The U.S. Army Field Band from Washington D.C. accompanied by the Soldiers Chorus are scheduled to perform at the C. L. Hoover Opera House in Junction City at 7:30 p.m. on March 19, 2016.

Joe Markley, Opera House Director, said the band will be on a tour across the country. “As I visited with the Master Sergeant she said that they will be starting out in California, and driving all the way back to D.C., and Junction City should be one of their stops.”

Markley released the information, noting there will be tickets for the performance. “Because it is a government band it is a free concert, but people will have to reserve tickets.” They will be general admission tickets. “We are anticipating once we get them online they are going to go fast.”

Markley is hoping to have the tickets available within the coming week.

Organizers are estimating 4,000 to 5,000 people attended Jammin In JC Saturday night in Junction City’s Heritage Park.

The headline performer, Mr. Sipp, made his second consecutive appearance at the annual blues festival. He said this year the energy level was a lot different. “It was still positive I think last year. They really didn’t know who I was so as the show went on they gradually got more and more into it versus this year they remembered me from last year so they were more ready for me.  The energy was high out the top so we were just excited about that.”

Mr. Sipp is from the state of Mississippi where he owns a recording studio and just purchased a club.  He said he has been in the music business for 26 years, and performed gospel for 22 of those years. He has a catalogue of about 450 songs that’s been published.

Mr. Sipp confirmed he would return to perform at the blues festival next year and in the future.

The Junction City resident who originated the idea of Jammin In JC a few years ago, Bob Cevera, performed on stage with Mr. Sipp.  For Cevera that was his favorite part of the festival. “Guitar. He gave me a lead , he gave me a solo, and I got to play that. Made my night.”

Connie Hall, Geary County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Director, said Saturday night was fantastic. ” I really think we had a record crowd today.” Three Junction City High School classes held their class reunion in Heritage Park, 1970, 75, and 80.  The weather also cooperated Saturday with mild temperatures and no rain.

 

Periods of light rain didn’t stop a good-sized crowd from gathering in Heritage Park Friday night for night one of the Jammin In JC Blues and Barbecue Festival.

Bob Cevera, the festivals Coordinator felt that the rain may have kept some people away but they still had a good turn out and is expecting another good turnout for Saturday.

“My wife actually had a couple of calls at the store today (Friday), somebody called from Branson, of course I think they’re coming tomorrow, but they just wanted to make sure the festival is going on, we had a call from Eureka, Kansas,” said Cevera. “Yeah I think people were just a little nervous that it might not be happening, but I think tomorrow the weather is supposed to be good  and I think we’re going to get a big crowd out tomorrow.”

Lauren Anderson, Friday nights second act said she was still impressed with the crowd despite a small turnout at first.

“I think that you could tell the true blues fans because there were some people out there that were just like ‘I don’t care if it rains I’m going to hang out,’ and then it slowed down and people started coming in and it turned out to be a pretty good crowd,” said Anderson.

Friday’s lineup is as followed:

–Pina Brothers……….1p to 2:10p

–Blue 88………………..2:35p to 3:55p

–BBQ Contest Announcements…..3:55p to 4:25p

–Noah Wotherspoon..4:25p to 5:50p

–Nick Schnebelen……6:15p to 7:45p

–Mr. Sipp……………….8:05p to 9:35p

With better weather in the forecast larger crowds are expected. The concerts are free of charge and anyone is welcome.

The 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division will case its colors Monday ( Sept. 28 ) ahead of a nine-month deployment to the Central Command area of responsibility. The casing ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. Monday at Fort Riley’s Custer Hill Parade Field.

The 2nd Brigade is set to deploy to Kuwait with about 4,000 soldiers to support multinational partners with operational missions, bilateral and multilateral military exercises and theater security cooperation activities in the CENTCOM area of responsibility.

“I’m proud of the Soldiers and leaders in the ‘Dagger’ brigade and their ability to accomplish pre-deployment tasks and training while maintaining our regular responsibilities to this great division,” Col. Miles Brown, the brigade commander, said. “We are the right unit to accomplish this mission. The Daggers are ready now.”

The Dagger brigade, led byBrown and Command Sgt. Maj. Larry Orvis, will uncase the colors in theater once they officially take over the mission from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.

A marathon day of teacher contract talks with a federal mediator in Geary USD 475 ended after 9 p.m. Wednesday with the two sides….Junction City Education Association and Board of Education representatives, confirming they had reached a tentative agreement on 2015-2016 contracts.

But they won’t tell anyone publicly what they agreed on at this time.

