The Junction City Blue Jay football team completed a solid first week of practice with a public practice at Al Simpler Stadium that focused on game type situations.

Coach Randall Zimmerman said it was a good first week for his team. “I was disappointed in our conditioning today but that’s something that’s going to come.” Zimmerman added for the most part he feels good at where the team is at. “I love our attitude, kids have done a tremendous job of leading each other and holding each other accountable.”

The offensive line is important. Our offensive front we’re working on finishing. There’s some veterans up there. We’ll try to find five kids. There’s two kids that have been there, this being their third year, Calen Boller for his second year, Duke Vail for his second year, and we’ve got another spot that we’re trying to find somebody at.” Corbin Sanner is a third year starter at center and Jacob Smith is another third year starter on the offensive line.

The defensive secondary is where the least amount of experience returns, but the coach says those players are performing “tremendously well.” Aaron Hamilton, Alec Pointer, Jordan Irby and Javontez Brime were mentioned. At punter Andrew Khoury, Ethan Alcorn and Baylor Wilkey are solid and others can go there.  Zimmerman said it appears Mindy Lechuga is going to be “very accurate, maybe short field goals, maybe PAT’s, pooch kicks, but we need a deep kicker and a  long field goal guy. Might be Aaron Hamilton, could be Kazerick Smith, we’ll just keep working with them there.”

The Blue Jays have two weeks to prepare for their first game of the season which is a home contest at Al Simpler Stadium against Hays.

Fort Riley Garrison Commander, Col. Stephen Shrader, and Manhattan Mayor Linda Morse, will sign an Intergovernmental Support Agreement at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Manhattan City Hall.

The purpose of the agreement is to reduce costs for the yearly purchase of bulk salt used in winter months to treat roadways in Manhattan and on Fort Riley. The agreement will require the City to procure bids and purchase bulk salt that will be delivered to both locations. The City of Manhattan will invoice Fort Riley for their portion plus an administrative fee of 3% of the total cost of the product  delivered to Fort Riley. The partnership is estimated to save Fort Riley roughly $89,000 per year over their previous procurement methods.

As part of the agreement. the City will be allowed to use excess salt reserves from Fort Riley if needed. In severe winter conditions, additional salt purchases may not be available as suppliers provide salt first to the Kansas Department of Transportation, then to local jurisdictions. Building additional salt storage facilities, which would allow for greater emergency reserves would be costly for the City. However, Fort Riley has a large amount of available space and typically keeps three years of salt reserves on hand. Each ton of salt used by the City in an emergency situation would be replaced.

“To our knowledge this is the first ever commodities procurement Intergovernmental Support Agreement in the Army. This is a testament to the innovation, persistence and strong relationships that exist in the Flint Hills between Fort Riley and our surrounding communities, says Col. Shrader.

“The City of Manhattan truly values our partnership with Fort Riley and this agreement is a win-win for both of us,” says Morse.

 

UPDATE:

MANHATTAN — The Kansas State University Police Department has determined that the deceased male found Thursday, Aug. 16, in Washington Marlatt Memorial Park was a suicide.

At approximately 6 p.m. K-State Police responded to a call regarding an unconscious male in the park, a location owned by the university near Top of the World Drive. Upon arrival, officers found deceased Manhattan resident Steven Shawgo on a walking trail in the park.

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MANHATTAN — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the death of a man in Manhattan.

 Just after 6p.m.  Thursday, Kansas State University Police Department was notified of an unconscious man near Top of the World Drive, according to a social media report.

Upon arrival, officers found a deceased man on a walking trail in the park.

Circumstances of the death remain under investigation and the name of the person is not being released pending notification of family.

With community leaders and Junction City High School cheerleaders in attendance Gordmans cut the ribbon on their new store at 437 East Chestnut Street in Junction City Thursday morning.

Store Manager Tracy Lackner said the store consists of 2,100 square feet with numerous items ranging from sale including home merchandise, clothing, shoes, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas merchandise. This is one of four new stores where a grand opening was scheduled on Thursday, explained Lackner. “The company is doing four grand openings at one time, Hays, Kansas, Seymour Indiana and Madison, Indiana as well as us.”

There are 23 employees at the Junction City Gordmans.

During the ribbon cutting Gordmans also presented a check for $2,500. JCHS Principal Melissa Sharp said the money will be put into the academic booster calendar. “That money will be turned around to honor students with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher, honor AP students, senior honor students, and also help with our honor pass to have discounts throughout the community.” The annual academic honor banquet is held each winter at the high school to recognize JCHS students with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.

 

UPDATE:

Junction City Police Captain Trish Giordano confirmed the three suspects arrested in connection with an August 9th homicide were taken into custody without incident.

Police reported that an active duty Soldier, Jacqueline Charda Sampson, 24, Fort Riley plus Cameron Michael Fontenot, 18, Junction City, and a 17-year juvenile ( male ) from Junction City were arrested on suspicion of First Degree Murder and Burglary. The allegations stem from the August 9th shooting death of Darian White, 21, Junction City.

Giordano confirmed police followed up on numerous leads in the case, “and put some stuff together, and developed probable cause to pick up a few people, and ended up with three suspects.”

Giordano does not anticipate more arrests in the case. The suspects are expected to have a first court appearance Thursday.

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The Junction City Police Department has reported the arrest of three people in connection with the August 9th shooting death of Darian White, 21, Junction City.

