Mudd Bogg draws competitors from across Kansas and other midwestern states. The two-day event opened Friday evening in the one thousand block of Grant Avenue in Junction City.

Drivers take their vehicles burning nitrous alcohol and race through a 200-foot long mud pit at split-second speed. Friday night there were times as fast at 2.4 and 2.5 seconds.

Coordinator Eric Boland thought the times were faster than expected. ” They’re moving!” Cars enter in multiple classes.  This event has become the largest fundraiser for the annual Fourth of July celebration in Junction City, Sundown Salute.

There is bleacher seating for spectators, concessions are available, and admission is $10. Mudd Bogg continues at noon on Saturday and runs through the afternoon and evening.

 

Vintage biplanes have been flying into Freeman Field in Junction City for this weekend’s National Biplane Fly-In.  Organizers are expecting more than 100 planes, possibly more than 150 to be flown in for the event.

Saturday is the big public viewing day at the airport. There will be a Junction City Sertoma Club sponsored Chris Cakes pancake feed from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and the public can tour the tarmac to view all of the planes.

The pilots have flown them in from as far away as California and Florida plus numerous other states.

This is the sixth year for the Fly-In. Admission is $5 per carload, and $6 per person at the all you can eat pancake feed Saturday morning.

Junction City Manager Allen Dinkel has announced that Captain Dan Breci will assume the duties of Interim Police Chief, effective Saturday, June 4. That move follows the retirement of Police Chief Tim Brown, who has been a member of the Department for more than 37 years.

Breci began his professional law enforcement career as a law enforcement officer with the Mitchell, South Dakota Police Department in 1976. After serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Riley for three years, he began employment with the Junction City Police Department in 1989.

Breci then served as Detective in charge of Internal Affairs with the Topeka Police Department for six years, then was named Undersheriff of the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office in Topeka. Breci then became instructor of police at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center in Hutchinson before returning to the Junction City Police Department as Captain of Operations in 2005.

Dinkel said the process to fill the position on a permanent basis will continue.

The Kansas Law Enforcement Torch Run, the largest grass-roots fundraiser and public awareness vehicle for Kansas Special Olympics made its way through Junction City this afternoon.

The local Junction City Pacesetters, a Special Olympics team lead by head coach John Haggerty, ran with the local law enforcement officials from Junction City and Fort Riley.

Coach Haggerty said that of his 23 athletes, fifteen of them will be competing in the Kansas Special Olympics Games in Wichita this summer.

The Law Enforcement Torch Run began in Wichita, KS in 1981 when a local officer saw a need to raise funds for and help bring awareness to the

Special Olympics.

A Fort Riley soldier was arrested and booked into the Geary County Detention Center on suspicion of Involuntary Manslaughter While Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs.

According to the Geary County Sheriff’s Department Detention Center records the arrest of Kevin Runions, 27, occurred last Friday.

Sheriff Tony Wolf explained the allegation stemmed from an accident at the 303 exit off of Interstate 70 east of Junction City. “That’s the K-18 bypass exit. Apparently Mr. Runions was driving his vehicle and struck another vehicle up there, and ended up killing the two people in the other vehicle. ”

Wolf noted the Sheriff’s Department assisted the Kansas Highway Patrol who worked the accident. “And this is the result of the accident report the Kansas Highway Patrol filed.”

The fatality victims were Ronald L. Montgomery, 81, and Marlene Montgomery, 78, both of Manhattan.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol the vehicle driven by Runions ran a stop sign on K-18 and collided with a Toyota driven by Ronald L. Montgomery.

Runions, a healthcare specialist at Fort Riley, was treated and released at Irwin Army Community Hospital after the accident.  The accident occurred on April 7.

The Corps of Engineers headquartered of out Kansas City, gave the local officials at Milford Lake the go-ahead to increase the outflow at Milford Lake.

“We crested 10 feet yesterday and came up a little bit more overnight, so we actually ended up about 10.4 feet high,” said RJ Harms, Project Manager of the Corps of Engineers at Milford Lake, referring to lake water levels.

The outflow at Milford Lake was operating at 25 cubic feet per second, which Harms is the minimum at Milford Lake – by 4:00 this afternoon that outflow will be increased to 8000 cubic feet per second.

Even at 8000 cubic feet per second the lake “will probably drop maybe a foot a day, so it’s going to take a couple weeks for [the lake] to get rid of the water and get back down to close to a normal range.  There is still a lot of water downstream, and it takes our water several days to get down past Kansas City so that’s why we can start our [outflow increase] a little earlier,” said Harms.

According to Harms, there is a gauge, located near Waverly, Missouri, that determines whether an increased outflow is safe depending on how much cubic feet per second is passing that point.

“If it’s too high and up in the flood stage, then we can’t let any water out here [at Milford]; so that’s kind of the choke point for all of the lakes in Kansas,” said Harms.

Looking at the forecast for the next week, Harms says the water levels at the gauge point look like they will drop under the level that allows for Milford Lake officials to start the release [of the lake outflow].

The increased lake levels affected many lake-goers over the Memorial Day weekend.

“Unfortunately, without being able to make any water releases and with the rain [that we did get] the lake came up about four feet from Friday until Monday,” said Harms.

Not only were roadways under water, but according to Harms, boat docks became increasingly difficult to maneuver. A main concern with boat ramps is that they get too flat and boat owners are having to drop their vehicles back in to the water in order to get the angle that they need to get their boat into the water.  “With our release now going to 8000 [cubic feet per second], we [Corp of Engineers] think we will be gaining about a foot a day, so some of those ramps will come back in to shape pretty quick.”

This increased lake level sent “a few folks home” earlier than anticipated due to roadways going underwater.

 

JC Post has confirmed that State Representative Tom Moxley will not seek re-election.

Moxley represents the 68th House District that includes a portion of Junction City.

Moxley is completing his fifth term and is in his 10th year in the Kansas House. “It’s a self-imposed term limit. I just think other people need a chance to express their interest in public service. I feel like that I’ve done my public service. The last few years have not been nearly as successful as I might have hoped, but that’s some of the times that we’re in.”

The candidate list for that seat does include four candidates. They are Republicans Nicholas Allbritton,Junction City; Dave Baker, Council Grove; and Vance Donahue, Herington. One candidate has filed on the Democratic ticket, Laura Blevins, White City.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Great Plains Energy plans to buy Westar Energy, the largest utility company in Kansas. Great Plains in the parent company of KCP&L.

The two companies announced Tuesday that the transaction has an estimated value of $12.2 billion. Westar Energy will be sold for $51 per share in cash and $9 per share in stock. The purchase price includes Great Plains assuming $3.6 billion in debt.

The transaction is expected to be completed by next spring.

The companies said in a news release that when the transaction is complete, Great Plains will have more than 1.5 million customers in Kansas and Missouri. It also will have the capacity to generate nearly 13,000 megawatts of electricity.

The Geary County Commission has reviewed the proposed 2016 – 17 budget for a sports complex project in Junction City.

It includes the hiring of a project manager on a contract basis to oversee development of the facility.

Florence Whitebread, County Commission Chair, sees the economic benefits of having a sports complex. “Normally when these sports events happen these families come in, and normally it’s a lot of younger people and they bring their whole family, and they reside in motels. They buy restaurant meals, they get gas. There’s a lot of money spent on these kind of things.”

The proposed budget for this year totals $64,000 and for 2017 $98,000. The project manager contract services has been calculated at $26,000 for this year and $52,000 in 2017.

 

 

 

The Fort Riley Post Cemetery was the site of the Memorial Day observance on the military installation.

Major General Wayne Grigsby Jr. served as the keynote speaker.