Kansas Association of School Boards attorney and the lead negotiator for the USD 475 Board of Education,  David Shriver, said, ” JCEA will submit the Board’s proposal that was made today ( Wednesday ) to their membership for a vote.” When asked what that proposal was Shriver answered, “Until it’s voted on we’re not at liberty to release all that information.” When asked if that proposal included an average  six-and-a-half percent pay raise for teachers that had been offered some time ago by the Board during negotiations there was no clear answer. JCEA President Cathy Rankin added, “JCEA wants to be the first to be able talk to its members about what the proposal includes.”

When asked why negotiations took so long on Wednesday, stretching from morning through late evening, Rankin replied, “Because it did.” When asked if he had any thoughts on that Shriver replied, “No. Lot of items that some had not been talked about at all, and some still had a lot of significance to each side.”

The JCEA plan is to present the tentative agreement on a building by building basis to teachers in the school district.  Rankin said the JCEA might be able to release more information on the agreement after the teacher vote. She indicated they thought that might be completed by the end of the second week of October.

If the JCEA membership approves the tentative agreement, it would then go to the USD 475 Board of Education for that entity to consider final ratification that would allow a new contract to be implemented.

Contract talks have been at impasse in USD 475 since August 4. So far this school year teachers have been working under the 2014-15 school year contract.

If the tentative agreement gains final approval from both the teachers and school board that would avoid the need to move to a fact finding process as the next step following the impasse.

During the mediation session on Wednesday the two sides were in the same room briefly, but mostly the JCEA negotiators operated in the meeting room near the front entrance to the Devin Center, while the members of the BOE negotiating team, including some administrators, met in an upstairs conference room. The mediator then went back and forth between the two sites with information.

 

 

Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf accepted a Certificate of Appreciation on behalf of the Sheriff’s Office Tuesday from the 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley.

Col. John M. Cyrulik, Commander of the 1st CAB presented the certificate to Sheriff Wolf for the assistance the Sheriff’s Department provided in an emergency landing of a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter south of Junction City on September 2nd.

Wolf explained that he’s humbled to accept the certificate on behalf of the Sheriff’s Department but he still see’s it as they were just doing their job.

“We just did what we had to do and took care of business, but it meant a lot to the folks on Fort Riley that they were able to work with us. We relayed information back and forth very easily, talked to one another about what was going on,” said Wolf. “That was their main thing that they were so pleased with, was how easy it was to work with us and get information traded back and forth.”

There were no injuries from the emergency landing, and an investigation later revealed that the aircraft had a faulty sensor that lead to a faulty engine fire indication.

Geary Community Hospital is currently in the planning phase for a facelift to the Medical Arts Building I.

During Tuesday’s Hospital Board of Trustee’s meeting Jolana Montgomery-Matney, Executive Director of the Geary Community Healthcare Foundation presented a check worth $27,239 to go towards the upgrades of MAB I. That money was raised through the Fall Classic Golf Tournament held earlier this month.

Dr. Joe Stratton, GCH CEO explained that the upgrades to MAB I will essentially be a facelift.

“New furniture, new countertops and things in the hallway that we need to get done, a number of things that we need to get caught up on I guess you would say,” said Stratton. “It will make for a better patient care environment, and then a better environment for our employee’s to work in as well.”

Stratton went on to say that the Healthcare Foundation will be a “key” partner throughout the whole process.

The funds from the Fall Classic are only a portion of what the Healthcare Foundation is donating as the money raised at the Holiday Glitz coming up in December will also go towards the project.

“Hoping that in the end we’ll be able to have, minimum $75,000, to turnover,” said Montgomery-Matney.

Work on the project is expected to begin sometime after the first of the year.

The Geary County Sheriff’s Department has reported that Deputies responded and assisted the Kansas Highway Patrol at I-70 mile marker 303 eastbound off ramp for a car fire Sunday night.

Ciera Gonzalez, Junction City, was traveling eastbound I-70 in a 2004 Jeep Liberty when the vehicle began smoking. The Jeep became fully engulfed and the fire was extinguished by the Geary County Rural Fire Department.

The fire was reported at 9:36 p.m.

There were no injuries reported.

The annual POW/MIA Recognition Day program was held Friday in Heritage Park in front of the Kansas Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The ceremony included the traditional table setting ceremony, reading of names of Kansas POW/MIA, a 21 gun salute and the playing of Taps.

This years guest speaker was Donna Martinson, Chairman of the Quilts of Valor Project.

She said of the ceremonies conducted during the recognition ceremony,”remind’s us that those that are missing, or that are prisoners of war, are not and will not be forgotten.”

There are still 24 military service members and one civilian from Kansas who remain missing.