By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

Every year the Junction City – Geary County Crimestoppers sponsor a banquet to honor and recognize members of the law enforcement community for their good work.

A total of 17 members of the law enforcement community were honored and keynote remarks were delivered by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt during the fifth annual banquet Friday night at the convention center. He stated the KBI has approximately 20 new agents, and is on a path to get to 94 this year, the number authorized for the agency.

Schmidt noted there has been success in working with the legislature during the past year to get the new northeast Kansas child victim’s task force created. He called criminal misconduct involving the exploitation of children is astonishing.  “We simply as a state have not been where we need to be in terms of having sufficient assets to deal with that very specialized sort of child exploitation. We still don’t have sufficient assets but we’ve got more than we had a year ago at this time, and we have a platform that should allow us to serve I’ll call it the northeast quadrant of Kansas including the territory we’re standing in right now over the next decade in a much more integrated and robust fashion.” Schmidt called that good for local enforcement, kids  and communities.

The Attorney General added there is also an effort by the KBI to work with the legislature to try and get some capacity to help on white-collar criminal misconduct matters.

Detective Sergeant Joshua Brown was named the 2018 JCPD Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. He was assigned to be the lead detective on two homicides and worked to apprehend those responsible, and worked numerous other felony cases.

Deputy Sergeant Kirt Nichols was the 2018 Geary County Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. He is also a shift supervisory in the Patrol Division and consistently one of the first employees to respond to requests for extra patrol, extra duty assignments or for shift rotation at minimal or no notice.

Officer Wyatt Charlson was named the Grandview Plaza Police Department’s Law Enforcement of the Year.

Milford State Park Ranger Clayton Swanson was the 2018 State Park Ranger of the Year. He was one of the people who helped save the life of a Manhattan man who was choking in Milford.

Marsha Rich, who is the JCPD Investigation Division administrative assistant was recognized as  the 2018 JCPD Support Staffer of the Year. She just celebrated her 40th year with the department.

B.J. Solander, who serves as the lead chaplain for the

Sheriff’s Department and Detention Center, was recognized for the support he has provided.

–Master Trooper Mario Rios was the 2018 Kansas Highway Patrol Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.

Others recognized included:

–Tammy Washsnicht, administrative assistant in the Sheriff Department Corrections Division, as the 2018 Geary County Corrections Employee of the Year.

–Dominic Anderson, member of the Geary County Sheriff’s Posse as the 2018 Geary County Sheriff’s Posse Member of the Year.

–Dr. Jimmy Jenkins for his support of law enforcement agencies and personnel in Geary County.

–Cassandra Thomas of the JCPD was named the 2018 Geary County Dispatcher of the Year.

–The Emergency Service Dispatcher for the Fort Riley Military Police Department was honored as the 2018 Fort Riley Dispatcher of the Year.

–Lt. Paul Davis was the 2018 Fort Riley Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.

–Corps of Engineers Park Ranger Blake McPherren was the 2018 Army Corps of Engineers Park Ranger of the Year.

–Dwight Bradley was the 2018 Juvenile Corrections officer of the Year. He is employed at the North Central Kansas Regional Juvenile Detention Center.

–8th Judicial District Court Services Se

cretary was the 2018 Community Services Officer of the Year.

–Kim Graham, Intensive Supervision Officer with 8th Judicial District Community Corrections was the 2018 Community Corrections Officer of the Year.

 

 

 

 

 

By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

Contractors interested in working on the new Junction City High School project had an opportunity on Friday to meet with officials from the general contractor, Hutton Construction, gain information about the overall project, the bidding timelines, ask questions and engage in networking. The event was a vendor fair that was held at Junction City Middle School.

David Wild, Chief Operations Officer for USD 475, noted there was not as much turnout for the vendor fair as officials would have liked, but there were positives. “But we did have some interest to include some local interest.” There was interest from contractors in the Junction City, Manhattan, Topeka areas in fields ranging from mechanical, pest control, custodial maintenance support to concrete and structure construction. “So we had quite a diverse group, just not the quantities we probably would have liked to seen.”

