The Westar Energy Green Team is hosting its annual youth dove hunt to kick off the dove season. Participants can learn dove hunting basics, with plenty of birds flying at close range. The hunt will be held at the Jeffrey Energy Center near St. Marys on Saturday, Sept. 1 through Monday, Sept. 3 in the early morning or late afternoon.
Youths 16 and younger may participate in the hunt. They must bring their own shotguns, be accompanied by a non-hunting adult and have a license and Harvest Information Program stamp, if age 16. Nontoxic shells will be provided.
The wheat and sunflower fields have been prepared to draw plenty of doves.
Hunters will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Hunts will be scheduled as requests dictate and hunting groups can be formed. To request an application, call Shelly Gomez at 785-575-6355 by Friday, Aug. 24.
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.
RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an auto theft.
Just after 4:30p.m. Wednesday, officers filed a report for theft of a Lexus from Briggs Auto Group in the 2300 block of Stagg Hill Road. in Manhattan, according to the Riley County Police activity report.
The vehicle is described as a 2016 Lexus RX 350.
The estimated total loss associated with this case is approximately $35,000.00.
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 Stuff the Bus campaign to provide school supplies for needy students has ended for this year.
The Director of the local United Way, Nicole Mahder stated that the last of the major school supplies were distributed on Wednesday. She thanked those who purchased school supplies for needy children in Geary County schools. More than 12,000 items were contributed to the campaign.
This year the campaign also offered the “Adopt a Backpack” along with the regular Stuff the Bus. There are still nine backpacks left that need to be adopted. Each backpack represents an actual child in Geary County. If you would like to adopt a backpack contact the United Way office at 238-3117 or Nicole Mahder at ( 785 ) 226-4766.
It is expected to be several days before the outcome of the Republican gubernatorial primary election in Kansas is known.
Kris Kobach currently leads Jeff Colyer by 191 votes, but several thousand provisional ballots and some mail-in ballots still have to be reviewed and counted across the state.
Geary County Clerk said Wednesday that there is a relatively new law that if a ballot is postmarked on or before election day, and is received in the county clerk’s office by the Friday after the election they can be counted. “But I need to stress that those envelopes actually have a postmark on them. We did receive some ballots in the mail today ( Wednesday ) but they did not have a postmark so we’re not going to be able to count those. ”
Nordyke added those will be part of the provisional ballots that will be presented to the county commission for review. “But the law is really clear, if there is no postmark they cannot be counted.”
Nordyke confirmed there are 67 provisional ballots in Geary County following the primary election. Those will be reviewed when the county commission canvasses the votes at 10 a.m. Monday.
The Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce will be closed from 8 a.m. until noon Thursday due the attendance by Chamber staff at the Google and Grow session.
Google and Grow presented by Dave Delany, Trainer and Digital Media Specialist is scheduled from 7:45 a.m. until 11;45 a.m. at the C. L. Hoover Opera House. There will be workshops for those who registered on topics ranging from Introduction to Online Marketing to Making Your Website Work for You. The registration closed August 7th.
Major General John Kolasheski at Fort Riley earlier this summer.
Major General John Kolasheski, commanding general for the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley provided details on troop activities to a joint military affairs – military relations audience from Junction City and Manhattan on Wednesday.
Kolasheski spoke during a luncheon at Riley’s Conference Center. He touched on the Gauntlet training exercise undertaken this summer by the 1st Brigade Combat Team. “A division-run validation training exercise for 1st Brigade ahead of their deployment to the National Training Center, which is in the Mojave Desert out there on the eastern side of California where the temperatures routinely in the summer get to 120.”
Kolasheski noted that Gauntlet put the entire brigade in the field. “It was a blend of live force-on-force within a battalion that was acting as the aggressor, and it allowed us to also link them in with some constructive or virtual, some computer capabilities to replicate other units, other brigades that would have been fighting around the 1st Brigade. So really a first class operation.”
Those in attendance for the luncheon were shown photos of some of the activities during the exercise including the construction and placement of a temporary bridge in the Farnum Creek area of Milford Lake where troops and vehicles were able to cross the water safely.
Kolasheski also reported on the 2nd Brigade Combat Team return to Fort Riley this summer from a deployment to Europe. He also noted that as part of this Victory Week at Fort Riley there will be a Division Review this Friday, along with the presentation of the Victory Cup to the top unit in the sports competition being held this week on post.
Junction City officials want to offer a free Land Bank housing lot to USD 475 and Saint Xavier School employees. The lots are shovel ready.
There is also interest in offering them to police and fire personnel in the community.
The idea is to encourage home building and retain teachers in the community. Mayor Pat Landes stated, “I just want a home built. You get a home built on there, we’re going to get paid. Somebody is going to pay us one way or the other.” Housing development would bring in more tax revenue.
There are numerous vacant housing lots on the west and northwest sides of the city.
Commissioner Tim Brown also wants to make a similar opportunity available to police and firefighter personnel in the community.
The next step is for legal counsel to work the necessary legal details and then the issue can be brought back to the city commission.
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.
The Westar Energy Green Team is hosting its annual youth dove hunt to kick off the dove season. Participants can learn dove hunting basics, with plenty of birds flying at close range. The hunt will be held at the Jeffrey Energy Center near St. Marys on Saturday, Sept. 1 through Monday, Sept. 3 in the early morning or late afternoon.
