The chairman of the Geary County Commission, Charles Stimatze, will be the keynote speaker for the Memorial Day observance sponsored by the Geary County Veterans Alliance at the C.L. Hoover Opera House.

The Junction City Community Band will perform, there will be the placement of a wreath and a 21-gun salute during the observance.

Fort Riley will also host a Memorial Day observance at the Post Cemetery at 11:30 a.m. Monday. Garrison Commander Colonel John Lawrence will be the guest speaker.

The North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging has announced that they are offering security deposit assistance to low-income residents of Geary, Dickinson, Morris, Clay, Pottawatomie, Riley, Chase, Cloud, Ellsworth, Lincoln, Marion, Mitchell, Ottawa, Republic, Jewell, Saline and Wabaunsee Counties thanks to a grant from the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation.

The Area Agency on Aging was awarded $100,000 from the grant funded through the federal HOME Investment Partnerships Program and administered by KHRC.

Tenant Based Rental Assistance allows organizations to provide rental subsidies, utility deposits and security deposits for income eligible individuals and families.

“We are excited to receive these funds that, in conjunction with our existing housing rental assistance program, will help even more low-income seniors, single parents and people with disabilities, said Julie Govert Walter, executive director of the North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging.

Walter said that security deposit assistance is for one-time-only needs and is in the form of a grant.

For information about applying for security or utility deposits assistance in eligible counties call the Flint Hills Housing Assistance program of the North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging at 1-800-432-2703.

There will be no trash pick-up by the City of Junction City on Monday, due to the Memorial Day holiday.

The Public Works Department has announced that trash pick-up will be done the next work day. For example,  Monday’s pick-up day will be Tuesday. The normal schedule will be moved back one day this week, so the Friday pick-up will be done on Saturday, June 2nd.

In order to ensure pick-up your trash should be set out by 6 a.m. on the day of scheduled pick-up. Carts should be removed from the curb or alley by the following day of their scheduled pick-up. Additional items that are set out may require making arrangements for a special pick-up.

Junction City offices and Geary County Sheriff’s Department have been without email service since early this past week.

Junction City Manager Allen Dinkel told JCPost.com that they got hit with a hacker either late Monday or early Tuesday morning. “Everything else got restored as far as our utilities and everything else, but our email has been out since Tuesday.”

Efforts have been under way to make repairs and restore the service. Dinkel stated, “It hasn’t been that bad. If you send an email to use it gets kicked back to you. ” Dinkel noted they could either return to faxing information or just calling on the telephone. “I don’t know if it’s been a big issue. You worry about missing stuff but it is what it is and you can’t change it.”

Efforts have been under way to make repairs and restore the service.

The Sheriff’s Department is without email service because they utilize the same server as the City.

The effort to plant flowers in the flower boxes along East Chestnut Street continued on Saturday. City Commissioner Phyllis Fitzgerald is spearheading the effort.

Girl Scout troops 1670, 2088, 1182 and 2092 participated in this project and helped plant the flowers.

( Photos courtesy of Phyllis Fitzgerald )

Frank and Mike and a crew from the television program “American Pickers” paid a visit to Geary County on Friday. They met with automobile dealer D.E. Lacer, and spent much of the day at his family’s warehouse in Grandview Plaza where a number of classic cars and related smaller items are housed.

Lacer said they just wanted to look through his parents’ warehouse, “and look at some of the old cars.” Lacer noted they were ready to make some purchases. “I ended up selling, I don’t know how many items, but quite a bit.” None of the classic cars sold, but there were smaller items that were sold.

There are a lot of vehicles stored in the warehouse. “Oh we’ve got little bit of everything. There’s Packard, Buick, Riley, a Graham, an Allard, they were really spun up over this Allard.” That car is a 1950 model.

Lacer was interviewed by a production crew for a future segment on American Pickers. While the personalities you can see on the show were there, numerous other employees of the show were also on hand to help load and haul items. American Pickers is shown on the History Channel.

According to Public Works Director Ray Ibarra, the Department will be starting at 6:30 a.m. in an effort to overcome the heat during the summer months.

All City Sanitation customers are reminded to have your garbage on the curb or alley by 6 a.m.

If you have questions contact the Junction City Public Works Department at 238-7142.

All Geary County offices will be closed on Monday for the Memorial Day Holiday.

Regular hours will resume on Tuesday.

No one has applied at this time to fill the vacancy on the Geary USD 475 Board of Education. One seat is vacant due to the recent resignation of Dr. Ferrell Miller.

JCPost.com checked at the Devin Center Friday and learned no one has applied for the position.

If you are interested submit a letter of interest and a resume to Tina Kausler at the Devin Center. Applicants will be interviewed by the Board of Education at their June 4th meeting. The deadline to apply is May 30th.