United States and coalition forces are in the process of training Iraqi troops to enter the battle against the Islamic State Group.

Major General Paul Funk, commander of the 1st Infantry Division and Coalition Joint Forces Land

Component Command in Iraq, has been deployed in that country along with Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion troops from Fort Riley.

JC Post asked about the status of the Fort Riley troops in Iraq and the jobs they’re doing.

“Our troops right now are being advisers at all the higher headquarters in the Iraqi Army and they’re also at the training sites building partner capacity through the use of training techniques, teaching them how to shoot weapons, how to move tactically, all the great stuff that our Army does.”

Funk said that his assessment is that progress is being made.

“Just today the Iraqi Army is attacking on two different fronts, defending on another, and continuing to pressure – dash across the breadth and depth of Iraq.”

The battle against ISIS will take some time.

“In Iraq it’s going to take us time to get this done, and we’re starting to see the tide turn in favor of the Iraqi’s.”

Funk said on the training the Iraqi’s are enthusiastic about learning from the best.

Funk said in his role members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines are working for him, and it’s a pleasure to see the joint force come together to solve problems.

On the return of the Big Red One headquarters contingent to Fort Riley, Funk indicated the troops should return to the post in late June or early July.

On his final thoughts in the interview Funk addressed the folks back home in the Fort Riley area. “Just tell everybody back there we’re thinking about them every day. We’re taking care of business on this end. ” He added the troops in Iraq are maintaining constant vigilance. “And were are definitely on point for the nation here in Iraq.”

 

 

Veterinary medicine students at Kansas state University will soon be going mobile. On Monday the College of Veterinary Medicine dedicated its new Shelter Medicine Mobile Surgery Unit.

The clinical sciences department recently purchased the mobile surgical unit to allow students and faculty to perform on-site, pre-adoption spay / neuter procedures and provide medical care to enhance the health and adoptability of shelter animals. Agreements have already been established to provide services for nonprofit and municipal animal shelter organizations in Junction City, Manhattan, Clay Center, Ottawa, Emporia, Topeka, Lawrence, and Salina.

The mobile surgical unit complements the college’s shelter medicine program, which is a service-learning course for fourth-year veterinary students to get hands-on experience under the supervision of a shelter medicine faculty member. Most shelter organizations in Kansas do not have a veterinarian on staff nor do they have on-site surgical facilities.

The success of the program is dependent on developing strong and sustainable relationships with regional shelters. Sixty-six students from the graduating class of 2016–fourth year students — are scheduled to complete this elective two-week rotation.

Sergeant Jon Thompson, his wife Liz and young daughter Reese have had a rough past year as they lost their house to a fire last March on Fort Riley and shortly later Jon was deployed to Kuwait.

There hardships didn’t go unnoticed as General Motors and the Wish for our Heroes organization learned of the Thompson’s and planned a special surprise for them this past December during half time of the Army vs Navy football game.

“I was just told that I was supposed to show up to the game, shake some hands, smile, take some pictures and then all of the sudden this guy (Jon) is popping out of the truck behind me,” said Liz.

GM and Wish for our Heroes brought SGT Thompson home to surprise Liz and Reese during the halftime show.

After coming back to Fort Riley the Thompson’s went to Jim Clark Chevrolet and were able to pick out their new truck with all the options of their choice. After four months they took delivery Tuesday morning.

SGT Thompson said that the new truck is a tremendous blessing.

“It’s going to help a car payment go away. It’s going to help us kind of recover from some of the situations we were in in the past, and it’s going to be just a tremendous blessing to our family.”

Liz already has plans for the new truck.

“There’s going to be a lot of off-roading. There’s probably going to be a pool party in the back of the truck. We hunt and we haven’t had a truck for about five years so it’s huge,” said Liz.

You can watch the halftime presentation by clicking on this link.

According to the National Weather Service, you can expect partly sunny skies today with highs in the mid to upper 60s. A weak upper level disturbance may bring a chance for isolated showers and thunderstorms tonight. The showers should move east of the area on Wednesday. Skies will clear on Wednesday with highs once again in the mid to upper 60s. Shower and thunderstorm chances will increase through the end of the week and into the weekend. Highs through the remainder of the week and into the weekend will range from the mid 60s to lower 70s.

Today: Partly sunny. Highs around 68. East winds up to 10 mph shifting to the southeast in the afternoon.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of showers in the evening…then slight chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms after midnight. Lows around 46. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers in the morning. Highs around 64. Southeast winds 5 to 15 mph.

Wednesday Night: Cloudy. Chance of showers and slight chance of thunderstorms after midnight. Lows around 50. East winds 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30 percent.

