Christopher Lyman, 31, Junction City has been sentenced to life in prison in connection with the death of an eight-month old infant in September of 2013.

He was found guilty in May by a Geary County District Court jury of 1st Degree Felony Murder, Child Abuse, and Aggravated Battery.

During sentencing proceedings in District Court Friday, Lyman received a life term on the murder count, plus concurrent sentences of41 months on the Aggravated Battery count and 32 months on the Child Abuse conviction, to be served at the same time as the life term.  That made the life sentence the controlling term.  Lyman will be eligible for parole consideration in 20 years.

The prosecutor in the case, Chris Biggs said, “Obviously we’re pleased with the verdict, and the sentence is set by statute. So life sentence isn’t something the Court has a lot of discretion on. ” Biggs added, “The real tragic part of this case is that it was apparent during the course of the trial that this child for lots of reasons had been passed among various people given the responsibility to care for the child. The child was killed. Ultimately the child didn’t have a voice, and the jury gave the child a voice in this case. So we’re very pleased with the outcome.”

During the proceedings on Friday the Court overruled a motion for a new trial or judgement of acquittal. During a hearing on that motion Lyman testified he didn’t commit the crime, and noted he didn’t kill the infant.

MANHATTAN – Law enforcement authorities in Manhattan arrested a drug suspect locked in a gas station bathroom just after 1 a.m. on Friday.

Riley County Police responded to the 400 Block of Fort Riley Boulevard after receiving complaints about an unwanted subject who was in a gas station bathroom and refusing to leave after a significant amount of time. Police suspected drug activity.

The arrested Thomas Bergener, 33, Canton, Ohio, for offenses of possession of opiates, opium, or narcotic drugs and possession of methamphetamine precursors. Officers also found approximately 1 gram of heroin and a needle.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Department of Veterans Affairs faces a serious numbers problem. Multiple problems in fact.

It can’t count how many veterans died while waiting to sign up for health care. It says some VA hospitals may have to close if the agency can’t get $2.5 billion. And a year after scandal rocked the department, congressional Republicans want to know why so few people have been fired.

Arizona Sen. John McCain calls the VA a “broken bureaucracy” that “continues to be plagued by a culture of neglect and mismanagement.”

The VA acknowledges problems but says it has made significant progress in the past year to improve its health care system and service delivery and set the course for long-term reform.

VA Secretary Robert McDonald says “veterans need VA.”

MANHATTAN -K-State employees have recently been targeted by a “TIAA-CREF re-authenticate your account” email phishing scam that has been involved in at least three rounds of attacks according to a media release by KSU Information technology.

On July 6, Human Capital Services emailed K-State employees with a TIAA-CREF account that K-State is blocking the URL in the scam, so computers on the university network cannot access the intended web address.

If you have replied to the TIAA-CREF email scam or any other email that asked for account information, contact the IT Help Desk as soon as possible (214 Hale Library, helpdesk@k-state.edu, 785-532-7722, toll-free 800-865-6143).

Simple rules will protect you from all kinds of scams: Never provide a password or personal identity information in response to email.  Never use your K-State eID password on any other account. 

More defenses against email scams

For starters, realize that K-State and other reputable entities will NEVER ask for password or personal identity information via email.

1. Do not reply to scam emails.  Don’t click on any links in email, and don’t fill out any forms. Delete requests immediately.
2. Check K-State’s phishing-scams blog to see recent email scams and learn how to recognize scams.
3. If you doubt the legitimacy of an email, ask your K-State IT support person or contact the IT Help Desk, 785-532-7722, 800-865-6143, helpdesk@k-state.edu or call the company who is purported to have sent the email.
4. Never use the same password for more than two accounts.

How email scams work

Phishing scams prey on your fears of losing something.  They trick people into providing account and password data under the guise of “false emergency” emails, such as:

• “Your account or password has been changed/locked/updated”
• “Your mailbox storage is full”
• “Your data or photos will be lost”

However, once criminals have access to your accounts, you can lose your money, data, identity, contacts, and much more.

K-State resources protected by your eID/password

If a scammer gets your K-State eID password, they can access, control, and damage your K‑State resources and your personal identity information:

• Email/webmail account
• HRIS employee information system
• KSIS student information system
• Wireless campus networks
• K-State Online

If you have given anyone your K-State eID/password, go to eid.k-state.edu and immediately change your password.

The Junction City Municipal Services Director position is open.

City Manager Allen Dinkel confirmed that the employee who has been working for the city in that post, Greg McCaffrey, is no longer affiliated with the city.

McCaffrey began working for the city in August of 2011.

As far as the future of that job position, Dinkel indicated that will have to be reviewed.

The Kansas Department of Health & Environment has put Milford Lake under a blue green algae warning.

