Ten-year old Weston Langvardt had the grand champion market steer at the Geary County Free Fair.
Langvardt’s steer was named the grand champion at the conclusion of the 4-H Bucket Calf and Beef Show. “We just fed him and put him on grass and in the pens. And we gave him hay and everything. We watered him a lot, and we walked him and bathed him.” Rebecca Thomas had the reserve grand champion market steer.
Junction City police are receiving support from the community during this time of multiple shootings across the nation.
Just Tuesday a captain with the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department, Robert Melton, was shot to death in an incident in that city.
In Junction City the Interim Police Chief, Dan Breci, said Tuesday night that over the past week “a ton of people have come into the police department with cards, food, pizza, donuts, cookies…you name it, especially some really heartfelt cards that somebody handwrote to every person in the entire department.” Breci added the police department knows that they have a “ton of support.” He said they know there are great people in the community that support them.
“I’m sure that many wives and husbands of police officers are afraid. They’re afraid of what’s going in this country. They know that their fellow officers have their support and they know that this community has their support.”
The chief said he’s hoping if anything ever would happen that people would first wait until the facts are out before making a judgement.
Breci
The Geary County Free Fair is underway, with the much anticipated annual Bucket Calf and Beef show tonight.
Chuck Otte, Geary County Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Agent, said this the numbers for the show this year are looking good.
“We were down pretty low, a couple – three years ago, but numbers are slowly starting to come back,” began Otte. “We weighed and tagged 16 head of steers back in February compared to 11 or 12 last year, and the breeding animals are up a little bit so we’ve got quite a few of next generation beef families coming back around, so that’s really nice to see those beef numbers starting to increase again.”
The Bucket Calf and Beef show is at 7:00 pm at the Fairgrounds.
On Thursday, July 21st will be the annual barbecue.
“It’s not a pork barbecue, it’s just a 4-H barbecue Thursday afternoon/evening ahead of the Livestock Project Auction…it’s open to everybody and it’s always a lot of fun to come on out,” said Otte.
The Geary County Free Fair continues today and it is very warm out at the Fairgrounds.
Chuck Otte, Geary County Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Agent said he doesn’t think it will be as hot as the 2012 fair.
“It’s going to be warm, it’s going to be uncomfortable…but [they’re] talking one day probably over 100 (degrees)…Thursday is going to be a stinker,” said Otte.
With the excessive heat many worry about the welfare of the animals at the fairgrounds.
“A lot of the animals are probably in better shape here than they are at home, we’ve got them under shade here, we’ve got fans blowing on them, we’ve got people going through the barns every half hour making sure everybody’s got water, so they get more attention here than they do when they’re at home to be right honest,” said Otte.
Otte says that he worries more about the kids in the heat while at the fair.
“I worry more about the people that are out here especially the kids, they get wound up in the excitement and don’t think to drink enough water so we try to keep an eye on them too,” said Otte.
The Geary County Free Fair continnues today and runs through Thursday, July 21st.
Congresssman Tim Huelskamp visited Fort Riley Monday morning where he escorted Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, of Missouri’s 4th District, on a tour of the installation.
Hartzler is the chair of the House Armed Services Committee Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations.
Hartzler says her initial impressions of Fort Riley were very positive.
“I was very impressed with seeing this wonderful, historic installation…I was very impressed with seeing all of the training capabilities here and the unique capabilities we have here…it’s just very impressive and an important assest to our nation,” said Hartzler.
Hartzler went on to say the “great family life here” was so important to the effectivess of Fort Riley.
“It’s so important that we take care of that war-fighter and his/her family,” noted Hartzler who commented that she was “blessed to be able to be here [at Fort Riley].”
Hartzler said that all of the Sub-Committee chairmen are visiting various installations in their districts.
“We’re going to go back with the Armed Services Committee and put together a report or a snapshot of the state of our readiness right now; we’ve been at war for many years as a nation, we’ve been seeing decreased funding for our national defense over the last six years and at the same time our threats have been escalating and it’s concerning to us,” said Hartzler.
Hartzler said they want to ensure that troops are ready to deploy and have the resources they need as the chairmen go forward with budget and funding decisions.
Congressman Huelskamp said he’s looking forward to new leadership in the White House.
“I’m mostly worried about the role of Fort Riley…we did very well in the round of changes that the Obama administration proposed but we’re looking forward to new leadership in the White House – and for the Army to move in the correct direction with new leadership and making sure [of] Fort Riley’s critical mission of training,” said Huelskamp.
Huelskamp went on to say, “One thing that’s so great [about] having my colleague (Hartzler) here is that we don’t have a member of the House or Senate Armed Services Committee and we haven’t had somebody for 10 years, so having her come out here is a great opportunity for us to show off and promote Fort Riley and it’s impact here on the community.”
There were plenty of thrills at the Junction City Rodeo Saturday night.
The bleacher seating was full to overflowing as the fans watched the cowboys and cowgirls show their rodeo skills.
