The October 27th MAC (Military Affairs Council) Breakfast featured three guest speakers in the absence of USD 475 Superintendent Dr. Corbin Witt.

Today’s topic for discussion – a new Junction City High School featuring Interim Superintendent Dr. Beth Hudson, USD 475 Director of Business Operations Bill Clark, and JCHS Principal Melissa Sharp.

Interim Superintendent Dr. Beth Hudson said that the school curriculum has changed significantly since JCHS was built in 1958 that all of the necessary educational tools to prepare students for the world aren’t easily available.

“We’re trying to prepare students to enter a world where you’re going to have to have more than your high school education…what are we doing now to get them ready for that kind of a worldd,” said Hudson.

Melissa Sharp, JCHS Principal echoed similar sentiments.

“Having separate campuses takes away from [teaching relationships], it’s really good for climate because you have a school of 470 and a school of 1250…but you don’t have the collaboration…about two-thirds of the freshman are ready for more rigorous coursework,” said Sharp.

Sharp added that the District spends about $18,000 a year on shuttling students between the Freshman Success Academy and the main high school campus.

Bill Clark addressed the infrastructure issues in the JCHS main campus building that would total $31 million to repair/renovate or replace.

Clark said that building a new high school is something the community needs to strongly consider.

“Our building is really not conducive to the education environment of today, and so to really help ourselves deliver the right curriculum to meet the needs of military students, to help keep Fort Riley viable, it’s something that we as a community need to take a look at,” said Clark.

Roughly 58% of Geary USD 475 students are tied to the military; Clark said that BRAC, Base Realignment and Closings are something that the community needs to keep in mind.

There has been public discussion tat the Department of Defense will face the challenge of BRAC after the upcoming Presidential election – Clark said that building a new high school can offset that potential in the community.

“The leadership of the army has stated that there’s certain criteria that will help to evaluate military bases, and of those that’s been articulated is the value of public education to support military families,” said Clark.

Sharp, JCHS Principal said that outdated facilities is not a unique challenge to Geary county, the state or even the nation – but this community has the opportunity to upgrade or build new facilities at potentially no cost to the taxpayer.

District leaders will continue work with a the JCHS Steering Committee to gain the support of the community.

 

All Treats Day – now a Junction City tradition, began as an idea and was brought to fruition by an ambitious business owner.

Bob Cervera, Owner of F&S Electronics, said that it’s been about ten years since the first All Treats Day festivities were held in Junction City.

“It was Mick Wonder’s idea, I’m just the guy that ran with it…it’s probably been close to 10 years ago; Mick Wunder came to us and said we needed to do a downtown thing for the kids,” said Cervera.

At the time, Cervera was in charge of the Junction City Business Association so he jumped on the opportunity to incorporate a community-driven way for potential consumers to explore downtown Junction City.

“Without all the businesses giving candy away, it wouldn’t happen; I think for the most part all of the businesses have enjoyed it…it draws people to our downtown, they can see what we have to offer and it’s a good community thing to give back,” said Cervera.

The first year turned out to be successful for the event.

“I can remember the very first year after we organized all this and I’m standing at the end of the street and I saw nobody coming and I thought ‘Oh my gosh, this is going to be a bust’, and then I look over the horizon and I see about a thousand kids coming over the hill,” said Cervera. “It’s a great event, I’ve enjoyed doing it…I’m glad it’s continuing to happen.”

At the present time Cervera isn’t involved with the planning and organization of the event but he still looks forward to seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces.

“We’ll definitely be doing the candy, and I’ll probably have some type of a costume out there and we’ll be having fun doing it,” said Cervera.

All Treats Day is Thursday, October 27th in downtown Junction City.

The schedule of events include:

• 5:15 pm – 7:00 pm: Merchants handing out candy to trick-or-treaters
• 5:15 pm – 7:00 pm:  Hot dogs, chips, drinks stand hosted by Exchange Bank at 7th & Washington with proceeds to benefit United Way of JC – Geary Co.
• 5:15 pm – 7:00 pm:  Flint Hills Church providing balloon animals at Washington & 9th Street
• 5:30 pm:  All Treats Day Parade, featuring JCHS Marching Band (all children are invited to march behind the band; to participate meet at 10th & Washington and march to 6th & Washington)
• 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm:  Games and Candy at 12th Street Community Center at 1002 W. 12th Street
• 7:30 pm:  Outdoor Movie Hotel Transylvania 2 at Hammond Family Park (12 Street Community Center) with free popcorn, hosted by JCPD

    

TOPEKA, KAN. – A Geary County man pleaded guilty today to 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, 26, 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 his 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 Woody’s residence on Fort Riley.

