By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

This past week officials from Geary Community Hospital issued challenges to the Geary County Commission.  A member of the governing body, Ben Bennett, said one is to advocate for medicaid expansion. “We’ve advocated for that with our elected representatives for the last year. Hopefully that will give us some relief from the non-paying public that we have to serve.”

In the past officials have estimated that could mean one million dollars per year for Geary Community Hospital, if medicaid expansion is approved by the legislature.

Another challenge involved discussion of a possible future property tax increase support the hospital. Bennett stated that can be done but to do it there are some statutory restrictions on the commission. “And that’s not something that we I know have been very receptive of because of our challenges that we have in the county.” Bennett added the hospital is important to them but the county would have to be prudent.

Geary County currently funds the hospital with a two-mill property tax levy and could potentially go up to six mills, but a protest petition by the public would force an election referendum on that proposal. If the county raised the tax levy by more than six mills an election would be an automatic requirement. There does not appear to be any move at this point to increase the tax levy.

An early morning run that was scheduled as part of a Pathways to Fitness event Saturday in Junction City had to be cancelled, but the public was able to go inside to the Shenk Gym for a bike jamboree. It was an opportunity to tune up and service bicycles and obtain information on bicycle safety.

Live Well Geary County Chairman Joe Handlos said there were demonstration areas set up for the event. Where we changed tires, fixed bikes, laid out helmets, we did helmet adjustments. Kids that came got a free helmet, they got an opportunity to register for door prizes. Two of those door prizes were bikes, and we also had some bikes that the bike mechanics who were present were fixed and could be taken for use.”

Handlos said, “We have had several bikes that were brought in today, and for the kids that were here this was a real good activity.” He noted that representatives from a former bike club were in attendance and reconnected with new members. “So what we hope to do is have a page on our Live Well web site dedicated for active transportation, so that we can grow bike champions, grow advocates for active transportation, and have it be one site for folks to get that kind of information.”

A community bicycle ride was also on the agenda for the day.

Grant Snowden kicked a 38-yard field goal on the final play of the game to lift the Manhattan Indians  to a 31-28 victory over the Junction City Blue Jays Friday night at Bishop Stadium in Manhattan.

The kick ended a see-saw game that saw both teams hold the lead before Manhattan drove down the field in the closing minutes to kick the field goal and defeat the Blue Jays. That drive began after the Blue Jays were stopped at the Indians 7-yard line on a fourth and one play, ending a chance for the Blue Jays to take a seven-point lead.

Blue Jay coach Randall Zimmerman pointed to costly mistakes by Junction City in the first half including turnovers and an off sides penalty on a fourth day play. “They’re punting the ball to us, we move into the neutral zone, just mental errors all over the place. I just feel terrible for our kids, they practice so hard, they’re good kids, they’ve come together, you know those kinds of things.” Zimmerman said the Blue Jays will regroup, prepare well and play Seaman on Senior Night next Friday night.

Junction City ( 5-1 ) had one fumble at the Manhattan ( 5-1 ) one yard line late in the second quarter. The Indians recovered the football, leaving the game tied 14-14 going into halftime.

With the win Manhattan claims possession of the Sportsmanship Trophy for the coming year. That trophy is presented to the winner of the game between the two schools each year.

 

The four candidates for a seat on the Junction City Commission appear to be willing to support a removal of the ban on pit bull dogs in the city.

Nathan Butler explained if a petition reaches the commission and is prepared correctly there are two options. “One the city commission can vote to repeal it or the city commission can vote to put it on a vote for the city.” Butler added if the commission decides to vote instead of putting it on a ballot he would vote to repeal the pit bull ban.

Pat Landes noted that the ban was put into place after the death of Christopher Wilson, who was killed by Rotweiler dogs in Geary County in the 1990’s. “I think that there was a big problem with drug dealers and things having pit bulls in town, and that’s what kind of prompted this to happen at that time. Things have changed.” Landes said there are people who would like to live in Junction City, but cannot because they have a pit bull. “So they’re going elsewhere. We’re keeping people from living in Junction City.”

Holly Voelcker noted that she has done a lot of research and would agree to repeal the ban. “I’m an animal lover by nature, but if the citizens of Junction City vote to have this overturned who are we to stand in the way.”

Ronna Larson said she would agree to have it repealed. “I don’t think there should be a ban on any specific breed of animal.” She added she thought the current vicious animal ordinance that exists would be enough to handle it.

The Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce implemented a new leadership development program this year. The first eight graduates of the Greater Than Leadership Program were recognized during a ceremony at the C.L. Hoover Opera House.

Chamber Member Relation Director Amy Garner introduced the graduates and described the purpose of the program. “Something that would build leaders from the inside out and specifically something that would help develop leaders within the workplace.”

