The annual Blue & Gold Market at the St. Xavier High School Bradley Gym will be Saturday, March 10th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
A $1 admission fee makes those who attend eligible for a 50-50 drawing. Crafters, artists, and direct sales vendors will be in attendance. Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. There will also be bingo and a bake sale.
Two arrests have been made in connection with alleged school threats either to or at Geary USD 475 schools.
JCPD Public Information Officer Captain Trish Giordano reported that In one case the Junction City Police Department reported that Fort Riley police notified the JCPD they were investigating a threat made on post to the Freshman Success Academy. Both agencies worked together to gather information. Fort Riley arrested a 14-year old Fort Riley resident on allegations of Criminal Threat. The juvenile made his first appearance in Geary County District Court on Monday and was detained.
Several other students were interviewed but police do not believe anyone else was actively involved with the juvenile arrested.
Later in the day on Monday, a 12-year old Junction City Middle School student was arrested for allegedly threatening another student while on campus. He was transported to the Juvenile Detention Center.
The JCPD said they take threats of any kind seriously, whether made in a joking matter or not. They urged the public to talk to their children and advise them that school shootings are nothing to joke about, and to also report any suspicious activity to school staff or the police.
So far no sign of a resolution of the public school finance issue in the Kansas Legislature.
State Representative Lonnie Clark of Junction City said this past weekend there is nothing final. “When a bill on education comes to the floor anyway, everybody is so paranoid about what the Supreme Court is going to allow us to do. They won’t move forward with anything, because why do it if the Supreme Court is going to come back and nix it. I think that’s kind of the mentality right now. I hate to see that, but it is what it is.”
The Legislature is under a directive from the Supreme Court to increase funding for public education, K-12.
There will be a retirement reception for longtime Geary County Convention & Visitor’s Bureau administrative assistant Dottie Kell on Tuesday afternoon. It will run from 2-4 p.m. at the Geary County Conference Room at the County office building at Room 200 East 8th Street.
The JC Breakfast Optimist Club hosted the District Optimist Clubs at the Zion United Church of Christ on Saturday, February 24. The meeting was attended by District Officers from the eastern and southern parts of Kansas. The leadership of the District Optimist’s meet to do team building, organize events, promote growth of Optimist Clubs and encourage others in their work for youth.
The Junction City Breakfast Optimist Club will be having a fundraiser this Friday, March 2 from 11:00 AM until 11:00 PM at Marco’s Pizza at 211 W. Sixth Street. 10% of the cost of items purchased that day will go to the local Optimist Club to support Geary County youth Activities.
Gabrielle “Gabby” Williams, Junction City, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. She will also have 36 months of supervised post release after the prison term has been served.
Geary County Attorney Krista Blaisdell confirmed the sentence, which was handed down in Geary County District Court on Friday. The sentence stems from the case that involved the January 2016 shooting death of David Phillips, 23, Manhattan, at an 827 West 12th Street Apartment C location in Junction City.
Williams was sentenced on one count of Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder in the case. She had been accused of conspiring with a co-defendant Joseph Craig of Junction City to rob and murder Phillips at the West 12th Street Apartment C location.
Craig will be sentenced in Geary County District Court in April. He was recently found guilty of First Degree Felony Murder plus five other counts following a jury trial. Those additional counts were a lesser included offense of Intentional Second Degree Murder, plus Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Robbery and Felon in Possession of a Firearm.
Mental health needs in Kansas are extensive.
State Senator Jeff Longbine agrees. “We’ve had a lot of work done at Larned and Osawatomie. I think we’re starting to look at is that the proper approach? Quite honestly Larned and Osawatomie because of the size of their communities and the location of their communities have trouble attracting employees and keeping employees. Turnover is huge in both of those facilities and that leads to diminished care.”
Longbine said the proper model and investment level need to be looked at. “One of the things that is starting to bubble up is maybe having more of a regional approach instead of having two hospitals. Maybe we have five hospitals or eight hospitals or clinics that are across the state so that access is better.” Longbine added improving funding to local mental health centers would be a huge help to the people dealt with on the local level.
The state senator indicated that will require a lot of work and money but right now legislators are waiting to see where they are on school finance before they determine how much funding can be invested in mental health. Longbine talked with JCPost.com following a Legislative Coffee sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and USD 475 in Junction City on Saturday.
The annual Paul H. Royer Film Fest at the Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum will include three films at the Visitors Center Auditorium.
The first one will be Funny Face on Thursday, March 1 at 7 p.m. That will be followed by An Affair to Remember on Thursday, March 8 at 7 p.m. and A Hatful of Rain on Thursday, March 15 at 7 p.m.
This film series is sponsored by Robert H. Royer in memory of his grandfather who was an Abilene High School classmate of President Eisenhower and a founding member of the Eisenhower Foundation. Admission to the films will be free.
The grand opening for new Children’s Mercy Hospital pediatric clinic space will be hosted by Children’s Mercy at a new location on the lower level of Geary Community Hospital in Junction City on March 15th from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Geary Community Hospital CEO Joseph Stratton said Children’s Mercy officials will talk some about what the future will look like in terms of service to children and families in Junction City and Geary County, and also the entire region of Kansas even to the north central and northwest part of the state. “It will be a real positive for us to do that together. While they are a tenant of ours here at the hospital and rent the space it is a significant piece of the continuum of care that we want to build and mission fulfillment here for healthcare in this part of the state.”
Stratton noted all the fundraising and efforts by the R2B4 Bramlage Family Foundation, the Geary Community Healthcare Foundation, Geary Community Hospital and donors in the area that helped with the effort to raise approximately $1.9 million to do the project.
Some clinics are currently being conducted by Children’s Hospital in the new space.
DICKINSON COUNTY – One person was injured in an accident just after 9p.m. Saturday in Dickinson County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Mazda 6 driven by Lacy Joe Folsom, 24, Manhattan, was eastbound on Interstate 70 one mile north of Chapman in the right lane and rear-ended a 2006 Mazda 3 driven by Bradford Wine, 52, Fontana, that had just merged onto I-70 at the Chapman ramp.
The collision caused both vehicles to collide with the bridge rail.
Folsom was transported to Geary Community Hospital. Wine and two passengers in the Mazda 3 were not transported for treatment. All four were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