 

While at Woody’s 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 speaker phone. Fearing arrest, the defendants transported the victim to a bridge in a remote part of Geary County, where they 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. The defendants found the victim in the snow and resumed the assault during which they cut her throat and killed her.

 

Woody is set for sentencing Jan. 30. He faces a penalty of up to life in federal prison.

 

Co-defendants who are awaiting trial include:

Larry L. Anderson, 27, Manhattan, Kan.

Marryssa M. Middleton, 25, Fort Riley, Kan.

Shantrell D. Woody, 27, Fort Riley, Kan., formerly an active duty service member.

Christopher Pugh, 32, Junction City, Kan.

 

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.

 

 

The Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Candidate Forum tonight ( Monday )  at 6 p.m. at the C. L. Hoover Opera House.

Dennis Beson, Chamber CEO, said that he hopes to see a lot of community involvement.

“We are allowing the people to come out, meet the candidates [again] and ask some tough questions…we will give you a 3×5 card when you’re coming in, write a question down and it may or may not make the podium based off of time…we’d like you to come out, we’ve got a pretty good range of candidates that are going to be there,” said Beson.

Local candidates for County Commission, County Attorney, 17th District Senate, and 68th District House of Representatives will be in attendance.

Other candidates for state and federal offices will also be in attendance.

The schedule includes a get-to-know session with Dave Baker, a candidate for the Kansas House of Representatives and U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Wiesner from 6:05 to 6:45 p.m., and forums featuring 17th District Kansas Senate candidates Jeff Longbine and Susan Fowler from 6:45 to 7:30, candidates for Geary County Attorney Chris Biggs and Krista Blaisdell from 7:30 to 8:15, candidates for the 2nd District seat on the Geary County Commission Larry Hicks and Charles Stimatze from 8:15 to 9 p.m. , and candidates for the 1st District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives Roger Marshall and Alan LaPolice from 9 to 9:45 p.m.

The event will be broadcast live on 1420 AM – The Talk of JC.

Doors to the Opera House will open at 5:30 pm.

Brought to you by:

Wounded Warriors United is a non-profit organization that was started by combat injured Veteran Thomas Tavtigian.

Tavtigian said that in his time in the Warrior Transition Battalion before medically retiring from the military, one of the most therapeutic things he did was simply being outdoors and enjoying nature.

“Five or six years ago I started this organization, I’m a medically retired combat-wounded Veteran from an IED, and I was in the WTB (Warrior Transition Battalion) for a lot of years and the outdoors really kind of helped me out so [we] started this just with the intent of getting [guys] hunting and fishing, camping, and hiking – just getting them outdoors,” said Tavtigian.

In the short time that the non-profit has been existence, Tavtigian said they now have a battle buddy program, a mentor program and this year they established a home improvement program.

Many of the wounded veterans needed a lot of work done, or help with work on their homes so Tavtigian added that program to the Wounded Warrior United Services; through this program he met Peter Webster, a disabled Veteran that Tavtigian says was scammed out of thousands.

“He was taken advantage of out of a lot of money because somebody mislead him to believe that he was a licensed contractor when in reality he was only a licensed plumber,” said Tavtigian.

Webster hired whom he believed was a contractor to help with repairs and renovations to a fixer-upper he purchased in Enterprise, Kansas.

“It’s only been a week that I’ve been involved, and I went out there [to Enterprise] and I don’t know if you’ve ever walked into a situation and you just look at something and then you’re just like what the hell happened…It’s caused more work and more damage to the home than originally contracted,” said Tavtigian.

Tavtigian said that since he has met Webster he’s spoken with other contractors trying to find estimates on the damage and what it will take to repair the now uninhabitable home.

Estimates for the HVAC and plumbing are $10-$15 thousand, not including the other repairs, according to Tavtigian.

“What could have been a $10 or $15 thousand renovation is now turning into a $30,000 project because all the work that the previous guy did has to be all torn out…everything has to be redone,” said Tavtigian.

The Wounded Warriors United Foundation is a small non-profit that Tavtigian said was able to help over 250 veterans last year.

This year, they may have to fore-go some of their planned activities, because Tavtigian said they have agreed to use all of their donations to help the Webster family.

“I’m putting some of the things that we were going to do in the Spring on hold right now; but most of the [guys] I’ve talked to said ‘I can go without a fishing trip’ or ‘I can go without a hunting trip if it means that a Veteran is going to get back in his house’,” said Tavtigian.

