Four local churches are joining forces for Sunday Service Day this Sunday, September 20th.

Instead of their regularly scheduled worship services, four community churches will go into Junction City and the surrounding community to serve as their worship. The churches include First Christian Church, Highland Baptist, Flint Hills and Legacy Church.

According to First Christian Church minister Ronnie Roberts some of the projects will include painting the Homer’s Pond shelters, repairing the Cleary Park dugouts and painting the building at that location, treating the Wetlands and River Walk docks and gazebos, painting the Bluffs Park restroom doors and canvassing that park, cleaning up trash on Chestnut Street and weeding the flower beds, yard work, demolition and painting in the City of Milford, and there will be numerous projects for the elderly and handicapped home owners.

Representatives from the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce, Junction City Commission and Geary County Commission signed an amended master agreement for the Chamber on Thursday. The City and County help fund the Chamber, which will oversee operations of the Military Affairs Council, Economic Development Commission and the Chamber Activities Division.

Chamber Board Chairman Rich Jankovich was one of the signers of the agreement. “Today’s the day that we move forward, put everything in  the past, and we all hold hands and move forward together to grow.”  It took about 15 months to reach this agreement.

Jankovich said the agreement solidifies the mission of the Chamber in the eyes of the City and County. “To be able to work as one cohesive unit for economic development for the betterment of the business community within the county and city itself. And also to enhance the relationship with Fort Riley and the 1st Infantry Division and grow that into a more strategic idea of helping with the mission of EDC.”

Topeka – In a unanimous decision Thursday, the Kansas Corporation Commission approved a settlement agreement that will cut electric rates for Westar customers by $66 million dollars annually. For the average residential customer, that equates to approximately $3.80 per month.

The settlement agreement also includes the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) bill credit to Westar customers of approximately $50 million and up-front bill credits of approximately $23 million based on the Commission approved merger of Westar and Kansas City Power and Light earlier this year.

In addition, today’s order approves the implementation of a three-part rate plan for distributed generation (DG) customers who installed their own source of electric power generation after October 28, 2015. The Commission finds that under the two-part rate design for DG customers currently in place, DG customers are receiving an unduly preferential rate and are being subsidized by other residential customers because they are not paying the same proportion of fixed costs.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, a demand charge of $3.00 in the winter and $9.00 in the summer are added to DG residential rates. The service charge remains the same, while the energy charge is reduced by 40%. KCC Staff testimony during the evidentiary hearing indicated the new rates do not end the subsidy of DG customers, but are a compromise that avoids rate shock for DG customers.

In issuing today’s decision, the Commission found the settlement agreement to be in the public interest and that it will result in non-discriminatory, just and reasonable rates that will enable Westar to continue to provide sufficient and efficient service.

Westar filed an application for rate review in February, requesting an increase of $52.6 million, which would have resulted in an average monthly increase of $5.91. In July, the company reached a non-unanimous settlement agreement with KCC Staff, the Citizens Utility Ratepayer Board and many interveners in the case.

Humility is one of the key components for a judge to possess.

Kansas Supreme Court Justice Caleb Stegall made that clear when he spoke to Junction City High School government students this week. He was accompanied on his visit by District Judge John Bosch of Clay Center.

Stegall was asked questions by students including one about what happens when you make a mistake. “It really does get to the heart of the difficulty of human judging if you will and some of the dynamics that are at play always in a courtroom. ” Stegall added it gives him an opportunity to explain and give people confidence that courts have been in existence for hundreds of years. “And people smarter than all of us have thought long and hard about this. And we actually have structures in place that when they work are intended to mitigate against human frailties.”

Stegall noted that judges are people and do make mistakes. He said that’s why humility is an important quality for a judge. One point about the Kansas Supreme Court is that there are seven justices and that helps mitigates against anyone being wrong.

While they normally work in Topeka, the Kansas Supreme Court does schedule visits to other cities where they occasionally hold hearings.  The visit to Junction City came ahead of a Monday night Kansas Supreme Court session in Manhattan. Stegall stated it’s important for the Court to travel and it’s necessary to give citizens the opportunity to be participants in their own government.

The Geary Community Hospital Board of Trustees has reelected Mark Stenstrom to serve as Board Chairman for the coming year.

The Board conducted their annual reorganization Tuesday during their meeting at the Martha K. Hoover Health Center. Beth Mathis will serve as vice-chair, John Kovac secretary and Jim Ruhnke as treasurer.

Gary Drake completed his final ( 8th ) year on the Board. Theresa Bramlage has been appointed to fill that seat beginning in October.

Geary County Public Works employee Rodney Christenson was honored Monday for 40 years of service in that department. It was part of a county employee milestone recognition ceremony at the Geary County Office Building.

Christenson dedicated his award to Felix K. Flores, Manhattan, a Geary County Corrections Officer, who was killed last Saturday night in a shooting in Manhattan. He was off duty at the time of the incident.

Christenson told JCPost.com, “I would like to dedicate this award to Felix, the CO Officer that was killed over the weekend. I’ve had the opportunity to work with him. and he was a pretty good guy. I’d like to dedicate this to him.”

Riley County police responded to the 1400 block of Vista Lane in Manhattan where they found Flores suffering from a gunshot wound. He was first transported to Via Christi Hospital and then to Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka, but died. Flores had worked for the Geary County Sheriff’s Department for about one year.

Riley County police reported the arrest of Gregoria Elizabeth Baez, 21, on suspicion of Involuntary Manslaughter in the case.

UPDATE:

The 21-year old Manhattan man who died Saturday after suffering a gunshot wound, Felix K. Flores, was a Geary County Corrections officer. He was off-duty at the time of the shooting Saturday night in Manhattan.

Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf confirmed Flores had been a corrections officer for the sheriff’s department for about one year. “A great kid to be around, a really good worker, had a great attitude about things. ” Wolf said he really liked Flores. “He was just one of those guys that you are around them for a little while and the more you’re around him the more you liked him. That was definitely the case with him. This just really took the wind out of my sails when I heard about this.”

Flores was initially from the state of Texas.

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RILEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have made an arrest.

Just after 7:40 p.m. Saturday, the Riley County Police Department received a call of an unresponsive individual in the 1400 block of Vista Lane, according to a media release.

When officers arrived on scene, they found Felix K Flores, 21, Manhattan, with life-threatening injuries, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to Via Christi in Manhattan then life-flighted to Stormont Vail in Topeka where he died.

Early Sunday, police reported the arrest Gregoria Elizabeth Baez, 21, in connection with the shooting. according to the daily arrest report.  She is  being held on a $20,000 bond for involuntary manslaughter; Recklessly, according to the RCPD report.

Police have released no additional details.

Apple Day draws the public to Fort Riley for activities ranging from helicopter and tank displays to the annual sale of apple pies made with Libby Custer’s recipe that dates back to the 19th century.

The pie sales help raise funds for Historical and Archeological Society of Fort Riley activities. The Vice President of HASFR, Laura Childers, said 1,500 pies were made. Every year those are sold out. She talked about how the fundraiser helps HASFR meet their mission. “Our mission is to preserve the history around Fort Riley. So that money goes to preserving signs. it goes into preserving period ware, our ghost tours and our tour of homes events.”

Volunteers provided help three shifts per day to make the pies and prepare for the annual sales at Apple Day. Approximately 150 volunteers helped with the pie making.

Those who attended Apple Day could also view Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard demonstrations, helicopter and tank displays, military working dog demonstrations, an ATV rodeo, and there were kid friendly activities such as bounce houses. Numerous organizations presented information on health related topics to the public, and there were sales of food items and merchandise.