With the pasture burning season rapidly approaching, landowners often have questions or receive conflicting information about prescribed burning.

The Geary County Extension Office, in conjunction with Geary County Emergency Management Services and the Kansas Livestock Association will be co-hosting a roundtable discussion on prescribed burning in Geary County.

The meeting is slated for 7 p.m., Tuesday evening, March 21st at the Geary County 4-H/Sr. Citizens Building, 1025 S. Spring Valley Rd. in Junction City. There will be discussion of the state and county open burning regulations, Flint Hills Smoke Management plan and the many other factors that must be dealt with in prescribed burning.

In addition to the previously mentioned agencies, a representative with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment will be present to discuss smoke management issues. Following presentations by the representatives the floor will be opened to questions and comments to provide clarification and input from
landowners regarding prescribed burning and smoke management.

The program is free and open to the public. Grazing land managers are encouraged to attend.

For more information contact Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Office at 238-4161 or cotte@ksu.edu.

A Beatrice, Nebraska man, Dylan Binnick, has received a 59-month prison term. The sentence was handed down in Geary County District Court.

According to Geary County Attorney Krista Blaisdell, Binnick pleaded no contest and was found guilty of attempted second degree murder. He was given credit for time served in jail.

Binnick was shot and wounded by a sheriff’s deputy in September in an incident on Skiddy Road. Authorities reported he was lifeflighted to a Topeka hospital, and no surgery was required.

After the incident, Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf confirmed deputies responded to the rural Geary County site in response to a report of a possible vehicle accident with suspicious subjects walking in the area of Skiddy Road and Skiddy West. When deputies arrived in the area they made contact with the subjects who were walking on Skiddy Road after an earlier accident near the Geary – Morris County line. Wolf indicated one of them, identified as Binnick, was apprehensive about giving up any identification, but finally did so, then drew a gun out of his waistband on a deputy who was placed in a threatening situation , who drew his weapon and shot Binnick in the right side of the chest.

Binnick was then transported to the hospital where again…no surgery was required.

Geary USD 475 has received $1.2 million in additional Heavy Impact Aid funds from the federal government. District officials report that the funds from the 2014-15 school were received this past week. That payment had not been anticipated.

William Clark, Director of Business Operations, said, “Additional payments aren’t uncommon for Heavy Impact Aid. Allotments can increase depending on how much money is appropriated. If the entirety of funds is not given out, additional payments can be distributed.

During the 2014-15 school year, USD 475 originally anticipated an allotment of 75% of the total funds for which they qualified. This allotment changed to a total of 85% earlier this week when the district received the additional funds. This $1.2 million is not part of the Heavy Impact Aid payment that the district expects as part of its checks and balances for a new high school. That payment is expected later this month.

“We’ve said several times, to move forward with a new high school we need three things to happen. First, gain approval for state funds, which will be on the State Board of Education consent agenda on March 14th. Next, we need to receive the Heavy Impact Aid  payment. Lastly, the community will need to pass the bond election on May 9th,” stated Superintendent of Schools Dr. Corbin Witt.

Witt will travel to Washington D.C. this weekend to meet with local representatives and officials with the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools.

The Geary Community Hospital sponsored “Chase for a Cause” is Saturday, April 22 at 9 a.m.

You can actually pick up a packet on Friday, April 21 at the hospital  and race day on the 22 there will also be late registration and packet pick up at GCH.

The 5K walk / run will begin in front of the GCH Surgery Center at 9 a.m. with the kids fun run starting at that same location at 10:15 a.m.

There will be an awards ceremony, door prizes, kid’s entertainment and food in the hospital’s front parking lot.

“Chase for a Cause” is a fundraising 5K walk / run designed to help raise money for various Junction City and Geary County organizations. Twenty dollars of your registration fee will go to the organization of your choice from this year’s approved charities.

There will be cash prizes for the top finishers. They will be awarded to the top three male and female finishers and for the first place male and female masters participants. The top three finishers in each age group will also receive medals.

Fake Patty’s Day has grown to be one of the largest – arguably the largest in Midwest/Great Plains – Saint Patrick’s Day event in the country.

Every year before March 17th – hence the name fake – party goers and college students hit the streets of Manhattan for unlimited drinking opportunities. It is one of the few days where public intoxication is almost tolerated.

Alexander Robinson, Riley County Public Information officer said that months of planning goes into the preparations for the drinking holiday.

“This isn’t something that we just wake up on Saturday morning and say ‘oh shoot, it’s Fake Patty’s Day what are we going to do’; there’s  months and months of planning involved in this and it includes bringing in about a dozen outside agencies to help us,” said Robinson. “[Law enforcement] is going to have a pretty heavy presence, and that’s just to make sure that everyone is safe on Fake Patty’s Day.”

Thousands of people will flock to the streets of Manhattan, primarily in and around the Aggieville Business District, and most of them will be intoxicated.

“If someone is just drunk and walking down the street on the sidewalk, that’s not any issue for us – but if they can’t stand and they continually fall down, we’re going to get them hospital and make sure that they get that care that they need,” said Robinson.

Robinson added that most incidents that do occur during the Fake Patty’s celebrations are non-violent and result in few arrests. “If they are inebriated in the street and won’t get out of the street, that’s an arrestable offense because we don’t want them to be injured because they don’t know what’s going on.”

First responders will be on standby throughout the day Saturday.

“Via Christi and our ambulance services at Riley County EMS are [going to be] busy all day long with people who’ve had too much to drink and are entering stages of alcohol poisoning,” said Robinson. Riley County EMS will be station in the City Park “roundhouse” area throughout the day Saturday.

Robinson confirmed that among the dozen outside agencies called to assist this weekend are the Geary County Sheriff’s Department and the Junction City Police Department.