Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism will be hosting First Day Hike events at 19 Kansas state parks on New Year’s Day. All hikers will receive a free “Hike Local” long sleeved t-shirt.
One of the First Day Hikes will be at Milford State Park. You meet at the park office at 1 p.m. to hike on the Eagle Ridge Trail. The 2.75 mile trail includes easy to moderate terrain and is open to hikers of all ages.
The guided hikes are free but participants need a vehicle permit to drive into the park. Daily passes are $5 and sold at self-serve stations in the park.
Junction City police have confirmed that one person is dead and one is in custody following a shooting incident on Christmas Day.
Police responded to 948 Grant Avenue #154 at about 9:30 a.m. for a deceased female. Upon arrival officers located Jenna Schafer, 31, Junction City dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
Detectives and officers worked throughout the day developing a suspect. At approximately 6:25 p.m., Dion Green, 33, Junction City, was arrested on suspicion of First Degree Murder in connection with the incident.
If you have information on this case call Crime Stoppers adt 785-762-8477 or leave a webtip on the link located on the JCPD Facebook page. You can remain anonymous.
Tony R. Barnes, U.S. Marine Corps and U. S. Army veteran with 28 years of military service including two deployments to Vietnam was awarded a Quilt of Valor by the Central Flint Hills Area Quilt of Valor Project at the Quilt of Valor 200,000thAward Celebration at the American Legion Post #45.
Brenda Boyd, Central Flint Hills Area Quilt of Valor committee member, awarded the Quilt of Valor (QOV).
Twenty-five area Quilt of Valor recipients were also honored at the Celebration. Each QOV recipient was recognized individually along with his or her QOV, the individual or group who nominated the recipient, and the quiltmaker and quilter. Junction City Vice-Mayor Phyllis Fitzgerald and Geary County Commissioner Ben Bennett extended their gratitude to the QOV recipients.
Financial and other contributors to the local QOV project were recognized and thanked for their support by Donna Martinson, local QOV project coordinator. In addition Martinson shared a short history on the national and local Quilt of Valor program.
The 200,000th Quilt of Valor Celebration was held in recognition of the Quilt of Valor Foundation (national organization) awarding of the 200,000th Quilt of Valor. Barnes’ Quilt of Valor is the 287th QOV awarded by the Central Flint Hills Area Quilt of Valor Project. The mission of the Quilt of Valor Foundation is to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.
Geary County Fish & Game Association is collecting Christmas Trees once again this year to be used for fish structures in Milford Lake.
Board Member Larry George said the Association has been collecting and placing trees for wildlife and fish habitat in the Junction City area for over 30 years. These trees will be tied in groups of 6 to 8, weighted, and sunk in marked locations to provide fish attracting habitat.
When you take down your tree you can place it at the collection point at the corner of 14th & Jackson in Junction City in the empty lot, but not later than 18 January. Remove all decorations. No artificial trees and no trash are allowed.
This annual effort by the Association saves landfill space and improves the local outdoors environment. Trees will be loaded up and moved to Milford Lake starting at 9:00 a.m. on 19 January. Lots of trucks, trailers, and strong arms are needed for this project, so if you want to help out everyone is welcome!
The deployment cycle continues for Fort Riley 1st Infantry Division troops.
During a recent visit on the JC Now program on 107.9 FM and 1420 KJCK, the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army, Mark Edwards noted that one brigade is training for their next deployment. “Second Brigade got back and they’re training now getting ready to back to NTC, the National Training Center. They’re the ones that you hearing firing all the time at the moment, trying to get ready to go.” Troops often train at NTC before they deploy overseas.
Another brigade is prepared to go to Europe in the near future. “The 1st Brigade will be shipping out here. They’ve already loaded all their equipment. They’re going to head for the port of Charleston. It will go on over the holidays. The equipment is going to head on to Belgium. Our 1st brigade will join up with their equipment and head on out of Belgium over to Poland. ”
A brigade typically consists of approximately 3,500 soldiers.
In some cases Christmas trees have been up for a few weeks. Remember to water them.
Junction City Fire Chief Terry Johnson said, “if you have a live tree make sure it has plenty of water. Don’t miss a day, don’t miss a moment to make sure it’s got plenty of water so that keeps the needles fresh. Watch you Christmas lights, especially if you have pets. Some pets have a tendency to chew on things. So you have to be careful with that. Keep the burnable combustible things away from any heat source, away from candles. Keep candles away from curtains, things like that.”
Johnson added we need to be more aware of what we’re doing this time of year because more things have been added to our lives to celebrate the season. “We just want folks to have a happy, safe, merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.”
SALINA — Kansas State University’s Polytechnic Campus is offering $500 scholarships to first responders interested in attending the small unmanned aircraft systems, or sUAS, commercial remote pilot training course in 2019.
The available scholarships reduce the overall course cost by 50 percent and still cover the fee for the Federal Aviation Administration written exam at the completion of the course. The sUAS Commercial Remote Pilot Training includes three days of instruction and the FAA exam, with course topics including airspace, meteorology, weather, UAS performance, loading and center of gravity, and Part 107 instruction. The scholarships are available to law enforcement, fire and emergency management organizations.
