The Geary County Free Fair resumes tonight with the 4-H sheep show at 6 p.m. and 
the swine show at 7:30 p.m., and the Barnyard Olympics begin at 9 p.m..
Other activities include the Homemade Ice Cream Social from 6-8 p.m. and the inflatable amusements and money pit will be open from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m..
Horse drawn carriage rides are offered from 5-7 p.m..
Geary USD 475 has announced the new Morris Hill Elementary Principal and the new Assistant Principal at Fort Riley Middle School.
Kenneth Upham has been selected as the next Principal at Morris Hill Elementary.
Upham has been serving as the Assistant Principal at Seitz Elementary, and was selected out of three candidates. He will replace Greg Lumb who was promoted to Director of Instructional Innovations & Technology.
Upham received his Bachelors of Science in Education from Emporia State University in 1999. In 2004 he received a Masters in Educational Leadership at Pittsburg State University. He has 17 years of experience in education, including three as an administrator. He has been with geary USD 475 since 2006.
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USD 475 has announced the hiring of Trina Dibbini as Assistant Principal at Fort Riley Middle School. She will be replacing Heather Oentrick who will take over as head principal for retiring principal Joe Handlos.
Dibbini comes to Fort Riley Middle School after spending time at Burlingame Elementary, Concordia Jr/Sr. High School, Lakewood Middle School in Salina and currently from Meadowlark Ridge Elementary in Salina where she served as a Lead Teacher, which is considered equivalent to an assistant principal.
She received her Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education at Kansas Wesleyan University in 2002. In 2010 she received a Masters in School Leadership at Fort Hays State University and English as a second language endorsement from Kansas State University.
Trina will begin her duties August 1st.
The Regional Training campus on Fort Riley from this day forward will be known as the Seitz Regional Training Campus, named after the late LTG (R) Richard J. Seitz.
The memorialization ceremony was held Wednesday morning at the front entrance to
the training campus with a number of Seitz’s family members on hand to witness the unveiling of the Horse Jump with the familiar Seitz name in bright yellow letters.
“I don’t think it’s quite sunk into all of us kids so we are still odd, and really cannot express how touched we are that Fort Riley would do this to remember our dad,” said Patricia Seitz. “Because we thought of him as incredible, I mean I cannot describe what it was like to have him for a father. I mean it was very much of an authoritarian figure when you were growing up and you needed that, but as an adult to get to know him as a friend, they just don’t make them like that.”
Seitz passed away June 8th, 2013.
During his 35-year military career, Seitz played a crucial role as a leader during some of our country’s most turbulent times. In 1939 he accepted a commission as a second lieutenant and attended jump-school-only the sixth class the Army had ever held-and thus became one of the Army’s first paratroopers.
At age 25 he was pinned on major….and wias given command of the 2nd Battalion of the 517th Parachute Infantry Regimental Combat Team, and shortlyafter, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and, as the Army’s youngest battalion commander led his unit throughout its historic combat operations in Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge.
Seitz settled in Junction City after his retirement, and was active with local and area organizations.
According to the National Weather Service of Topeka, thunderstorm chances return to the area Wednesday through early Thursday morning, primarily along and south of I-70. Conditions will 
remain relatively cool Wednesday with highs in the 80s, but expect a warming trend late week into the weekend. Friday is looking to be the warmest day of the week with hot and humid conditions causing highs to soar into the mid to upper 90s and heat index values to reach around 108. Hot conditions may persist into the weekend, however thunderstorms are possible which may help to limit the heat.
Today: Partly sunny. A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 80s. Southeast winds up to 10 mph.
Tonight: Mostly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s. East winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.
Thursday: Mostly sunny. A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning. Highs in the upper 80s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 70s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. South winds 5 to 10 mph. Highest heat index readings around 108 in the afternoon.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 70s.
Saturday: Mostly sunny with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 90s.
Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 70s.
Sunday: Mostly sunny with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 70s.
Monday: Mostly sunny with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 70s.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s.
Cooler temperatures brought a large crowd out to day two of the Geary County Free Fair Tuesday, which featured the goat and beef show.
The number of entries at this years beef show at the Geary County Free Fair may have been down from years past, but the quality of the beef was what really impressed this years Judge.
Chuck Otte, Geary County Research and Extensions Agent explained that he talked to the Judge following the Beef Show Tuesday night and was told that the 4-Her’s presented some quality beef this year despite the low number of entries.
