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Category: Local

USD 475 Board of Education Candidate Ineligible

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One of the candidates for a seat on the Geary USD 475 Board of Education will have to leave the race. Geary County Clerk Rebecca Bossemeyer confirmed Sammy Harris will not have his name on the ballot. “He has a great amount of integrity and he came to my office, and just wanted to verify about the school district he lived in. We did discover that he lives in school district 473. ”

Bossemeyer added under the law a candidate cannot run if they do not live in the school district where they are seeking office. Because Harris resides in USD 473 ( Chapman district ) he will not be on the ballot in USD 475.

This situation was missed when Harris first filed for election in Geary County. Bossemeyer stated, “Yes it was. We do have a process in place to look for that with a double check and it was missed in both places. We’ll be looking at refining that process for future elections.”

In the race for the USD 475 Board of Education the candidates for the four-year terms on the board include David Walker, Bill Brooks, Sarah Talley, Rina Neal and Larry Young.  LaDonna Junghans and Stephanie Holloway are vying to fill an unexpired term for the next two years on the board.

Rain in the Forecast Thursday

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High
 75° Warmer, cloudy. Patchy fog in the morning. Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms in the morning, then showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Some thunderstorms may produce heavy rainfall in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 70s. south winds 5 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation 80 percent.

Kansas man hospitalized after Geary Co. pickup crash

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RILEY COUNTY — A Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 6p.m. Wednesday in Geary County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Dodge Ram driven by Wesley W. Roddy, 26, Council Grove, was southbound on Kansas 177 nine miles south of Manhattan.

The pickup crossed the center line and entered the east ditch. The driver overcorrected, the pickup came back onto the roadway, entered the west ditch and hit the embankment.

Roddy was transported to the hospital in Manhattan. The KHP did not information on his seat belt usage at the time of the accident.

Chamber of Commerce Schedules Candidate Forum

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C. L. Hoover Opera House

The Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce confirmed that they have scheduled a candidate forum on Monday, October 23rd at 5:30 p.m. at the C.L. Hoover Opera House.

This forum is for the upcoming November 7th election where candidates for city commission, city council / mayor and school board are running for office. The bond issue for a proposed new Junction City High School is also on the ballot. If voters say yes to the bond issue the State would pay 47%of the cost of a new high school.

Marketing Grant Applications Available

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The Junction City / Geary County Convention & Visitor’s Bureau has announced that the 2018 marketing grant applications are now available.

The CVB sets aside marketing grant funds to support community events and attractions that exhibit positive tourism potential for Geary County. These funds are dedicated to assist qualified organizations with their activities that directly increase transient guest tax and sales tax throughout the year, and which help make Junction City and Geary County a tourism destination.

Applicants will need to apply for the 2018 marketing grant and submit the application no later than 4 p.m. on November 30th to the CVB office or mailed to P.O. Box 1846, Junction City, KS 66441. Applications will be screened individually by a grant committee before being presented to the CVB Advisory Board for consideration of approval. Projected announcement of support will occur in December 2017 for awards in 2018.

Applications are available at the CVB office and on the website www.junctioncity.org.

JCPD Announces Retirement of Longtime Detective

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The Junction City Police Department has announced the retirement of Lieutenant Jeff Childs on September 22nd. He leaves the department with 32 years of service to the Junction City community.

Jeff Childs

Childs was hired as a police officer on February 5th, 1986. In February of 1992 he was assigned as an investigator with the Investigations Division. He was assigned as a detective with the Division in July of 1996. Childs was promoted to Detective Sergeant on August 23rd, 1988 and to Detective Lieutenant on August 23rd, 2002.

Childs and his wife, Sherry will continue to reside in Junction City. The public is invited to celebrate his retirement at a reception on Thursday, October 19th at 3 p.m. at the Junction City / Geary County Law Enforcement Memorial in Heritage Park.  In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held at the C. L. Hoover Opera House.

Fort Riley Housing Reaches End State

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Fort RIley housing is at end state.

That information was conveyed by Junction City Commissioner Mick McCallister. “The Army promised the community in 2012 that their end state would be 3,827 homes on the installation. ”

McCallister added he was informed Tuesday that they are at end state. Demolition of older housing will begin at the end of the month. “But they have vacated the amount of homes to bring it down to that end state. There’s a period of time where people have to move out and full blocks have to be moved out before they can take it down. Beginning at the end of this month I was told the bulldozers will come in and start leveling those houses that have been slated for demolition.”

McCallister updated the City Commission on this topic Tuesday night.

 

ALR Chapter 45 Legacy Scholarship Run

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Registration for the ALR Legacy Scholarship Run is Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at City Cycle Sales in Junction City. The cost to register is $10 and $5 per passenger or second card.

The first bike will go out at 11 a.m. and the last one will be in at 4:30 p.m. ending at the American Legion Post 45 in Junction City.

There will be prizes for the highest and lowest scores, raffles and 50/50 prizes.

There will be a chili / soup dinner at the end of the event with a $5 recommended donation.

Route maps and score cards will be available at registration. The ride will cover a little over 100 miles through the Flint Hills. Proceeds go to the American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund. The ride is in memory of Orlando “O” Colon Salo.

 

We are Looking At It

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Commissioner Mick McCallister ( L ) at work during a past Junction City Commission meeting.

Junction City Commissioner Mick McCallister has heard from local residents asking why not Junction City as a future home for a major Tyson chicken plant.

Tonganoxie and Leavenworth County have rejected the proposed location of the facility there.

McCallister has made it clear this week that local economic development personnel are looking at the possibility of trying to attract this plant, but there would be substantial challenges involved with locating it in Geary County.

McCallister stated the plant would process 1.2 million chickens per week, “have a two-million gallon requirement for water at the plant, have a million gallons of worth of wastewater at the plant.” He said that would require the City to provide five miles of sewer and water. “And the only place we have to go is either west or south. It starts becoming problematic as all these things add up. But we’re still looking, we’re still looking to see if this is a fit that we want to do here. Historically it would change the landscape of Junction City and Geary County forever, but we’ve got to make sure it’s going to fit.”

The plant would require 400 acres of land and would have to be located at least five miles from any residential area. The jobs would not be high paying with the range averaging $11.50 to $12.50 per hour.

No final decisions have been made on any attempt to try and recruit this facility for a Junction City and Geary County location. Accommodating the project would appear to be challenging.

The plant would be a $320 million dollar project and create an estimated 1,600 jobs.

Live Well Geary County Receives Grant

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Mike Ryan

Live Well Geary County has received a new grant to support the efforts to feed the hungry in the community.

Junction City Commissioner Mike Ryan made the announcement at the city commission meeting Tuesday evening. “The grant is from the Kansas Leadership Center and is written for $25,000. It will pay the tuition for 20 people to go to school at the Leadership Center ( in Wichita ).” They will obtain that schooling in 2018.

Geary County has been ranked as the number one food insecure county in Kansas. Live Well Geary County works to address that issue.

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