By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

There are a lot of assets available when it comes to marketing Junction City.

Chamber of Commerce President Mickey Fornaro-Dean and the Economic Development Commission Advisory Committee discussed that topic on Thursday. Fornaro-Dean said, “There is an absolute embarrassment of assets and opportunities. We just need to get it out there.”

City Manager Allen Dinkel said to grow the community there should always be a look at when new Soldiers come in. “What advantages do we have to bring them to live here vs. neighboring communities.” DInkel added that’s not just including Manhattan, but other communities and how they can be attracted to be in Junction City.

Dinkel said the EDC discussed housing costs in Junction City vs. Manhattan. “That a house here brand new is valued at a little less money, so how can we leverage to get people here.”

Board member Steve Struebing noted there are many assets that haven’t been exploited to the extent that they should have been. “We’ve got this constant stream of retiring or transitioning Soldiers, great labor pool, right on I-70, housing is very affordable here particularly compared to our neighbor to the northeast, we’ve got a good quality of life, Milford Lake, just a number of assets. And I don’t think over the years we’ve fully marketed that.”

One future asset that was considered huge in future marketing of Junction City was the new high school that is being built. It is considered a great marketing tool. The goal is to have the new high school open and in use by August of 2021.

There will be a cardboard boat race competition on Saturday at the Custer Hill Aquatic Center on Fort Riley. The boats can be built using only duct tape.

This is an idea developed by Melissa Phelps of Fort Riley Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation. “So it’s going to be just cardboard and duct tape. You can’t have any styrofoam or nails or staples or anything like that. It has to be just cardboard and duct tape.”

This event will be held in a 100 foot long pool with judging by time and distance. There will be registration at 9 a.m.and the competition begins at 10 a.m. with prizes in different categories. The admission is $5, which is the cost of admission to the pool, so once the cardboard races are complete participants may remain at the pool afterwards.

Phelps said this is the first time they have tried something like this. “We wanted to give Fort Riley a new opportunity to try something different, and of course we want all of our local guests to come in as well. It’s going to be a really good time.”

This event is similar to the Float Your Boat cardboard boat races held in recent years at Milford Lake.

By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

The total number of meals served to children in the community through the Summer Picnic Parties in Geary County has been calculated at 8,584. The numbers were released at the monthly Live Well Coalition meeting on Wednesday.

Coordinator Shannon Rosauer said Live Well served freshly made lunches all summer at Grandview Community Center and at the 5th Street Playground Park. They also served lunches for a week-long Junction City High School marching band camp. “We started off the summer serving lunches at the library but then the school district took over and provided the food for the rest of the summer at the library, and we provided the volunteer labor. ” That occurred at the Dorothy Bramlage Public Library, the 12th Street Community Center and Franklin Elementary School.

For the summer more than 70 people combined efforts and gave at least 1,332 hours. Donors provided everything from gift cards totaling $1,000 to bread from Jason Budinas and 177 half-gallon bottles of milk. Numerous churches provided volunteers including the First Presbyterian, First United Methodist, St. Francis Xavier, Episcopal Church of the Covenant, Zion UCC, Second Missionary Baptist and First Baptist Church.

Additional community support was provided by FroYo Junction, Dorothy Bramlage Public Library, the City of Junction City, City of Grandview Plaza, USD 475, Cloud County Community College, JC CrossFit, Junction City High School, I.C.A.R.E., Food Pantry of Geary County and Breaking Bread of JC.

The PlayJC.org Committee is now accepting volunteer information and building connections between volunteers, local youth sports groups and other organizations.

After meeting with leagues and the Junction City Recreation Department, PlayJC.org has identified volunteer recruitment as a critical need for local youth sports and activities. PlayJC Program Coordinator Amber Schilling said they have been figuring out what they can do to help the different organizations and their needs. “Something that we’ve heard over and over from all of these different groups including the Junction City Recreation Department is that they need people, they need volunteers.”

Schilling said they need people to help them with coaching, teaching classes, being teen moms and dads and things like that. so we are hoping to gather that information from people.’ Schilling added, “There are tons of people in this community who want to volunteer but they don’t always know where to go. So we want to be the bridge between the people that want to volunteer and the people who need them.”

There is a survey online that you can fill out, and the information is then sent to the people who need it. The website is at PlayJC.org/sports/getinvolved.

PlayJC.org went live in early July with information about local leagues, facilities and continues to grow with new content. The committee is continuing to work to foster connections within the youth programming community, aid in new league development and explore new sites for development.

Geary County has launched a new website for residents and visitors to have a more user-friendly experience while accessing their information online. The site is intended to offer easier navigation, brighter graphics, ad more accessible layout, detailed calendars and a new feature called Notify Me.

“Citizens interested in finding out more about the events and services offered by Geary County can now access the new and improved layout by using the same www.gearycounty.org website,” said Charles Stimatze, County Commission Chairman.

Users can search by government department, elected office, service and more. For directions on how to locate miscellaneous topics check out out the “How Do I” tab which lists options from applying for a marriage to finding election information.

The Notify Me feature will allow users to sign up to receive website updates via email and / or text message, with a wide variety of options to choose from. They can range from new job postings to road closings.

“Other notable features include frequently asked questions which are broken up into various subjects depending on department or elected office, and agenda & minutes, which include all available documents regarding public county meetings,” said Jon Thummel co-project lead.

USD 475 leaders made the decision to bring the freshmen back from the HD Karns building this year to attend class in the Junction City High School Career Academy building.