“Approximately 35 percent of the attendees of this training come from the public safety arena. We do not want cost to become a barrier to providing access of this life-saving technology into the hands of our first responders and emergency managers,” said Kurt J. Carraway, UAS research executive director of Kansas State Polytechnic’s Applied Aviation Research Center. “K-State has offered this training since the inception of the FAA regulations for commercial UAS operations. We will continue to develop new courses, with an eye on further development of public safety relationships to help promote safe operations in our airspace.”
Kansas State Polytechnic launched its initial first responder-specific programming in 2018 with a UAS Law Enforcement Training course. This four-day flight training course was developed in conjunction with law enforcement officials. A fire equivalent is planned to launch in 2019. Kansas State Polytechnic also hosted the First Responder Symposium in 2018 to provide networking and learning opportunities for the first responder community centered around UAS. The second First Responder Symposium will be in mid-2019.
The Junction City Fire Department will obtain a new emergency generator for Fire Station Two on Lacy Drive. Fire Chief Terry Johnson said the current generator has been in use since 1998.
“The issue is as with anything as time goes along manufacturers stop making certain things. It is more cost effective to replace this generator than to have to pull the parts off it, like the radiator which is a major component, have a backup generator rented, send it off to be rebuilt or a new one built and then bring it all back and put it all back together.”
Johnson stated by replacing the generator there should not be issues for awhile. The new generator will be up to current code standards and will provide emergency power to the fire station.
“A lot of people don’t realize that is a 24-hour operation. We’ve got to keep things charged, trucks ready, doors working, those kinds of things.”
The city commission has approved the generator purchase.
Fort Riley announced via social media special commissary hours.
December 24th- Christmas Eve: 0900-1600
December 25th- Christmas Day: CLOSED
December 31st-New Year’s Eve: 0900-2000
January 1st- New Year Day: CLOSED
Fort Riley announced on Facebook that all family and MWR facilities on post will be closed December 24th and 25th except the Warrior Zone. It will be open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. both days.
Saint Xavier High School alumni and students were able to renew acquaintances and enjoy basketball Saturday night at the Bradley Gym. The occasion was the second Alumni Game, and the first one since 2014.
There was a co-ed basketball game preceded by tours of the school, mass, and a chili feed. In the basketball game the Blue Team defeated the White City team 54-41, although the real focus of the evening was the camaraderie and fun playing basketball and not the score.
Lyn Jones, Brad Shelton and Dennis Throne were the honorary coaches. That meant sitting together on the bench and enjoying the game, which consisted of two halves…one 20 minutes and the other 30 minutes long. Jones, who just retired from Saint Xavier School last year put his role in perspective with a humorous observation. “Well I didn’t do much coaching. Like a good coach is supposed to I turned it over to my assistants.”
Shelton enjoyed his return to where he coached and taught from 1996 until 2000. “I didn’t tell much to the players. Us coaches kind of joked around a little bit. Strategy-wise there wasn’t much strategy. Just sit back and relax and enjoy the ride.” One thing that was different from a normal game is that all the coaches sat together on the white ( the winning ) team bench. Shelton also had a humorous comment. “Well that’s where they told us to go, but I guess all these coaching minds got us a W though, huh? Today Shelton is a baseball coach at Tonganoxie High School.
Throne arrived at Saint Xavier in 1985 and taught and coached at the school until 1992. “I had a good
( L-R ) Honorary Coaches Lyn Jones, Dennis Throne and Brad Shelton
experience here. I had some pretty good athletes. They can say what they want about coaching. Coaching is overrated when you’ve got good athletes. I was just blessed to have some good kids.” Today Throne is a girls golf and girls basketball coach at Council Grove High School. He plans to retire from those coaching jobs after this school year. He retired from teaching six years ago.
Dan Zoeller worked to coordinate the event. While the attendance was not as high as it was in 2014, there were still a good turnout. “It’s always good when a lot of the alumni come back and we’re able to get the current students to play against us alumni and show them how we used to play back in the 2000 era, how good we used to be.” The basketball game consisted of players of all ages from junior high to alumni dating back to 1962.
Saint Xavier School Principal Shawn Augustine enjoyed bringing people back to the school for this event. Some funds were also raised for the school through raffles, donations and a chili feed. He noted that the Saint Xavier Foundation also offered to provide some matching funds.
Just a few of the players in the basketball game included Jeff, Joshua and Jacob Keating, Melissa Simanko, Tyler Engstrom, David Smith, Thane Kramer, Kristel Jahnke, Dan Zoeller, Grace Richardson, Tony Reese, Gerald Woydziak, Teresa Woydziak, Steven Matthews, Patrick Beavers, Kevin Campbell, Audrey Lichtensteiger, Lauryn Peterson, Clifford Crites III, Jacob Copas, Heston jahnke, Simon Engelhardt, John Wanek, Chris Hesard, Debra Woydziak, Chris Heard, Keon Jackson, Adam Whitaker, Michael Rominger, Andrew Schwanke, Thaine Kramer, Judy Lienemann, DJ Shin, Cameron Augustine, Brady Sexton-Snow, Damon Smith, Landon Berry, Tamia Stamper, Gracie Lichtensteiger, Jacob Berry, Steven Wahle and Bob Wahle.
( L-R ) Honorary Coaches Lyn Jones, Dennis Throne and Brad Shelton
Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism will be hosting First Day Hike events at 19 Kansas state parks on New Year’s Day. All hikers will receive a free “Hike Local” long sleeved t-shirt.