The graduates include Michele Hessler, Nichole Mader, Monica McCalister, Tammy Melton, Darla Riffel, John Verschage, Fredia Warren and Ethan Zabokrtsky.

Accord Hospice held their second annual Camp SOAR Saturday, Sept. 28 in Junction City. Since the first one was successful, Accord partnered with the Elks Lodge #1037 to provide two additional mini camps this year. Those day camps are for children ages 5-16 suffering from some type of loss. They can range from the death of a loved one to a divorce of one’s parents.

“The focus of our camp is sharing memories, trying new things, and learning we are never alone in our grief,” said Camp Director Crystal Butler.

More than 26 children and 25 experienced community volunteers descended on the 12th Street Community Center for an entire Saturday. They participated in arts & crafts, sports, games, face painting, storytelling, martial arts instruction, and other activities aimed at providing support, healing and building memories. The campers enjoyed a demonstration by Fort Riley’s 523 Military Working Dogs Detachment and Elite Academy of Martial Arts. The Junction City J-Steppers Dance Team offered dance instruction for the campers and the D.A. R. E. program educated campers regarding drug abuse resistance. The camp is designed to give children and volunteers the opportunity to share feelings, make new friends and build trust.

Diedra Kearney, Chief Operating Officer of Accord Hospice, stated that the camp had been a long standing goal of the agency, which has been serving the community since 2014, providing Hospice care, Palliative support and Bereavement resources to more than 300 families in that time.

Research suggests grieving children are at a much greater risk than their peers for depression, suicide, poverty and substance abuse. Butler explained, “Our vision is to provide children access to grief and loss support in an environment where they are encouraged to and allowed to feel like kids. Sometimes, just knowing that they are not alone helps children cope with their grief.”

Accord Hospice thanked their sponsors for their support, including Junction City Elks Lodge #1037, Valley View Senior Life, Home of the Flint Hills, Screen Machine Sports, Johnson Funeral Home, Junction City Transportation, Schoenrock Realtors, Baskin Robbins, The Tony Nardella Family, and the city of Junction City.

 

 

The first ever Fields of Faith event in Junction City was held Wednesday night at Al Simpler Stadium. It was an opportunity to hear worship music and from inspirational speakers from JCHS. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes sponsored event included participation by churches. Organizers have indicated that they would like to make this an annual event.

 

The Dick Edwards Auto Plaza dealership in Junction City is being sold by Janice Edwards to Dustin Zek of Leavenworth. Edwards said Wednesday that the deal was about 99-percent complete.

“I felt like I needed to let my employees know. He’s been approved pretty much totally by Ford, and we’re waiting on Chrysler but I don’t think that’s a problem.” Edwards said Zek has been in the automobile business for about 20 years and operated a dealership with his brother. “Now he is buying his own.”

Janice and her late husband Dick Edwards, opened their dealership at 1825 Goldenbelt Boulevard in 2013. Before that they owned dealership outlets in Manhattan and Junction City dating back to 1981 in Manhattan and 1988 in Junction City.

Janice Edwards is planning to retire. Dick Edwards passed away this past June.

A community outreach called “Fields of Faith” is scheduled from 6:30 tp 8 p.m. Wednesday at Al Simpler Stadium. Ty Zimmerman, an Area Representative with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, said it will be a free event and open to the public.

Zimmerman stated that there will be student speakers, “a teacher that’s going to speak and share his testimony, and then we’ll have some worship music throughout the night as well. So it’s going to be a fun event.” High school students are the target audience, but Zimmerman said they also want to open it up to the community. “So we want to invite friends, family, everybody.”

FCA Board member Brad Siefert said it’s important as a community to come together. “I just love the idea that we can come together, and just have this opportunity to come together, show a unified front. There ‘s several churches that will be involved with this throughout our community.” Siefert said every church and denomination is invited.

The Rock Steady boxing program helps people with Parkinson’s Disease combat that illness. The quarterly meeting for people affected by Parkinson’s will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Junction City Athletic Training Center, where the program is conducted.

Michelle Haub with Meadowlark Hills said the meeting is designed to help people with Parkinson’s have a better understanding of the disease. “This month we’ll be talking about how to maximize your health benefits with going to the hospital.”

Haub added people with Parkinson’s are more likely to end up in the hospital, have more complications and stay longer than other people without the illness. There will be an aware in-care kit packet that provides information on the importance of medication that people with Parkinson’s often take, “and how that medication needs to be delivered on time every time. It also talks a lot about the contraindicated medication. So those medications that can be very very harmful for people with Parkinson’s.”

The information is intended to help those with Parkinson’s provide information to other healthcare professionals so they get the proper care.

The Rock Steady Boxing Program helps provide participants the necessary exercise to combat the disease.