State Representative Lonnie Clark of Junction City  wants to see medicaid expansion.

Clark told JC Post it’s necessary for the population in the 65th district. “And it’s also necessary for the solvency of the hospital in Geary County. ” Clark said it’s important to pass the expansion as far as the revenues and medicare reimbursement for the hospital and physicians is concerned.

There was support for medicaid expansion among legislators attending a Junction City Legislative Coffee forum Saturday.

The Riley County Fire District #1 was informed by the Riley County Police Department on Saturday that the autopsy of the four victims of a Thursday morning fire in Ogden have positively identified them as Rodger D. Harris Sr., 72, Rea E. Harris, 72, Roger D. Harris Jr., 50, and Rocky Newell, 55.  The autopsy revealed there was no foul play, and all had evidence of inhalation of toxic fire gasses as the probable cause of death.

Fire Chief Pat Collins reported that the origin of the fire remains on or around the end of a couch on the first floor. The Fire District report will show that the cause of the fire is unknown. Careless smoking is suspected but cannot be positively confirmed from the team that investigated the fire.

The Fire District officials thanked those paid and volunteer fire personnel who endured the elements on the morning of the fire as well as the dispatchers, police officers,  EMS personnel and city workers who performed their tasks during the incident. The call came in at 3:43 a.m. Thursday for the fire at 208 Riley Avenue in Ogden.

Retired Magistrate Judge Tommy B. Webb, Wichita,  will be the guest speaker for the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce annual dinner on March 7th at the convention center.

The Director of Member Relations for the Chamber noted that Webb is a native of Korea and his parents were not around at an early age. “He was on the streets and so he grew up in a really harsh environment, but has a positive and uplifting story of how he came to America and got his feet under him, and became a judge. Now he travels and speaks.

Webb spent a portion of his youth in Junction City where his adoptive mother in this country served as a school teacher. He would go on to be elected to six terms as a magistrate judge.

The event on March 7th will begin with a reception at 6:30 p.m. followed by the dinner at 7 p.m.  Tickets are on sale at the Chamber of Commerce.

By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

Twenty-five years after he began the Academic Awards Banquet at Junction City former JCHS Principal Greg Springston returned to the Shenk Gym to deliver the keynote remarks at the annual event.

“I challenge you, society’s future leaders to spend your life answering those important questions of life, but most importantly the why. Congratulations I am so proud of all of you.”

Approximately 235 students that have maintained a 3.5 grade point average over a period of three, five or seven semesters, depending upon the class, were honored at the banquet and received academic letters. They included members of the sophomore, junior and senior classes.

Springston challenged each of the students to seek more than academic success and good grades. “Seek an understanding, seek the wisdom that’s necessary for you to be not only successful but for this to be a better world that we’re living in.  In this ever changing world acquiring data and facts is becoming easier but acquiring wisdom is not.”

Springston served as the principal at Junction City High School from 1992 until 2006. As she introduced him to speak at the banquet current JCHS Principal Melissa Sharp read a short note that Springston had written to her when she made the difficult decision to leave the basketball coaching profession to become a school administrator. “Melissa, I know how hard it was for you to write the letter. Let me tell you how appreciative I am of the 10 great years you gave our girls and our community. Please understand that your long shadow of influence is only going to grow. Thanks for your continuing support.” Sharp added she still uses those words with other young leaders today.

JCHS alumni who were honored during the previous 25 years of the Academic Awards Banquet also returned to the Shenk Gym. They were recognized during the program, and their names and photos were included in the program. They included Terra Stroda, Marcie ( Roeser ) Proietta, GG ( Gasken ) Booth, Emily Russell, Christina ( Ison ) Spencer, Tara ( Risetter ) Fields, Tiffany ( Sallee ) Dollins, Brandon Kehoe, Matt Junghans, Joel Poole, Jason Quelch, Rindi ( Zimmerman ) Guldner, Mike Heldstab, Garlandra King, Taylor Pender, Dalton Dacus, Jared Gross, James Webb, Emilia Walsh, Xavier DeGuzman, Paige Dacus, Ryan Hennington and Paola Noriega.

RILEY COUNTY — Authorities are still working to determine the cause of a fatal Thursday morning fire in the Riley County community of Ogden.

Four people died in the blaze. Their bodies were transported to Topeka for an autopsy and to confirm their identities, according to Riley County Rural Fire District 1 Chief Pat Collins.

Investigators with the Kansas Fire Marshal’s office, ATF and local officials believe the fire started along the east wall near the end of a couch, according to Collins. “We may never know exactly what started the fire,” he said.

Several firefighters also suffered minor injuries while working in the extreme cold.

UPDATE:

Riley County Fire Chief Pat Collins confirmed for JC Post that authorities investigating the fatal fire in Ogden early Thursday morning are working to positively identify the victims, notification of next of kin and the cause of the fire. Four people were pronounced dead at the scene.