The next step will be for officials to continue to work through the bidding process for the new high school project.  Wild noted, “Paving and utilities is coming up next. That package is wrapping up today ( Friday ),  being delivered to Hutton by the architects. They’ll bid it out in the next couple of weeks, we’ll do the evaluation on it. and present it to the Board of Education on the 8th of April.”

The new high school will be built on the west side of Junction City at a location north of K-18 Highway. Static display cameras were installed on the site Friday. They should be operational in about a week-and-a-half so the public can go online and view the work on the school site.

Because of winter ice and snow the beginning of the earthwork at the new JCHS location has been delayed. That work could begin within a few days, depending on when sun and wind conditions can have an impact.

The goal is to have the new school built and in use by August of 2021.

The Past Chair of the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Rich Jankovich, was recognized Thursday evening for his work as chairman during the past year.

During remarks at the annual Chamber banquet he noted there is a hard working group of people to insure that businesses are as successful as possible, “representing you in a very professional way with Fort Riley and the 1st Infantry Division. ” Jankovich added they work hard to bring new business to the region.

Jankovich pointed to partnerships with Manhattan and Wamego to build a greater community,”Because no matter what you think there is one thing that binds us together, and it’s the Big Red One.”

Jankovich will serve as Past Chair of the Board of Directors in the next year. Mark Powers will be the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

CPA Calvin Pottberg has been honored by the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce as the Volunteer of the year.

The recognition was received at the annual Chamber banquet at the convention center Thursday night. Pottberg stated, “this is humbling. I came to Junction City 48 years ago, and it’s been really good for me and my family. But it’s a good time to also volunteer, so I felt like as well as profiting from being here in Junction City we needed to give back.”

John and Sue Kollhoff of Kollhoff Pharmacy were honored with the Eldon L. Hoyle Economic Development Award. Sue stated,”This community has been so supportive of us since we opened our business and we really appreciate that. And because of your support we’ll be celebrating our five-year anniversary in just a few weeks.”

The Lady Trooper organization was recognized with the Seitz Family Military Community Award. Paula DInkel, speaking for all of the Lady Troopers said, “I know these ladies have done a fabulous job and continue to do a fabulous job so thank you very much. Among their functions are the greeting and farewell support given to Fort Riley Soldiers in connection with their deployments.

The Past Chairman of the Chamber Board of Directors, Rich Jankovich, was also recognized for his service in 2018 as the Chairman of the Board. “He described the past year as humbling, an honor, and a privilege to do it.”

By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

The musical show “Pippin” will be performed at the Warren Settles Auditorium at Junction City High School Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7 p.m.

JCHS Choral Director Michael Brown explained it’s a coming of age story about a young man trying to find the meaning of life. The Lead Player portrayed by Payton Tabb encourages Pippin played by Nicholas Paradas to try new things to see what he likes, and it all leads up to one final act.

Paradas said, “My role as Pippin, he’s just a lot like many of us in the way that we’re just looking for our place, where or what we belong to I guess. ” Paradas added Pippin is lost and is looking for something fulfilling. Tabb tries to help him through the process.

She said she is basically the leader of a gang of players. “They put on the show. They’re the characters. So like most of the characters within the show. ” Tabb said even the other main characters are players. “They’re characters but they’re playing another role so it’s almost like a play within a play.”

Tickets for Pippin are $5. Email Jodie Riche at jodieriche@usd475.org or call 785-717-4263.

By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

Tornadoes can occur any time and lightning can cause fatalities.

Those were two of the messages conveyed to the public during the Storm Spotter & Severe Weather meeting in Junction City Wednesday evening.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Kevin Skow stated that there are three types of storm categories including the short-lived or Pulse storms which are often non-severe. Then there are Line storms which can have widespread damaging winds and produce occasional tornadoes, heavy rain with some flooding and moderate size hail. The last category involves super cell thunderstorms where tornadoes can occur. Some of those tornadoes have a hook echo at the bottom of the storm.

