Geary County Emergency Management Director Garry Berges
The total solar eclipse will shroud a large swatch of the nation in darkness about mid-day on Monday.
Emergency personnel and law enforcement personnel will be preparing. In Geary County where the eclipse is projected at about a 98% rate on Monday, authorities will be participating in a National Weather Service webinar at 11 a.m. Friday.
Emergency Management Director Garry Berges said there will also be discussion during the webinar about the weather on Monday. “There’s concern that there might be a few clouds that could obscure some of the viewing from different parts of Kansas so they’ll go over that, probably just a lot of the questions that some of the emergency managers or some of the emergency responders have, especially with the influx of people coming in.”
Traffic may be heavier than normal on Monday. Authorities will be watching. “It’s going to be daytime, then all of a sudden it’s going to turn nighttime. “People out on the highway even though they know it’s coming they’re going to maybe stop along the highway. We’re going to see a lot of influx at U.S. 77 people trying to head north and get up toward the Marysville – Highway 36 area toward the Nebraska border. The Sheriff’s Department they’ll be monitoring that. We’ll be monitoring any problems that we might have anyplace.”
The general eclipse hours in Geary County are expected to be from about 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.
TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) has confirmed the presence of invasive zebra mussels in Tuttle Creek Reservoir in Pottawatomie and Riley Counties. An alert fisherman found a rock with one adult zebra mussel attached and reported it to KDWPT staff in the Tuttle Creek State Park office. A subsequent search by KDWPT fisheries staff verified the presence of additional zebra mussels.
According to a media release, the 12,500 acre lake is located six miles north of Manhattan, KS on Hwy K-13. It is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); KDWPT manages the fishery. The lake and surrounding areas are popular destinations for fishing, camping, swimming, hiking, and a variety of boating and other water-related activities.
While the zebra mussel population is currently small, there is no known method to completely rid a lake of this invasive species. The zebra mussels were likely introduced by “hitchhiking” with un-suspecting lake-goers. Adults are able to attach to boats or other equipment and the microscopic zebra mussels larvae (called veligers) may be present in any water originating from an infested lake or stream. Densities as high as 1,000 veligers per gallon have been recorded in KS waters. “Remembering to clean, drain, and dry boats and equipment before moving between waterbodies is the key to preventing the spread of zebra mussels and other aquatic nuisance species,” said Chris Steffen, aquatic nuisance species coordinator for KDWPT.
Tuttle Creek Reservoir, the connected downstream Tuttle Creek River Pond, and the Big Blue River downstream from the lake to the confluence with the Kansas River (including Rocky Ford) will be added to the list of ANS-designated waters in Kansas, and notices will be posted at various locations around the waterbodies. Live fish may not be transported from ANS-designated waters. The sharp-shelled zebra mussels attach to solid objects, so lake-goers should be careful when handling mussel-encrusted objects and when grabbing an underwater object when they can’t see what their hands may be grasping. Visitors should protect their feet when walking on underwater or shoreline rocks.
Zebra mussels are just one of the non-native aquatic species that threaten our waters and native wildlife. After using any body of water, people must remember to follow regulations and precautions that will prevent their spread:
Clean, drain and dry boats and equipment between uses
Use wild-caught bait only in the lake or pool where it was caught
Do not move live fish from waters infested with zebra mussels or other aquatic nuisance species
Drain livewells and bilges and remove drain plugs from all vessels prior to transport from any Kansas water on a public highway.
For more information about aquatic nuisance species in Kansas, report a possible ANS, or see a list of ANS-designated waters, visit ProtectKSWaters.org.
Spc. Richard Cox, an indirect fire infantryman with Troop A, 1st Squadron,
4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Inf. Div., died
at Stormont Vail Hospital. Cox suffered a gunshot wound Aug. 13 on Fort
Riley and was medically evacuated to Stormont Vail.”The Troopers of the
squadron mourn the loss of Spc. Cox,” said Lt. Col. Brian Gilbert, 1st Sqdn.,
4th Cav. Regt., commander. “We will continue to support the family during
this time of grief and will honor Spc. Cox’s memory and contributions to the
unit.”Cox joined the Army in July 2013 and arrived at Fort Riley in October 2013.
He was 22 years old. He deployed to Kuwait in June 2014 and South Korea in
October 2016.
Cox’s home of record is Black Hawk, South Dakota. His awards include the
Army Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service
Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism
Service Medal, Korea Defense Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon.
The incident remains under investigation by the Fort Riley Criminal
Investigation Command office. For questions about the investigation, please
contact U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command Public Affairs Office at
(571) 305-4043.
Work is under way to tear down the McDonald’s Restaurant on West 6th Street in Junction City. A new McDonald’s will be built immediately west of the current site.
The Kansas Attorney General’s Office, the Kansas Department of Transportation and law enforcement agencies from across the state are joining forces to crack down on impaired driving during the upcoming No Refusal Weekend, when all suspected impaired drivers who refuse breath testing will be subject to blood testing for alcohol.
The No Refusal Weekend is this Friday and Saturday. Anyone driving with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 grams per deciliter or higher is considered legally impaired. However, many impaired drivers refuse to submit to BAC testing in an attempt to avoid, or have reduced, the criminal sanctions they could face upon conviction.
The Junction City Police Department is participating in the “No Refusal Weekend, ” and in addition the You Drink. You Drive. You Lose. campaign that continues until Labor Day, September 4th.
The Geary County Sheriff’s office responded to the Milford Cemetery area late Wednesday afternoon for a report of a person who had sustained a gunshot wound to the head.
Sheriff Tony Wolf reported that upon arrival Deputies located a 24-year old man who was conscious, but had sustained a major injury to his head as a result of a gunshot wound. The subject is a U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Riley. Due to the nature of the investigation the name of the soldier is not being released at this time.
The soldier was transported by Life Star helicopter to Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka.
Wolf said the investigation revealed that this was an attempted suicide.
WICHITA – A former city attorney of Manhattan pleaded guilty today to federal child pornography charges, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Bill Raymond, 55, Andover, Kan., pleaded guilty to three counts of transporting child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Raymond admitted that he emailed child pornography to himself using a cellular telephone and a computer on Nov. 9, 2014, Feb. 28, 2015 and May 17, 2015. He also admitted that on July 30, 2015, he possessed child pornography.
The crimes occurred in Butler and Riley counties. Raymond became the city attorney in Manhattan after serving as an assistant county counselor in Sedgwick County.
Sentencing is set for Nov. 6. He faces not less than five years and not more than 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each distribution count, and up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000 on the possession count. Beall commended the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart for their work on the case.