Thursday: Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 60s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy with chance of showers and slight chance of thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 50s. Chance of rain 50 percent.

Friday: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 60s.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy with chance of showers and slight chance of thunderstorms. Lows around 50. Chance of rain 30 percent.

Saturday And Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy. A 40 percent chance of thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 60s. Lows in the mid 40s.

Sunday: Partly sunny with a 40 percent chance of showers. Highs in the mid 60s.

Sunday Night And Monday: Partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers. Lows in the lower 40s. Highs in the mid 60s.

The Junction City Public Works Department has reported that water will be shut off for 4-6 hours, effective about 8:30 a.m., for water main repairs. The shut off will affect the 500 and 600 blocks of Sheridan Street, 800 West Elm Street, and 500 South Calhoun Street.

The Geary County Commission canvased the votes from last Tuesday’s City and School Board elections Monday morning during their regular meeting.

The Commissioners had 21 provisional ballots to consider,”ten of those that the County Clerk (Rebecca Bossemeyer) suggested that we not count, and there were 11 that we did count. Of course those didn’t make any major changes in the election what so ever,” said Commission Chairman Ben Bennett.

Geary County’s official voter turnout was 9.87 percent.

Commissioner Florence Whitebread explained the low voter turnout could have to do with the number of uncontested races,”when you have no body to vote for, except for the people that’s going to automatically go back into office unless you have enough write ins, why vote?”

The only contested races in Geary County were for USD 473 School Board and Junction City Commission.

Bossemeyer did check with other county’s who are also reporting low voter turnout. She shared with the Commission that unofficial results showed turnouts of 12 percent in Jefferson County, 14 percent in both Lyon and Marion Counties. Riley County reported 16 percent and Dickinson County reported 19.7 percent.

The Fort Riley Fire Department has won the U.S. Army Installation Management Command’s Central Region Fire Prevention Program of the Year award.  The department will not compete at the Department of Defense level competition, with the winner announced later this month.

The Fire Prevention Branch was instrumental in the accolades.

According to Ivan May, lead fire inspector, the Prevention Branch was the recipient of the Michelle Brenner Lifetime Achievement Award from the Fire Educators Association of Kansas.

The branch also received a perfect score on the recent Fire and Emergency Services Program Assessment, which boosted the department’s overall evaluation score to 99.51 percent.

May said the primary mission of the Prevention Branch is to provide oversight for facility fire safety inspections at Fort Riley and to review construction projects. He added that the Prevention Branch is responsible for educating soldiers, family members, patrons of the installation and people from the surrounding communities.

William Hadley, FRFD assistant fire chief, said the department also partners with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer and the Directorate of Public Works to ensure buildings meet fire codes.

The annual fundraiser auction for the Geary County 4H / Senior Center building raised just over $4,400. 

Extension agent Chuck Otte said 160 meals were served. The auction raised $2,264, raffles $440, and donations totaling $822 were received. The meal that was served brought in $890 dollars.

The funds will be used for building maintenance and improvement projects.

The Operation Clean Sweep is Saturday, April 25 from  8 a.m. until noon in Junction City. This is the city clean up.

Volunteers are needed for this event.

Volunteers should report to Spin City at 915 South Washington Street at 8 a.m. on the 25th. Bring gloves and drinking water. Lunch will be provided by the City of Junction City and Armour-Eckrich.

Police Captain Chuck Leithoff said over the last six years more than 10 tons of trash has been picked up through the annual event.

The Geary County Rural Fire Department has had to respond to a number of grass fires throughout the county this year that have gotten out of control and cost the county a substantial amount of money.

In order to reclaim some of that money the County Commission has passed a resolution that will allow them to go after land owners who do not take the proper precautions while burning.

Commissioner Ben Bennett explained the penalties will depend on the fire.

“Depends on the gravity of why and how you lost it,” said Bennett. “If you hadn’t called at all, and hadn’t made any previous pre-conditions like back fires, disking and whatever needs to be done around the perimeters and it gets away you are going to be held responsible for it.”

According to the resolution the criminal penalties are broken down into three levels:

A) A class C nonperson misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of thirty days in jail and/or a $500.00 fine.

B) A class B non person misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

C) A class A non person misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and/or a $2,500 fine.

Those who are subject to such penalties can also be subject to pay, as reimbursement to the County the sum of $100 per hour, or any part of an hour, per vehicle Department in response to any open burning caused by such violator.

The resolution will also allow the County to file a civil action to go after costs for damages and expenses incurred by the County to include attorney fees, Court costs and injunctions or restraining orders when appropriate.