Skow touched on some myths about tornadoes. “Some of the big myths are that rivers and hills protect you from a tornado. Other myths can be that taking shelter under an overpass is safe. Overpasses are never safe if you’re out driving. ” Skow also pointed out that even and EF0 or EF1 tornado can do damage. The rating scale for tornadoes goes from EF0 up to EF5.

When it comes to lightning do not be under a tree, lightning will seek the tallest object, approximately 40-50 lightning fatalities are reported each year with most of them occurring where people are playing sports. Soccer and golf are the sports that rank one and two in lightning related fatalities. Also, the presence of lighning does not mean there is a severe thunderstorm.  For a thunderstorm to be labeled severe the threats need to include 60 mile per hour winds, or one-inch diameter hail.

When it comes to severe weather safety go underground if possible into a basement or storm shelter. If that is not possible find an interior closet or get underneath anything large or a heavy piece of furniture. Know where your shelter is located ahead of  a storm. Do not try to drive away in your vehicle and if caught in your vehicle get below the windshield and cover your head.

Be prepared for spring and summer severe weather.

 

 

 

Two area state legislators participated in a recent Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce forum where they touched on different issues and topics.

State Representative Dave Baker, a former grocery store owner, referred to a possible one percent decrease in the sales tax on food. “I think that’s a great idea. Coming out of that business I will tell you one percent really won’t move the needle very much because we’ve moved that sales tax number, by the time we put city and sales taxes on there pretty close to nine percent in most town, ten percent in some, it’s way up there. One percent really….nice token but one percent really isn’t going to fix it.”

On the high cost of health insurance Baker noted it’s restricting entrepreneurship. “We are spending $5 per hour for a 40-hour week on health insurance, one thousand dollars a month per person.” Baker added that’s a lot of money and not sustainable.

State Senator Jeff Longbine addressed out migration of Kansas residents to other states. On the basic things needed by people he said they “need an opportunity to provide an income for their family. They need a good education system, they need a good transportation and they need a quality of life. When you start looking at the state of Kansas there are some things that really, really scare me.” Longbine referred to some earlier numbers which showed 27 counties in the state where the average age is 65 or more and that number is projected to grow to more than 50 counties in the next 20 years.

The Chamber hosted the forum at the 12th Street Community Center last weekend.

 

 

The monthly meetings of the Geary USD 475 Board of Education are already live streamed online. Now the Board has voted 4-3 to live stream all meetings and work sessions.

Every time we’re gathered together for a meeting, seven of us, we will have a live stream. ” It is possible off-site retreats would not be included in that decision.

The vote on the live streaming decision included Board members Anwar Khoury, Rina Neal, Sara Talley and Jim Schmidt in favor and Tom Brungardt, Dave Walker and LaDonna Junghans opposed.

The Board was informed during their discussion on the topic Monday evening that 31 people were watching the meeting, one of their highest nights since the district began to live stream meetings.

It’s been bitterly cold with snow and ice, but it’s time to begin preparing for the spring and summer severe weather season.  The annual Storm Spotter and Severe Weather meeting is Wednesday night at the Geary County 4-H / Senior Center. It begins at 7 p.m.

Geary County Emergency Management Director Garry Berges said, “Representatives from the National Weather Service in Topeka will do about a 90-minute presentation, what to look for, how to prepare, what you should do if you’re trapped in a storm, they always have some nice video.”

Berges stated that the restoration company, Rainbow International will help sponsor the event. “Like people to come out, learn, we’ll be around, if people need more information we’ll ( Emergency management ) be there.”

There is no charge to attend this event.

The earthwork for the new Junction City High School project is delayed for a short time.

Ice and snow are the reason, explained the Chief Operations Officer for Geary USD 475 David Wild. “The earthwork was scheduled to start last week but the storms have prevented it. So as soon as conditions are favorable, Hutton Construction is looking at starting as early as next week.”

There is a small amount of equipment on site for the project. The new school will be located on the west side of Junction City, north of K-18 Highway. The end goal is to have the new school built and in use by August of 2021.