The Webster family has a GoFundMe where you can donate directly to them, or if you’d like to donate to the Wounded Warriors United Foundation based out of Manhattan, KS you can do so by visiting their website https://www.woundedwarriorsunited.com/.

The Wounded Warriors United Facebook page can be accessed here.

“This is just a nightmare story for somebody who served our country who has TVI and PTSD, who was taken advantage of, who was mislead by an individual who saw fast, easy money,” said Tavtigian.

Prescription drug abuse is one of the most common forms of addiction.

Captain Chuck Leithoff, JCPD, said that taking drugs not specifically prescribed to you or for longer than the time prescribed is dangerous.

“Prescription abuse is probably one of the main types of activity that [we] see; as people either get old prescriptions, or they get prescriptions from family members and then they take them and of course, if they weren’t prescribed for them, then they shouldn’t take them,” said Leithoff.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has partnered with local police across the nation, including the Junction City Police Department, to help get rid of some of those old prescriptions.

“The Drug Enforcement Agency basically was looking for a way for people to get rid of outdated prescriptions or prescriptions that they no longer take,” said Leithoff.

The old rule of thumb use to be to flush old pills down the toilet, but Leithoff said that is no longer considered the safest way to rid oneself of old prescriptions.

“[They] decided to do this take back program, where people can bring them in anonymously, and turn them in to the police,” said Leithoff.

Officers will take all prescription drugs no questions asked, and then package and send them to the DEA for proper disposal.

The last Drug Take Back program the JCPD hosted was six months ago and Leithoff said they sent almost 200 pounds of old prescriptions to the DEA for disposal.

There are no special rules to the drug take back, but liquids and needles will not be accepted.

“We can take any kind of pill, any kind of patch, and we can even take over the counter [drugs]; but they don’t have to package them, just put them in a sac and bring them in to the lobby,” said Leithoff.

An officer will be in the lobby of the Police Department located at 210 E. 9th Street, awaiting the prescription drop-offs.

The drug take back will be on Saturday, October 22nd from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm.

For more information, contact the Junction City Police Department at 762-5912.

It’s been a week of new developments, and the latest is the announcement from the Department of the Army of 3500 soldiers deploying from Fort Riley.

The 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division will deploy to the Republic of Korea this month to support the United States Forces – Korea’s commitment to the nation’s Republic of Korea partners.

After a study done by the Matrix Design Group revealed that nearly half of the Flint Hills Region economy is from military spending – local community leaders may be worried.

John Seitz, Military Affairs Council (MAC) Director said that he’s confident the families of the deployed soldiers will stay here.

“A lot of the people who would be spending money in town are  not here, but their families are still here…[with] these nine month deployments, school cycles and all force families to make the decision about staying here and since we have good schools that’s a real incentive for somebody in the military,” said Seitz.

For some families, the schools may not be a big enough incentive to stay while their soldier is deployed; Seitz said that we need to make sure we make them feel welcome in the community.

“We have to do exactly what we’ve been doing all along – taking care of  them; make sure that we look out for them…make sure that they don’t need for something that we could provide as citizens,” said Seitz.

With the newest deployment announcement, Fort Riley may seem like a ghost town but Seitz said that even with all the deployments the numbers are still around 11 or 12 thousand on post.

“We know the Division headquarters is going to leave next month or probably the end of this month, and we know the Calvary squadron from the Aviation Brigade is going to leave at the end of the year…I’m guessing, and I don’t know the exact numbers but probably as many as 11 thousand or maybe even 12 thousand still live on post,” said Seitz.

As for an economic impact – Seitz said that you’re more likely to notice less traffic on the road at lunch time than a big blow to the local economy.

For the statement on the deployment from Fort Riley officials and the Department of the Army click here.

Fort Riley officials has reported that the Department of the U.S. Army has announced the fall 2016 deployment of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat team of the 1st Infantry Division from Fort Riley to the Republic of Korea with approximately 3,500 soldiers as part of the regular rotation of forces.

The 1st ABCT will replace the 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team to support the United States Forces-Korea’s commitment to the nation’s Republic of Korea partners.

Brig. Gen. Patrick D. Frank stated, “The ‘Devil’ brigade has proven themselves while conducting rigorous training during Danger Focus at home station and at the National Training Center. The leaders and Soldiers of this great brigade are well-training and fully prepared for this important mission to South Korea.”

The 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs Office confirmed some of the troops in the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team deployed from Fort Riley in early October, and all of them will depart by late this month.