First Day of School Start and Dismissal Times: Posted by USD 475
Junction City High School
Full Day ( All Students)
8:30 a.m. – 3:35 p.m.
Junction City Middle School
Half Day ( 6th Grade & New Students)
7:50 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Fort Riley Middle School
Half Day ( 6th Grade & New Students)
7:50 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Elementary Schools
Half Day ( Grade 1 – 5) 8:00 – 11:25 a.m.
Fort Riley Elementary 7:45 – 11:10 a.m.
Seitz Elementary 8:15 – 11:40 a.m.
MANHATTAN, KAN. – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a murder and have a suspect in custody.
Just after 8p.m. Saturday, officers with the Riley County Police Department arrested Steven Meredith, 32, of Junction City, on a Riley County District Court warrant for first degree murder, according to a media release from Riley County Police.
Meredith is being held in the Riley County Jail on $1,000,000.00 bond in connection to the October 2017 death of Carrie Jones, 48, of Junction City.
Meredith has previous convictions of arson, aggravated failure to appear, flee or attempted to elude police, obstruction, theft and drugs, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Authorities released no additional details late Saturday.
From Float Your Boat and the first annual Duck Race for Big Brothers Big Sisters to the Junction City Omni, Brandon Stroda fishing derby, the Junction City Omni Bike Race and Junction City Police Department block party there were plenty of activities for Geary County residents on Friday night and Saturday.
Float Your Boat was held at the Gathering Pond area at Milford Lake. Carbboard boats held together with duct tape raced for the best time in different divisions.
First place winners in the different Float Your Boat categories included Micro Bootlegger in the Family Division, the Geary County Sheriff’s Department in the Open Division, the Youth Volunteer Corps of Manhattan in the Team category and the Geary County Sheriff’s Department in the Extreme Division. There was a stock tank division, but there were no entries.
The Duck Race to raise funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters followed at the Gathering Pond. You could purchase a duck for five dollars, and there were cash prizes for the winners.
Junction City police held their annual block party in Heritage Park with the fountain in the center of that location. The activities ranged from free food to a Batman Lego movie, K-9 demonstration, and taser demonstration. The bicycle race began Saturday atop the Milford Lake Dam and wound around through the south side of the lake area. Sunday the bicycle competition resumes in downtown Junction City with the winners vying for prize money.
The Division Review highlighted the troops and the history of the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley.
The 1st Infantry Division Band performed, the Revolutionary War era cannon “Old Thunder” was fired, and there was the historic cavalry charge across the Calvary Parade field. Troops from different units and brigades on post carried the different unit flags, and marched in review past the commanding general Major General John Kolasheski.
Kolasheski spoke to the troops on the parade field. He talked about a key requirement “to fight and win America’s wars.” He said priorities must be established and prioritized. “First we must stay laser focused on building and sustaining individual and collective readiness, to include boosting our capacity to quickly project forces anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice.”
Kolasheski outlined numerous other priorities with some of those including development of leaders to have the knowledge, skills and aptitude to effectively lead under any conditions and in any environment. He stated they must care for their Soldiers, families and civilians, and they must be good professionals and first class teammates.
Kolasheski told the Soldiers they are all ambassadors for the 1st Infantry Division, the Army and the nation. The Division Review capped off the end of the Victory Week celebration at Fort Riley.
Economic development recruitment will be one focus for the Junction City delegation attending the annual AUSA convention in Washington D.C. this year.
Mayor Pat Landes reported this week that the EDC Director Mickey Fornaro-Dean will be attending the meeting again this year, and there is an attempt to try to get the new Military Affairs Director, Craig Bender, to attend as well.
Landes stated, “We will be holding an economic development reception for all the vendors there at the meeting to try to get them to look into moving their business or coming to Junction City, and turn that Military Affairs Director position into kind of a position that assists EDC.” Bender’s hiring was just announced this week and it is expected to be late this year or early next year before he can begin working in Junction City. He is still an active duty service member but will be retiring in the near future.
The AUSA meeting in Washington D.C. will be in October.
Junction City police were called to 713 West 11th Street at 1:48 a.m. Thursday for a report of shots fired. According to Police Captain Trish Giordano they found a 21-year old man identified as Darian White of Junction City who had been shot. He was dead at the scene.
Giordano confirmed an autopsy will be done in the case. At this time no one has been arrested and no motive is known for the shooting.
Police are asking for the public for help in providing information in the case. You can call the JCPD or Crimestoppers.
This is the first homicide in Junction City since January of 2016.
A new Military Affairs Director has been hired for the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce.
MAC Advisory Committee Chair Phyllis Fitzgerald confirmed the new director will be soon to be retired Lieutenant Colonel Craig Bender. “He is right now stationed, I think over in North Carolina, but he’ll be retiring soon. We’re expecting him hopefully by the end of the year or the first of next year. So we’re really excited that we’ve got somebody hired and looking forward to him and his family getting here, and seeing what all they can do for our great community.”