No one successfully rode a bull the allotted eight seconds in the senior division, but in the mini-bull riding Blake Vercher, 15, captured top honors in that competition both Friday and Saturday. He rode for the full eight seconds both times. On Saturday night’s ride he said, “Mostly he bucked off pretty smooth. I was spurring him which put me in the lead by one point.”
Vercher said the mini-bulls weight about 800 pounds. The excitement of riding the bulls is a draw for Blake. “Mostly for the adrenaline rush, that it feels great, bucking, it feels like flying some times.”
In the barrel racing junior division nine-year old Taylor Gustafson captured top honors with a time of 18.3 seconds. That drew a big round of applause from the large audience. Junction City Rodeo Association Vice President Jason Lankas noted Gustafson defeated the older girls who were riding. “That’s pretty impressive.”
Emmie Noyes, Holyrood, was named the Rodeo Queen.
There were some minor injuries including one case where one person was hit by a horn in the back, but no one had to be transported to a hospital.
The 2016 Geary County Free Fair 4-H King and Queen were crowned Thursday evening at the 4-H center off of Spring Valley Road in Junction City.
Lydia Sohnrey, a Junction City High School student, won the top honor of being named Queen.
Sohnrey’s main goal as queen: “…to try and help get more people in 4-H.”
Sohnrey said that being a part of 4-H for the past five years has taught her invaluable skills.
“It helps give you experience like public speaking – it helps you with that – and brings you out of your shell if you’re a shy girl,” said Sohnrey.
Mason Muto, a student a Junction City High School, was crowned King.
What exactly goes in to being a 4-H King: “…a lot of hardwork and just a lot of dedication,” said Muto.
“I’ve been in 4-H for 8 years and you get to go and
really learn different traits like leadership, communication and teamwork skills,” said Muto.
Members of the Royal Court included Samantha Shefelton, and Chalee Williamson.
Rebekah Thomas, the 2015 Queen from Chapman High School crowned the winners in the finale ceremony.
Other 4-H winners were awarded in the categories for clothing construction, constructed fashion revue, boy’s buymanship, and girl’s buymanship.
Those awarded include: Blake Proietti, Tava Gustafson(2), Lindsey Ascher(3), Gracie Erichsen(2), Emmy Gfeller, Paige Roeser, Cole Goodwin, Zane Khoury, Elijah Schmidt, Calen Boller, Hailey Frazier, Macie Muto, and Rebekah Thomas(2).
FORT RILEY, Kan. – A 1st Infantry Division Soldier was found dead July 8 following an apparent motorcycle accident near Vinita, Oklahoma.
Pvt. Kaleb Ryan Davis, a combat engineer with the 41st Engineer Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Inf. Div., was on
leave at the time of the incident.
“Soldiers of the 1st Engineer Battalion are mourning the loss of Pvt. Davis,” said Lt. Col. Scott Miller, commander of the 1st Eng. Bn. “The
battalion is prepared to support Kaleb’s family and friends during this time
of passing.”
Davis joined the Army in March 2015 and arrived at Fort Riley that July. He
was 20 years old.
His awards include the National Defense Service Medal. He had not deployed.
Discussion is now on the table for renovating Junction City High School or building a new school altogether.
At the Special Board of Education meeting Tuesday night the subject was brought to the table.
Dr. Corbin Witt, Superintendent for USD 475 said, “We discussed using $32 million of the heavily impacted aid from the District and then with the 48% the state would put in we could possibly around $70 million to do something with the high school; but a lot of that changes with bonds and the bond rates and cost construction, so we’re going back and meeting with the architects and seeing what they think they can do with that amount of money and whether that can even go forward on building a high school.”
Witt says that the last time [they] did a facilities discussion, the figure then was around $120 million.
“That was trying to find 100 acres of land….we would have to look at what it costs to build on the same location – I think we’d have to go up; but we’re going to look at all the different possibilities and see how we would do something like that,” said Witt.
No one could readily identify a location that was around 100 acres of land in the area they’d like for a new high school.
“[We’d] have to talk to the group that gives you information on bond issues to find out what kind of mill levy it would take to build a high school or refurbish the high school, and talk to the Board,” said Witt.
Witt said that the Board came back saying that, “we would support any bond issue that looked to build a high school or something like that but we don’t want any increase in the mill levy.”
For now, the possibility of a new high school or a complete renovation on the existing one is just in the discussion stage.
This will be an ongoing talk for at least another year.
The winds were calculated in the 40 to 45 mph range in Geary County with the severe thunderstorm that passed through Wednesday morning.
The National Weather Service has reported that 70 mph winds occurred five miles northwest of Wakefield and on the east side of Manhattan. Authorities also reported tree limb damage and power outages in the town of Riley, and 60 mph winds at Randolph.
The storm swept through the region moving at about 50-55 mph.
No major damage has been reported in Geary County.