White was found shot to death in a vehicle in the parking lot of 713 West 11th Street. Police confirmed that the cause of death was from gunshot wounds.

Police Captain Trish Giordano reported that late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning officers of the JCPD located and arrested Jacqueline Charda Sampson, 24, Fort Riley, Cameron Michael Fontenot, 18, Junction City and a 17-year old juvenile from Junction City on suspicion of First Degree Murder and Burglary.

Sampson and Fontenot are being without bond pending a first court appearance. The juvenile is being held at the North Central Kansas Regional Juvenile Detention Center.

Giordano stated that detectives are still actively working the case. If anyone has information call the JCPD Investigation Divisiion at 762-5912.

 

Nolan Minor of West Virginia University and Nick Ratliff of Campbellsville University in Kentucky will battle for the championship of the 2018 Carharrt Bassmaster College Series College Bracket at Milford.

The two anglers made it through the semifinals Wednesday. Minor said in the semifinal round he was working secondary points with chunk rock, and fishing with walking bait and jerk bait in areas

“When I would have an area that I was pretty confident there were fish in it I would first make a pass through that area with the top water.” If the small mouth missed the top water bait he would return to the same area with jerk bait. “It worked twice for me today.”

Ratliff said with the wind blowing Wednesday morning it was a concern. “I made a few adjustments, caught a couple on my backup deal, I got one other area that’s kind of out of the wind if it blows in this direction. I caught my two biggest off of there and I’ve actually caught three fish off of there the last two days.”

The two anglers will begin fishing in the championship round at 6:20 a.m. Thursday. The final weigh-in will be held about 1:45 p.m. at Acorns Resort. The winner will have earned a berth in the Bassmaster Classic, considered the World Series of bass fishing.

Minor and Ratliff are the final two fishermen remaining in the tournament at Milford Lake out of a field of eight competitors that began on Tuesday.

Junction City Mayor Pat Landes told a Breakfast Optimist Club audience Wednesday that his strategies for problem solving include analyzing, defining and then following through toward the solution. Landes stated when he joined the city commission the water and waste water infrastructure was crumbling. At that time six of the twenty funds in the City budget were in the red and now are in the black with a $30 million reserve.

According to Club Member Ferrell Miller, the mayor noted that the City Commission has kept the mill levy flat, and the city debt has been lowered from $176 million down to less than $100 million. There have been successful efforts at finding creative ways to improve the streets with matching funds.

Land Bank lots have been offered to new teachers in USD 475 and St. Xavier schools. Landes said there are currently 920 lots in the Land Bank, and the city has to be creative on how to get people to build houses on them, and then stay here.

Some of the goals cited by the Mayor include to “clean up Grant Avenue and possibly make it an industrial / manufacturing area because rail access is already there, working with the USD 475 staff on road access to the new Junction City High School, diversifying the economy an presenting a positive image of Junction City.

The JC Breakfast Optimist Club held their weekly meeting at the Hampton Inn in Junction City on Wednesday.

FORT RILEY, Kansas – Fort Riley officials have announced that 10 teams of U.S. Army Soldiers converged on Fort Riley August 13 for a grueling series of events that tests warrior and battlefield medical skills. The twenty Soldiers are competing in a four-day competition for the coveted title of Best Medic, Regional Health Command – Central. The winning team will compete in the U.S. Army Best Medic Competition Sept. 15-20 at Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

The competition is open to any Soldier who has earned the Expert Field Medical Badge and/or the Combat Medic Badge. Competing teams represent the following organizations:
.       Irwin Army Community Hospital, Fort Riley, Kansas
.       William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Fort Bliss, Texas
.       Reynolds Army Health Clinic, Fort Sill, Oklahoma
.       General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital Fort Leonard Wood,
Missouri
.       Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital, Fort Polk, Louisiana
.       Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, Fort Hood, Texas
.       Brooke Army Medical Center, Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Sam
Houston, Texas
.       Dental Health Command – Central, Joint Base San Antonio, Fort Sam
Houston, Texas
.       Evans Army Community Hospital, Fort Carson, Colorado
.       Public Health Command- Central, Joint Base San Antonio, e

The Secretary of Kansas Wildlife Parks and Tourism, Robin Jennison, attended a dinner at Acorns Resort that marked the kickoff of the Bassmaster College Bracket Championship at Milford Lake.

He’s proud of the accomplishments at the lake. “You’re looking at the best of Kansas here at Milford. I mean you’ve got the biggest lake we’ve got Acorns Resort. There is not a facility like Acorns here in the state of Kansas. We need more of them, and then you’ve got this tremendous fishery which in a large part is due to the hatchery we’ve got here.” Jennison called it a great venue that portrays the best of Kansas.

Eight college anglers are competing in the fishing tournament that runs Tuesday through Thursday. The winner qualifies for a spot in the Bassmaster Classic, which is considered the world series of  bass fishing.

 

There is a need for a new building to use in economic development recruiting in Junction City.

Camso Manufacturing USA LLC took the building that was available to market, explained Mayor Pat Landes. “So we have land but most companies want an existing building to do something with, so they’re ( EDC ) kind of looking around now to try to get the investor group to build a building. And there are some other opportunities regarding a rail line here, we’ll kind of see what happens with that.”

Landes updated the Junction City Commission on the need for a new building this past week.

Camso was welcomed to the community after announcing that they would invest $36.4 million in leasing, renovating and equipping a 139,000 square foot manufacturing facility in the I-70 Industrial Park, and will create 40 new jobs.