Fitzgerald confirmed Chamber CEO Mickey Fornaro-Dean had the final approval of the hiring of Bender. He will succeed John Seitz who retired from the MAC Director position.
The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District is proposing to move water in Nebraska from the Platte River Basin to the Republican River Basin to meet their legal streamflow obligations to Kansas. But the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism believes downstream environmental and economic consequences should be considered.
KWPT said the Platte and Republican Rivers are not naturally connected so connecting them would breate a pathway for harmful fish, plants and other species to move between the rivers. The Platte River contains species such as Asian Carp and White Perch that could swim into the Republican River system. which supplies Milford and Lovewell Reservoirs. Those species and others that may inhabit the Platte River in the future could severely impact Kansas lakes and rivers.
Asian Carp can weight more than 50 pounds and leap 10 feet in the air when boats or personal watercraft pass by, posing a risk of serious injury to boaters. White Perch and Asian Carp can also pose a risk to the Kansas recreational fishing industry by leading to declines of sport fish such as bass, crappie and walleye. Changes to the Republican River could impact critical habitat for the Shoal Chub and Plains Minnow which are threatened species in Kansas.
KWPT said you can submit written comments to: Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 94676, Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-4676. Your written comments must be received by August 16th. Besure to include the application number to which you commenting on ( A-19594 ), an indication that your comment is offered under Option 1 ( written comment ), your name, address and contact information and your written comments.
A total of 2,243 voters cast ballots in the primary election in Geary County on Tuesday.
There were no contested local races.
In the Republican primary for Governor 680 in Geary County voted for Kris Kobach while 544 cast ballots for Jeff Colyer. There were seven candidates in that race, with Ken Selzer finishing third in the county’s totals with 142 votes, Jim Barnett fourth at 121, followed by Patrick “PK” Kucera with 20, Tyler Ruzich with 6 and Joseph Tutera Jr. 3.
In the Geary County vote in the Secretary of State’s race, Randy Duncan was the top vote getter with 426 votes, while Dennis Taylor had 381, Scott Schwab 288, Craig McCullah 181 and Keith Esau 102 votes.
There are 16,699 registered voters in the county, meaning 13.4% went to the polls on Tuesday. But that number is a little misleading. According to Geary County Clerk Rebecca Nordyke 36.4% of the registered Republican voters and 27.1% of the registered Democratic Party voters cast ballots. “We’ve got about a third of our registered voters who are unaffiliated, so obviously lots of them don’t show up for this primary election.” Nordyke felt many of them might vote in the November general election. “But they don’t want to choose a party and so they don’t come out to be part of the party nomination process.”
Statewide in the Democratic primary for Governor, State Sen. Laura Kelly won the nomination. The Republican primary for Governor had not yet been decided, with Jeff Colyer and Kris Kobach in a tight battle.
Scott Schwab won the Republican primary for Secretary of State. He will face Democrat Brian McClendon in the November general election.
In Geary County incumbent 1st District County Commissioner Ben Bennett is unopposed. He received 668 votes. Lonnie Clark and Dave Baker are unopposed in the 65th District House and 68th District races respectively. In Geary County alone Clark received 725 votes while Baker received 627 votes.
UPDATE:
Geary USD 475 Superintendent of Schools Dr. Corbin Witt feels his 4-year stint as superintendent was a good run with a lot of accomplishments. “Bond issue, one-to-one initiative, with very positive things.”
The bond issue approved by voters will help provide state funding to pay for a portion of the new high school.
Witt’s resignation was accepted by the Board of Education Monday night. He has been absent from work in recent weeks while dealing with back illness. “It’s difficult that I had to resign but I think there is a plan and I’ll just wait to see what the Lord decides to do next.” Witt added, I’m proud of my time in Junction City and wish everybody well, and don’t really have anything besides having the disability with the back issue that I have to deal with.”
The Board voted 6-0 to accept Witt’s voluntary resignation subject to terms of a settlement agreement. He had been under a contract for the next school year. Witt confirmed under that agreement the school district would pay the difference between long term disability compensation and his salary.
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Geary USD 475 Superintendent of Schools Dr. Corbin Witt has resigned.
The Board of Education voted 6-0 Monday night to accept his voluntary resignation subject to the terms of a settlement agreement. They did not discuss the reason for the resignation. Their action followed a brief executive session at the Devin Center.
Witt has been out of the office for several weeks dealing with a back illness problem. and it was the second time since he began working in the district that he had to be absent for a substantial amount of time due to that problem. Witt was under contract for the current school year but had already announced that he was planning to retire at the end of this school year.
Tom Brungardt, Board of Education President, was asked about the settlement agreement in this case. “What I can say is that there’s an agreement in place. We will honor that agreement.” When asked if Witt is entitled to some funds, Brungardt stated, “He’s entitled to some funds, yes.”
Dr. Beth Hudson is serving as the Interim Superintendent for the school district while the Board of Education has already begun the process to search for the next superintendent. They plan to have one hired by the winter break in December, with the possibility that person might not begin work in the district until next summer.