All three zones of the reservoir are under a warning level but only the north end from the Madison Creek Point to the Wakefield Causeway is closed. The remainder of the lake, from the Madison Creek Point south to the Dam is open, meaning much of the lake is still open for boating and fishing.

Due to the warning levels no direct water contact such as swimming, jet skiing, and tubing will be allowed on the lake.

Following up on a Thursday morning accident on I-70 east of Junction City near the 301 mile marker, Geary County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a single vehicle rollover at 7:36 a.m. on Thursday.

The Sheriff’s Department said Samuel Baker, Manhattan, was westbound in a Ford Explorer when he left the interstate and overturned. Baker was transported to Geary Community Hospital by Junction City Fire / EMS for a laceration to the head.

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures heat back up today and it is expected to feel like 103 to 107 degrees this afternoon. Because of this, a heat advisory will go into effect this afternoon and continue through the day Saturday. Be sure to take it easy if outside, drinking plenty of water and taking frequent breaks. There is a chance for some severe storms Sunday and Sunday night. We may have to look out for some damaging wind gusts along with large hail and locally heavy rainfall.

Heat Advisory
Hazardous Weather Outlook

Today: Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. South winds 5 to 15 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 70s. South winds 10 to 15 mph.

Saturday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. South winds 10 to 15 mph. Highest heat index readings around 108 in the afternoon.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 70s. South winds 5 to 15 mph shifting to the west 5 to 10 mph after midnight.

Sunday: Not as warm. Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 80s. Northeast winds 5 to 15 mph.

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s.

Monday: Partly sunny with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 80s.

Monday Night: Partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 80s.

Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 90.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 70s.

Thursday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 90s.

The 2015 Geary County Free Fair officially kicked off Thursday night with the Public Review held at the Geary County Senior Center/4-H Building.

During Public Review 4-H’ers show off different articles of clothing that they either made or purchased and then accessorize and coordinated together.

This years Champions are:

Clothing Construction:

• Junior Division Reserve Champion- Hanna Miller (green dress with pink trim)
• Junior Division Grand Champion-Paige Roeser (denim capri pants)
• Intermediate Division Reserve Champion-Jada Nabus (shirt)
• Intermediate Division Grand Champion-Lindsey Ascher (dress)
• Senior Division Reserve Grand Champion-Lydia Sohnrey (dress)
• Senior Division Grand Champion-Brittany Childs (wool jacket)

Constructed Fashion Revue

• Junior Division Reserve Champion- Gracie Erichsen (turquoise zebra dress)
• Junior Division Grand Champion-Paige Roeser (white capri outfit)
• Intermediate Division Reserve Champion-Jada Nabus (skirt outfit)
• Intermediate Division Grand Champion-Lindsey Ascher (dress)
• Senior Division Grand Champion-Brittany Childs (wool jacket outfit)

Boys Buymanship

• Intermediate Division Reserve Champion-Zachery Ferris (slacks outfit)
• Intermediate Division Grand Champion-Colton Crable (western outfit)
• Senior Division Reserve Grand Champion-Mason Muto (suit)
• Senior Division Grand Champion-Calen Boller (formal suit)

Girls Buymanship

• Junior Division Reserve Champion- Grace Harris (capri outfit)
• Junior Division Grand Champion-Macie Muto (Aztec hi-lo dress)
• Intermediate Division Reserve Champion-Lindsey Ascher (blue romper)
• Intermediate Division Grand Champion-Michaela Doyle (lace dress)
• Senior Division Reserve Grand Champion-Taylor Curtright (golf outfit)
• Senior Division Grand Champion-Rebekah Thomas (capri outfit)

Geary County 4-H crowned the 2015 King and Queen Thursday night following the Public Revue at the Geary County Senior Center-4-H building.

This years royalty are both from the Lyons Creek 4-H Club, Queen Rebekah Thomas, 16, will be a Junior at Chapman High School and King Gabriel Anderson, 15, will be a Junior at Junction City High School.

“For me it means that I need to be even more on task,” said Anderson. “I need to show 4-H really well. As King I feel like I need to be kind of like the perfect model citizen, that way I show that 4-H makes your children better and into a more rounded person.”

The King and Queen will have many duties over the next year including representing Geary County 4-H at multiple local and state events.

Thomas explained she’s wanted to become the 4-H Queen ever since she saw her brothers be crowned 4-H Kings growing up.

“All three of my brothers ran and were crowned Kings and I saw the Queens and they looked, in the crowns, they looked all pretty,” said Thomas.

Last years Co-Queens Marissa Muto and Brittney Childs crowned both Thomas and Anderson following the 4-H Public Revue which officially kicked off the Geary County Free Fair that runs next Monday through Thursday.