A check with JCHS Principal Melissa Sharp on the first day of school revealed there are about 430 students in the freshman class. “So having all new freshmen and sophomores with their first transition to high school has been a little chaotic but good. The students are excited, teachers are excited, lots of lost people but that’s okay we’re getting them to their spots and finishing our day strong.”

Faculty and staff had recommended the return of the students to the Career Academy campus. Sharp said the JCHS enrollment is down a little bit right now. “Our enrollment is a little below 1,400 right now. Knowing that our enrollment had declined a little bit it seemed like an opportune time to bring the freshmen back so that we could work out some kinks before we move into the new building.” The new Junction City High School facility is scheduled to open in Aug. 2021.

Sharp noted that there is plenty of space to get more students in the current building and room to host classes for them. There are benefits to having the freshman in the same facility as the sophomores, juniors and seniors. “I think having access and equity to programs. Freshman don’t have to depend that they can only take these electives offered this hour because of transportation. Any and all programs that are offered throughout the school day, all of our students have access to those programs. So that way you can try different things, try different electives, work on your plan of study. ”

Sharp also said one transition is negated by this move. “This will be the only year we are transitioning both sophomores and freshmen ( into the building ). So next year for this freshman class when they become sophomores there will be no transition. They’ll be used to what goes on at this high school.”

The JCHS principal pointed out there is another advantage involving busing. “Students always had to bus for activities after school, bus to another route, we had to go pick up freshmen for activities. Just having us all housed in one place is a great asset.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Archery Deer Hunting Program will continue for the 2019 hunting season with a drawing for 40 permits on Saturday, August 24 at the Milford Project Office.

Registration for the drawing will begin at 8:30 a.m. and the drawing will begin at 9:30 a.m. The Corps said each person wanting to draw for a permit must be present, show a valid hunting license and photo identification ( driver’s license, military ID ).

There will be 10 permits each for School Creek and Curtis Creek, five for West Rolling Hills and two permits each for East Rolling Hills, Farnum Creek and Timber Creek South. There will also be one mentor / youth permit for the Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks and Tourism Fish Hatchery area.

Also available will be four 14 day hunts in the North Timber Creek Park and four 14 day hunts in the former K-State lease area. Those are open draw archery hunts with a mentor / youth option.

Archery season dates for this hunting opportunity will be October 1 – December 3, and December 16 – December 31. Archery hunting in these areas will not be allowed during the regular firearms season or any extended season. Regular firearm season is December 4 – December 15.

For more information call the Corps of Engineers office at 238-5714 and dial “0” for assistance.

Classes for the 2019-2020 school year begin at Junction City High School on Monday. There is a change this year, with freshman moving from the HD Karns building to attend school in the same Career Academy building as the sophomores, juniors and seniors.

As a result of the change there will be more people in the building, but the faculty and staff recommendation favored the move.  JCHS Athletic Director Matt Westerhaus said it will help the staff get together and students have an earlier understanding of expectations across the board. “I know from the athletic side of things our coaches are excited about being in one place, seeing those kids consistently over a period of time.”

Westerhaus also noted other advantages. ” For those freshmen and our current sophomores who haven’t been in this building they get an opportunity to be in this environment for a longer period of time, be around some of our upperclassmen which should be a good experience and they should be leaders for those younger students, and ultimately help us down the road.”

Space will be a challenge in some cases and some teachers could have to share classrooms.

The district plans to include all four classes in the new Junction City High School building once it opens.

By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

Bill Whitworth, Corps of Engineers Operations Project Manager, said one of the significant factors right now is the amount of water coming down from the north. “Gavin’s Point Dam is releasing a lot of water and has been all summer, and that’s been impacting water coming down the Missouri and how much the Kansas lakes can release.” Whitworth added he expects until the inflows from the north slow down some Milford Lake will probably be holding water until the early fall.

The high water level has impacted recreation. Whitworth noted as a result of underwater hazards boating did drop off a bit. “But, boats have been out in the water consistently, even during the highest period and the fishing has been pretty good actually throughout the summer.”

Whitworth noted a lot of campgrounds were flooded. “The Corps managed campgrounds, we lost 92% of our campsites so things have suffered quite a bit on the recreation side.”

Since the water level has gone down 10 feet a few of the facilities that were on the edge are starting to appear. “The ones that have popped out of the water have required a lot of power washing just to get the grime that’s been cooked on there. But unfortunately we still have another 18 feet to go.” Whitworth said the Corps doesn’t know yet about the damage to a lot of the roads that are flooded, preventing access to campsites that aren’t flooded. As the water level has dropped the Corps has tried to do cleanup work where possible.

Whitworth said he expects some campsites and boat docks will have to be rebuilt. “Gravel is going to get moved around, a lot of the fence posts that are wood have popped out of the ground, we had a steel door from a vault toilet that you think would be secure just popped off of one. As the ground dries out depending on where the layers of clay are we could have some major settling and things may have to be completely replaced. We just don’t know at this point. Things may be better than we think, we just don’t know.”

Where trees near the lake water are concerned, the project manager said some are more water adapted than others, including the bald cypress which can handle a substantial amount of inundation. He noted with others it depends on the species. “Even the ones that are water tolerant probably don’t fare too well when they’ve been under water three, four, five months.” Whitworth said the Corps expects to replace a number of trees with most of the priority for the recreation areas where shade is needed.

Grass seeding, weed control and pick up of debris along the shoreline will be other priorities. Whitworth noted that he expected some volunteer help to help do that work. “But yeah, it’s going to take a bit to recover from this flood event, and we’ll try to get things squared away and operational as soon as we can.”

The outflow from Milford Lake is currently 3,000 cubic feet per second.