New street banners highlighting destination tourism attractions in Junction City and Geary County will be posted on utility poles on South Washington and East Chestnut Streets.

The project is a partnership between the Geary County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and Westar Energy, Consolidated Printing, Geary County and Junction City.’

The Director of the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Michele Stimatze, said the new banners will be placed on South Washington from I-70 to 5th & Washington, and on East Chestnut Street. A total of 60 banners will be placed. The banners are two-foot by four-foot in size.

The project was unveiled during a press conference at the Geary County Office Building. Stimatze stated, “We just basically wanted to put something out for the different area attractions that we have in Junction City and Geary County. ” She added people visiting the community can see what the community has to offer.

Attractions to be highlighted include historic Fort Riley, the Buffalo Soldier Memorial, Rathert Stadium, Freedom Park, Geary County Historical Museum, Kansas Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the headwaters of the Kansas River, the C.L. Hoover Opera House, part of the Flint Hills, Rolling Meadows Golf Course, the National Biplane Fly-In, Milford Lake, the Milford Nature Center, Kansas First Territorial Capitol and Geary State Lake.

The banners will be put up in the near future.

The 68th District State Representative in the Kansas House, Dave Baker, has proposed a bill on automobile sales tax.

Baker stated the tax revenue would be returned back to the city and county where the vehicle is registered. “Because the city and county where the car is registered are the governing entity that have to provide services for that automobile, not the place where its’ sold.”

Baker is hopeful of getting a hearing on that bill by the House Tax Committee where there would be testimony on both sides of the issue. “Right now I’m kind of counting noses on districts in the state. It looks like out of the 125 districts I believe about 110 of us are going to be beneficiaries on this bill. But the ones who are on the other side, the 15, they are big recipients on sales tax. There will be a lot of dollars coming out of those cities coming back to our areas where the tax should be collected anyway.”

Baker said he hopes to get the proposal out of committee, and is lining up as much support as he can. He added it’s a big items for his district. The 68th District does include a portion of Junction City and Geary County.

The Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce presented a series of annual awards during their banquet this past week at the Courtyard By Marriott Convention Center.

The Business of the Year honor went to the R2B4 Bramlage Family Foundation, Citizen of the Year to the Stage Family, CVB / Tourism Award to the Run for the Wall Committee, the Eldon L. Hoyle Economic Development Award to Ventria Bioscience, Ambassador of the Year to Linda Couch, the Ambassador Dream Team Award to Brian Peterson, Brent Rees, Linda Couch, Maureen Gustafson and Fredia Warren and the new Seitz Family Military Community Award to Harold Wilson, Ligia Paquette and Ted Hayden.

Outgoing Chamber of Commerce Chair Stan Hambright and the recently retired John Seitz were also recognized for their efforts in support of the Chamber.

 

Chapman High School went into lock down and a K-9 search was done at the school on Friday, but by early afternoon the situation had ended. Everyone was safe.

Kevin Diercks, Chapman Police Chief, reported that his department got a call from administrators regarding a social media post that was a concern. A concerned student had brought it to their attention. “In this social media video was a short video of three individuals playing with a firearm. Two were Chapman High School students. That is all that the video included, no threats, no speaking, no voices, no threats were made against the school or anybody in particular.”

Diercks said one of the students had recently expressed an interest in the Columbine shootings, which led to a heightened concern that required authorities to take the situation seriously. “All individuals involved were located, detained and questioned. The video was not made in the City of Chapman, it was made in another community.”

Diercks confirmed the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office interviewed and investigated a couple of locations throughout the county but no threats were found. The Kansas Highway Patrol also helped in the investigation and no threats were found. Diercks added it did not appear any threats were made. “But the situation had to be taken seriously in this day and age. It appears everybody was safe, the school did go into lock down per their policy.”

The lock down went into effect about mid-morning and had ended by 1:15 p.m.

Two of the three individuals ( boys )  questioned in this case were students at Chapman High School. Diercks said at this time there are no charges. The individuals were detained, interviewed and released.