Warren Schlichting will be the keynote speaker at the Celebration of Teaching banquet in Junction City on May 6 at the Courtyard by Marriott convention center.

The President of the Geary Community Schools Foundation, Margie Pinaire, said Schlichting is the President of Sling TV, a division of Dish Network. He is a 1979 Junction City High School graduate, who attended Harvard after high school. “He’s excited to revisit his past. He said he had a lot of good stories to share with our teachers about how he got where he is today.”

Schlichting attended school in USD 475 all the way from Kindergarten through the 12th grade. He attended Milford Elementary School.

The Celebration of Teaching banquet recognizes teachers in the school district for their work.

The annual Acacia Lodge #91 of Junction City hosted their annual Easter Egg hunt on Sunday at North Park.There were Easter baskets, music, toys, bicycles, games and food for participants.

There were a number of sponsors ranging from the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, orschlens Farm & Home, and VFW Post 8773 to Tom’s Men’s Wear, Walmart, American Legion Post #45, and Armed Forces Bank.

( Photos courtesy of Phyllis Fitzgerald )

Geary Community Hospital is hosting their fourth run/walk called “Chase for a Cause,” this Saturday, April 27th. It begins at 9:00 a.m.

According to the Marketing and Public Relations Director for the hospital, Nikki Davies, participants get to choose which approved local cause their registration funds go toward. The event is a healthy living initiative and fundraiser for local non-profit organizations that help our neighbors in Geary County.

There will also be a kids fun run, cash prizes for top three male and female finishers, masters (above age 40), medals for 5k winners in each age group along with door prizes. The race will start and finish in front of the hospital’s Surgical Center.

2019 Approved Local Organizations:

• Big Brothers/Big Sisters
• CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates of the 8th Judicial District)
• Delivering Change – Healthy Families, Healthy Communities
• Friends of Animals
• Food Pantry
• Friends of the Dorothy Bramlage Public Library
• Geary Community Healthcare Foundation
• Geary Community Schools Foundation
• I.C.A.R.E. (Intergenerational Clearinghouse and Resource Educational)
• JC Fire Dept. Luke David Nelson Memorial Scholarship
• Live Well Geary County
• Open Door Mission
• United Way of Junction City – Geary County
• Wheels of HOPE (Helping Other People Eat)
• Pawnee Mental Health

For more information visit www.gearycommunityhospital.org

By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

It just a few minutes for the 15,002 stuffed Easter Eggs to disappear from the lawn at Valley View Senior Life on Saturday.  Kids arrived, and once the countdown was given they scurried across the yard to sweep up the eggs. The event was the annual Easter Egg Hunt and carnival sponsored by Valley View Senior Life.

Director of Marketing Melissa Tyson said she thought it was the biggest

turnout yet for the annual event. She estimated more than two thousand people were there. There was plenty of volunteer help. “We

have an ESC group, an Employee Service Committee, that worked on it and then we had some volunteers that worked on it Friday.”

Most of the eggs were stuffed with candy items. but 15 “golden eggs” had $20 bills in them. They were split between the three age groups, infant to three, four to seven and eight to twelve.

There were train rides, bounce houses, cotton candy and hot dogs, face painters and the Easter Bunny checked in to meet with children.

Numerous local businesses helped sponsor the Easter Egg Hunt.

The Army has announced that beginning at 5 a.m. May 1st, Fort Riley will reopen the Four Corners access control point ( off of Old Highway 77 ) for 24-hours-day, seven-days-week operation and change the hours of operation at both Estes Street and Ogden gates.

The Estes Street access control point ( off of Old Highway 77 ) will be open from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. The Ogden access control point will also close overnight and be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Opening access at Four Corners will enable first responders on Fort Riley to reach the northern training areas more quickly and will allow military vehicles moving between training areas to stay within the boundaries of Fort Riley. Reducing the hours of operation at both the Estes and Ogden gates will reduce the need to assign Soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division units to guard duty. The changes will help maintain Soldier’s readiness for future training and deployment requirements.

In addition to those changes, construction on Trooper Drive during May and June will require overnight closures of the Trooper access control point ( near the main post exchange and commissary ). From May 1st through June 27th. Trooper gate will be open daily from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

To accommodate overnight traffic, the rifle Range Road access control point ( near Fort Riley Elementary School ) will be open from 7 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. daily each night from May 1st through June 27th.