Collins said multiple agencies are helping with the investigation. Work is being done to dig through the debris at 208 Riley Avenue to determine what  caused the fire.

Collins noted several firefighters slipped on the ice. “It got really slick here, fell down, they’re all doing alright now but I think they’re going to be really sore come nightfall or tomorrow. Two of the firefighters were treated by EMS on scene but no one required transport to a hospital.

Cold weather early Thursday morning made it difficult to fight the fire. “The cold, it was really bad trying to get around, move around, and do things. I don’t know that it was a big factor on the initial attack but as the morning went on it made it hard to get around, get upstairs, move around the trucks.” The City of Ogden brought in salt and sand and helped spread it out, which helped improve the conditions.

The building that burned had a residence upstairs and business history in the past. Collins noted in the 1960s it was a bar and later became a location where first radios and then videos were sold. The downstairs business area was not in use at the time of the fire. “There was only one way to the upstairs, up a pretty steep set of stairs and we haven’t found any smoke detectors in the building.”

The first truck on the scene was from the Manhattan Fire Department. “They made entry to the front door and actually found one victim by the front door. They were in rescue mode so they were trying to get to other parts of the building upstairs where we knew the bedrooms were and couldn’t get up the stairs. So actually made entry through a front window and we found the other three victims in one of the bedrooms.” Riley County firefighters also responded and helped battle the blaze.

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Riley County Fire Chief Pat Collins has released information following an early morning fire in Ogden that claimed four lives.

Collins said at 3:43 a.m. the Ogden, Riley and Manhattan Fire Departments were dispatched to 208 Riley Avenue in Ogden for a report of a structure on fire with multiple people entrapped. Upon arrival, crews found a two-story structure with heavy smoke showing. Crews entered the building and performed search and rescue operation along with extinguishing the fire.

Crews quickly removed one person from the building and upon re-entry three more people were located. All of four of them were pronounced dead at the scene.

The identifies of the victims have not yet been released. The owner of the structure has been identified by authorities as Roger Harris. The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Riley County Fire Department, Riley County Police Department, Kansas State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Manhattan Fire Department.

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OGDEN, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say four people are dead after a fire in a Kansas neighborhood.

The structure fire was first reported shortly before 5 a.m. Thursday in Ogden, about 10 miles southwest of Manhattan. Riley County Fire Chief Pat Collins says the state fire marshal is on scene.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Traffic is being diverted around the area.

No other details were immediately released, including the names of the victims. State and county fire officials didn’t immediately return phone messages from The Associated Press.

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RILEY COUNTY — Authorities closed the 200 Block of Riley Avenue early Thursday, according to the Riley County Police.

First responders are on the scene of a structure fire in Ogden.
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We will report additional details as they become available.

Harris Pat Powers, 84, Topeka, died on Wednesday.

Powers grew up on a ranch in the Flint Hills outside Junction City. He began his professional life in Junction City, was active in the Jaycees and many community organizations, worked in sales and then grew into a management role at KJCK Radio in Junction City.

WIth partners he later established KTPK Country 107 into a leading radio station in northeast Kansas, and served on the Board of Directors and as President of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. He was chosen as Broadcaster of the Year, and later became a member of the Kansas Broadcaster Hall of Fame. He also received the Grover Cobb Award from the University of Kansas, School of Journalism.

A graveside service is scheduled at 2 p.m. Saturday, February 9th at Highland Cemetery in Junction City.

The entire obituary report for Harris Pat Powers is in the obituary section on JC Post.

Servando “Kiko” SIlva-Jimenez, 63, Junction City, was laid to rest on Wednesday at the Kansas Veterans Cemetery near the Manhattan Regional Airport. Silva-Jimenez, who died January 15th at Geary Community Hospital in Junction City, had no known next of kin.

Members of the public were urged to respond and show their support for Silva-Jimenez during the graveside service where military honors were provided by the U.S. Army Honor Guard from Fort Riley. Those attending braved the bitter cold to pay their respects.

The Corps of Engineers at Milford Lake has announced that they have reached their target level of 1141.4 feet. They plan to maintain the lake elevation at that level until mid-March, then gradually increase it to 1143.00. They will maintain that higher level, which is actually 1.4 feet below normal, throughout the summer.

The current lake elevation is 1141.19, inflow at the Clay Center gauge 2,170 cubic feet per second, and 1,000 cfs are being released from the reservoir.

One factor in the lake drawdown is that is part of the attempt to help control zebra mussels and future blue green algae issues.

The National Weather Service is predicting low wind chill readings of 5 to 15 degrees below zero overnight Tuesday and early Wednesday morning.

Geary County Emergency Management Director Garry Berges said you need to limit your exposure outside. “if you don’t need to be outside don’t go out. If you do layer up several coats, clothing, put extra socks on, try to cover your face with some sort of material so that the cold doesn’t affect you.”

Berges noted with the temperatures predicted skin could receive some frostbite with less than one-half hour of exposure.