“The real encouraging thing is we had 15 4-Her’s in the bucket calf project and that’s where a lot of the younger kids, that’s where they start,” said Otte. “They take a bucket calf, it’s a smaller animal, they learn how to take care of an animal, how to show an animal, what the parts of an animal are and a lot of those kids then grow up and they start bringing in full fledge market steers. It’s a nice progression, I’m encouraged by it and the quality of it is very, very good.”
This years Grand Champion for Overall Showmanship was Kati Fehlman of the Lyon Creek 4-H Club. During showmanship the Judge switched things up a little bit by having each contestant show one of the other contestants steers, in order to test the contestants overall showmanship skills.
“I’ve never really done that before, but you have to be prepared for whatever the Judge throws at you,” said Fehlman.
The Geary County Free Fair is back in action Wednesday with the swine and sheep show highlighting the schedule. The fair is being held on the Geary County Fairgrounds located just off Spring Valley Road on Junction City’s west side.
Junction City Manager Allen Dinkel will serve as a judge for the sheep and swine shows at the Geary County Free Fair Thursday evening.
Dinkel is a former county extension agent in Kansas, and has extensive experience as a judge.
The 4-H Sheep Show is scheduled at 6 p.m. and the 4-H Swine Show at 7:30 p.m.
This Friday is Tough Enough to Wear Pink Night at the Kaw Valley PRCA Rodeo in Manhattan.
The rodeo begins at 8 p.m. at Wells Arena in Cico Park.
There will be a pink balloon release during the Grand Entry and a special breast cancer awareness performance by the McPherson Silver Buckle Drill Team.
The audience, rodeo participants, and horses wear pink, pink merchandise is sold, and rodeo winners wearing pink get bigger prizes. The event honors cancer survivors and supports K-State cancer research.
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The Kaw Valley Rodeo is a three-night event. It is also runs Thursday and Saturday nights at 8 p. m.
Thursday will be the 8th annual Military Family Appreciation Night Pre-rodeo Picnic, sponsored by BriggsAuto.com from 5:30 until 7 p.m.
Three-time Pro Rodeo Entertainer of the Year, Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey will be performing all three nights of the rodeo. Whiplash is a capuchin monkey. He is billed as a true fan favorite as he shows off his skills and cowboy spirit herding wild Barbados sheep at rodeos and events across the world, aboard his trusty border collie, Boogie. Whiplash has appeared on ESPN, Good Morning America, and the Today Show, and appeared in a series of television commercials for Taco john’s in 2004.
New signs have been developed by the Kansas Department of Health & Environment clarifying the watches, warnings, and closures that apply to the different designated zones of Milford Lake for blue green algae.
The signs will be used by the Corps of Engineers and Milford State Park officials.
Connie Hall, Geary County CVB Director, said the signs will show the differences for the blue green algae. “The lake is zoned into three zones….zones A, B, and C. And of course the lake can be under either a watch or a warning, or even a complete closure.” Hall noted on the recent closure last week where the signs said Milford Lake was closed there was no direct correlation to the different zones. “And so the signs were put up today ( Tuesday ) that show exactly that Zone C of the lake is closed completely because of the harmful algae that is present.”
Right now the north end or zone c is closed from Madison Point north to the Wakefield Causeway, but the lake from Madison Point south to the Dam is open to boating and fishing. That area in Zones A and B is under a warning prohibiting direct contact with the water such as swimming, but boating and fishing are allowed.
It’s been almost two weeks since the announcement was made concerning troop reductions by the U.S. Army with the reduction at Fort Riley totaling 615 soldiers.
Where those cuts will be made remains to be unknown, but John Armbrust, the Executive Director of the Governor’s Military Council updated the Junction City Noon Rotary Monday on where he believes the cuts will be made.
“I know some of them are likely going to come from the Brigade Combat Team reorganization, probably the Headquarters part of that. From the 1st Infantry Division Headquarters, there will be some reorganization and some will come out of there. There’s an EOD Battalion that I expect to go away, but there is going to be a DIVARTY (Division Artillery) Headquarters that comes in and so that will be very helpful and that helps offset some of that,” said Armbrust.
Armbrust referred to the remaining cuts as the “infamous other” because it remains unclear where they will be made.
The Army will also be cutting 17,000 civilian jobs across the nation and it remains unclear how many of those cuts will be made at Fort Riley.
“We have to remember that the civilian workforce on Fort Riley is very important, not just in a support function, but they actually are the key trainers in many areas for our men and women that are going into harm’s way.”
The cuts will be made by fiscal year 2017.
Fort Leavenworth in Kansas was also impacted by the troop reductions. They will be losing 60 soldiers.