The Henry Drive gae ( Exit 301, I-70 ) will remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Operating hours will also remain unchanged at Grant Gate ( from Grant Street in Junction City ) and the 12th Street commercial access control point ( off of K-18 ).

You can catch Mayzie La Bird, a sour kangaroo, Horton the Elephant, Cat in the Hat, and a host of Who’s in the show “Seussical Jr.” at the C.L. Hoover Opera House at 7 p.m.Tuesday evening.

Forty Junction City Middle School students in the Astra Program will comprise the cast for the show. The administrator for the Astra Program, Chris Heldstab previewed the show. “It’s about a guy who sits on an egg because amazing Mayzie asks him to watch it for him. There’s all these little Who characters and there’s the jungle of Newell. We have a sassy, sassy kangaroo, and her sidekick. It’s just fun!

The students have been preparing for this show since January when auditions were held. Heldstab said, “With four snow days and ice days we missed four rehearsals so we really have crammed a lot into this short period of time.” The students are from the 6th, 7th and 8th grade. The cost of admission for the show is $5.

The cast list for show includes:

The Cat in the Hat – Brynnlee Jankovich, Kameron Behr; JoJo – Kael Nelson, Horton the Elephant – Sean Powers, Gertrude McFuzz – Koralys Muniz-Lorenzo, Mayzie La Bird – Riley Hansen, Sour Kangaroo – Daphne Brown, Young Kangaroo – Lyla Hayden.

The Bird Girls are LuCasey Hammock, Riley Gaer, Samarra Fisk, Brooklin Keeling, Anna Pond and Kylee Lightle.

The Wickersham Siblings are Braedon Stroda, Madelyn Salary, Truman Fortner, Logan Kerb, Kelcy Welsh and Nicole Green.

Who’s are Brooklyn Anderson, Nathan Weaver, Alala Myers, Isabelle Macais-Guffy, Sierra Hile, Zachary Zimmerman, Alisia Martinez and Mia West.

Mr. Mayor & Mrs. Mayor are performed by Ramone Newey and Grace Welsh.

Jungle Creatures include Hailey Lemon, Hannah Benoit, Kennedy Bollis, Kairi Riddick, Isabella Huddleston, Zoey Rock and Trystin Huston.

The Grinch is portrayed by Kissiah Wilson, Yertle the Turtle is Isaiah Smith and Vlad Vladikoff is Bella Pond.

The Astra program is an after-school theater program involving sixth through eighth grade students from Junction City Middle School two days per week. The students learn about theater, drama, improv, music and dance. The program is funded by the C.L. Hoover Opera House, USD 475 and the R2B4 Bramlage Foundation.

Preparations are being made for a new Billy Sims Barbecue Restaurant at 316 West 6th Street in Junction City.

The company has not made a formal announcement that they are locating an establishment in Junction City, but a business sign is up at the 316 West 6th Street site and interior remodeling work is under way on the vacant building at that location.

The CEO of the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce, Mickey Fornaro-Dean, has not been given the green light to yet to make an announcement that the company is planning to open the new establishment but the Chamber has worked on this project. She referred to the site. “That would be directly to the west of our offices, about a block – a block and a half. We’ve worked with them for some time now.”

Billy Sims Barbecue is part of a Tulsa, Oklahoma based chain that has outlets in six states. The company serves barbecue and traditional sides. It was founded by former pro football player Billy Sims and business partner Jeff Jackson.

The continuation of a one-cent sales tax will be crucial for Junction City’s debt recovery program.

The tax is scheduled to expire December 31,2020 and with city commission approval could possibly go on the ballot this November for possible extension. This week the City Manage, Allen Dinkel, asked the City’s financial advisor, Jeff White of Columbia Capital, how important is it to go to the voters to ask for a renewal of that sales tax. “Never easy to ask the voters to approve a new tax or extend an existing one but it’s absolutely critical for this community.”

During the debt recovery cash inventory has increased substantially for the city and while there is still a substantial amount of general obligation bond debt, that debt is starting to come down.

Mayor Pat Landes told the city commission this week that if the city didn’t have the sales tax everyone’s property tax would have gone up at least 20 or 30 mills. “We’re still looking at that if we don’t renew it. ” Landes added, ” If we lose that ( sales tax ) we’re all in big trouble, especially property owners.”