorium.

This documentary tells the story of The Butterfly Project, a grassroots arts and education initiative memorializing the 1.5 million children killed in the Holocaust through global displays of ceramic butterflies…one butterfly painted for each child. The Butterfly Project’s messages of hope and healing are woven together with survivors’ courageous stories of these dark times.

“Take a chance; with a leap of faith and hard work I think you’ll get there.”

Krista Blaisdell, a feisty young woman of just 33 years of age, is not only breaking barriers as a woman – she’s young, energized and motivated.

County Attorney has been traditionally been a position held by a man.

“I really don’t look at the male – female issue, to me it’s a matter of qualifications and I think that the honor is that the community has found me qualified to serve in this position,” said Blaisdell. “Being a female in this position, I have the ability to show young females in the community that if you work hard, and put your mind to it – you can achieve positions that have traditionally been occupied by male persons.”

The 8th Judicial District of Kansas is currently occupied by four female County Attorneys: Andrea Purvis in Dickinson County, Courtney Boehm in Marion County, Laura Allen in Morris County and Krista Blaisdell for Geary County.

“I think that it goes to show the strength of just being determined and professional and working hard,” said Blaisdell.

A native of Cuba, Kansas, Blaisdell is a self-proclaimed small town girl with big dreams.

“I remember sitting at my high school commencement speech and our speaker handed us all these little postcards and said ‘write your goals down, write your five year goals, write your ten year goals, write your lifetime goals’; and I still have that card with me to this day,” said Blaisdell.

Ambitious and goal-oriented, Blaisdell knows the influence she will have on future community leaders.

Her advice to young people: “Take advantage of the opportunities that you have in your community, that you have statewide, and if [the opportunities] aren’t there – create them, take a chance…you never know if you’re going to succeed if you don’t try.”

Young in age by many comparisons, the road to success was not easy for Blaisdell who struggled to find a legal job coming out of law school before landing in Junction City and eventually becoming the City Prosecutor, and currently the County Attorney.

“With age comes experience…but there hasn’t been any hurdles I’ve had to overcome with proving anything because I’m a female or because of my age,” said Blaisdell. “The legal profession builds off of the experiences of people that have gone before you and I think that we have such a great profession in the legal community that you have those resources to go to; we have female Justices on the Supreme Court, we have female Justices on the Court of Appeals for Kansas – there are many professional female attorneys that have gone before me that I think have paved the way and have set this up so where it’s really not a rarity for me to be in this position.”

With previous dreams of working in Chicago, or Washington D.C., Blaisdell has made herself at home – in Geary County. She resides with her husband and young daughter.

“If something happened, I know that many of us would really feel bad about it.”

In the wake of acts of vandalism to religious cemeteries and other memorials across the country, Junction City Police Chief Dan Breci said that it’s important to protect the memorials in Heritage Park.

“Video footage would record to a hard-drive at the Police Department, and we would have real-time monitoring of what is going on in the park at that time,” said Breci.

The request before City Commissioners was to purchase two cameras and a hard drive recording device to monitor the Law Enforcement Memorial, as well as the Vietnam Memorial.

“Currently, there is nothing monitoring over $100,000 worth of memorials,” said Breci. “That $100,000 is just on the Law Enforcement Memorial alone; we had a lot of people that donated to that about seven years ago.”

Commissioners approved the purchase of two cameras and a recording device in the amount of $14,279.35 from asset forfeiture funds.

A community playground is the vision for enhancements to Fifth Street Park.

There is a committee leading an effort, Quality Play for All, to revamp the playground and turn the entire park into a community family fun zone. Joy Davis is amongst those working on the project.

“The park will be such a wonderful addition to our community, and people who are driving down Eisenhower may be driving more slowly so they can stop and gawk at this beautiful green park in the middle of Junction City,” said Davis.

The concept for the park includes multiple playground “stations” for the varying stages of childhood and development. There will also be handicap friendly playground equipment.

“We want to build a playground in Junction City that all of the children in the community and the surrounding areas will be excited about,” said Davis noting that the park could potentially draw families from neighboring smaller communities.

The playground area concepts include turf, or a turf-like surface, that will keep the park aesthetically pleasing year-round. There is also a plan to have a walking track area with exercise stations geared for senior citizens – a way to bring the entire family to the park.

“Today, more than ever our children need to get outside and play and move and run and exercise,” said Davis. “Our vision has gotten a little broader, and we hope to be able to continue to raise money after the Fifth Street Park is completed to help improve other parks in Geary County.

The complete project, as it is proposed will cost about $400,000 according to Davis. This estimate includes the playground equipment, turf and installation.

Davis and the committee working to bring the park to life are working with the Greater Geary Community Foundation, amongst other community organizations to seek grants and donations for the project. This will not be funded through City or County taxes.

Davis updated City Commissioners on the progress of the project during their meeting on March 21st.

The Junction City Police Department has been in existence since the late 1800s; in that time there has been one female Lieutenant in its history – Tricia Giordano.

A military brat and 1986 graduate of Junction City High School, Trish, as many in the community know her, has always had a commitment and desire to work in public service.

“I definitely knew that I wanted to do something in law enforcement [since I was a little girl],” said Giordano.

After a few years of college and applying to the JCPD, Giordano was among eight individuals hired out of a field of nearly 100 – and the only female in the group.

“At first you know [we] all have a chip on our shoulder, I had something to prove and it definitely got easier as the years went by,” said Giordano on being a woman in a male dominate profession. “It definitely got easier as the years went by, it’s a lot more female friendly; but still only 13 percent of the entire nation is women in law enforcement, I think that’s pretty low.”

There are currently five female officers at the Junction City Police Department. For many of those women, there are unique challenges in their career choice.

“One of the biggest challenges is trying to balance work and home; this is very demanding emotionally, and patrol is very physical – you know, wearing all [this] equipment and the possibility of getting into a physical altercation – I think that you have to be both mentally and physically prepared,” said Giordano.

For Giordano, the challenges were two fold as a single mother.

“There were definitely sacrifices – I missed a few things with my daughter growing up and while I regret that, I also hope she knows that I did that for her,” said Giordano. “To be a strong woman you can actually have a career and be a mom, a good mom  at the same time, and I hopefully showed her that when you put your mind to something you can achieve that,” said Giordano.

In August 2016, she became the first female Lieutenant in Department history, and her goals don’t stop there.

“I definitely do want to possibly progress to being the Commander of Investigations – that’s always been a goal of mine,” said Giordano.

As for a run as Chief of Police in the future?

“Our Chief is doing a good job right now, I don’t see him leaving anytime soon; and I’m not sure if that’s something I would want to do, I know people have talked to me about that,” said Giordano.