Preparation for the major Westar Energy Substation project on Hawkinsmith Road in southeast Geary County is ongoing.
Keith Ascher, County Commissioner, said that the governing body received an update this week from the Public Works Director Cory Trumpp.
“They applied some more rock for the haul route on July 28th and 31st; if weather permits they plan to do dust control this week, Wednesday and Thursday,” said Ascher.
The project has a total estimated cost of $64 million dollars.
A 1st Infantry Division Soldier died in an officer-involved shooting on August 8th in Junction City.
Specialist Peter James Robbins, 23, a field artillery Firefinder radar operator with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Inf. Div., died following an early morning incident involving the Junction City Police Department.
“The 1st Bn., 5th FA Regt., team is deeply saddened by the loss of Spc. Robbins,” said Lt. Col. Richard J. Ikena Jr., commander of the 1st Bn., 5th FA Regt. “Our team is prepared to fully support Spc. Robbins’ family, teammates and friends through these challenging times.”
Robbins joined the Army in February 2013 and arrived at Fort Riley in August 2013. He deployed to Iraq in June 2014 and to South Korea in October 2016.
His home of record is Albuquerque, New Mexico.
His awards include the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon.
An investigation with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is ongoing.
——-
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating an officer involved shooting that occurred early Tuesday morning on the west side of Junction City.
Junction City Police Chief Dan Breci held a press conference Tuesday afternoon where he reported that the initial call to police was for a welfare check of a possibly suicidal subject. Soon after arriving at a residence on Windwood Drive (off Ash Street), another call came in to authorities reporting an armed man at the Walmart Neighborhood Market at 1723 McFarland Road in Junction City.
Authorities from the Junction City Police Department (JCPD) and Geary County Sheriff’s Office (GESO) responded to the Walmart parking lot.
“When [we] got there [the subject] was walking through the [Walmart] parking lot,” said Breci. “[Officers] had about an eight minute conversation with him trying to get him to put the guns down, and for most of that conversation he had a gun to his temple and a gun pointed at our officers.”
The subject was given commands to drop his weapons. The confrontation escalated and four law enforcement officers – three from the JCPD, and one from the GESO – fired at the subject.
The subject – whose identity will not be released until next of kin has been appropriately notified – was pronounced dead at the scene. He was a 23 year old white male from Fort Riley.
No law enforcement officers were injured during the incident.
“We’re continuing this investigation right now, we have a lot of paperwork, a lot of tie-ups – it just doesn’t stop when we leave the scene,” said Breci. “This investigation [includes] downloading body cameras, video cameras, video from Walmart, [and] video from surrounding businesses.”
Breci noted that the JCPD officers involved were equipped with body cameras,and both the GESO and JCPD vehicles had dash cam video recording.
All officers involved have been placed on administrative leave, per protocol. JCPD Chaplains will meet with all parties involved, including dispatchers, for “grief counseling”. Breci noted that a 16 year old male high school intern was taking part in a ride-along with one of the responding officers and witnessed the incident. He has been interning with the JCPD for a year.
“The sad fact is that somebody lost their life, so it isn’t a day to celebrate/to say things went great, because they didn’t,” said Breci. “Today wasn’t a success story, other than we prevented him from hurting other people.”
There were three calls to law enforcement for possibly suicidal subjects on Monday evening/early Tuesday morning.
The investigation has been turned over to the KBI, and is ongoing.
UPDATE:
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) has identified the Fort Riley man killed in a confrontation with police yesterday outside the Walmart Neighborhood Market in Junction City, as 23-year-old Peter James Robbins.
An investigation is ongoing.
—
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating an officer involved shooting that occurred early Tuesday morning on the west side of Junction City.
Junction City Police Chief Dan Breci held a press conference Tuesday afternoon where he reported that the initial call to police was for a welfare check of a possibly suicidal subject. Soon after arriving at a residence on Windwood Drive (off Ash Street), another call came in to authorities reporting an armed man at the Walmart Neighborhood Market at 1723 McFarland Road in Junction City.
Authorities from the Junction City Police Department (JCPD) and Geary County Sheriff’s Office (GESO) responded to the Walmart parking lot.
“When [we] got there [the subject] was walking through the [Walmart] parking lot,” said Breci. “[Officers] had about an eight minute conversation with him trying to get him to put the guns down, and for most of that conversation he had a gun to his temple and a gun pointed at our officers.”
The subject was given commands to drop his weapons. The confrontation escalated and four law enforcement officers – three from the JCPD, and one from the GESO – fired at the subject.
The subject – whose identity will not be released until next of kin has been appropriately notified – was pronounced dead at the scene. He was a 23 year old white male from Fort Riley.
No law enforcement officers were injured during the incident.
“We’re continuing this investigation right now, we have a lot of paperwork, a lot of tie-ups – it just doesn’t stop when we leave the scene,” said Breci. “This investigation [includes] downloading body cameras, video cameras, video from Walmart, [and] video from surrounding businesses.”
Breci noted that the JCPD officers involved were equipped with body cameras,and both the GESO and JCPD vehicles had dash cam video recording.
All officers involved have been placed on administrative leave, per protocol. JCPD Chaplains will meet with all parties involved, including dispatchers, for “grief counseling”. Breci noted that a 16 year old male high school intern was taking part in a ride-along with one of the responding officers and witnessed the incident. He has been interning with the JCPD for a year.
“The sad fact is that somebody lost their life, so it isn’t a day to celebrate/to say things went great, because they didn’t,” said Breci. “Today wasn’t a success story, other than we prevented him from hurting other people.”
There were three calls to law enforcement for possibly suicidal subjects on Monday evening/early Tuesday morning.
The investigation has been turned over to the KBI, and is ongoing.
Free training sessions on Kansas open government laws will be offered at five locations across the state in the coming weeks.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and the Kansas Sunshine Coalition for Open Government are sponsoring the events.
The schedule for the sessions is as follows:
These seminars are free and open to the public.
Space at each location is limited, and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants can register on the Kansas Attorney General’s website, www.ag.ks.gov/open-gov, or by calling (785) 296-2215.
The training about the Kansas Open Records Act and the Kansas Open Meetings Act will be conducted by attorneys in Schmidt’s office who have experience in open government laws and who are charged by law with training and enforcement of them. Panelists will include Kansas Sunshine Coalition members, local government officials and media representatives.
Regionalism at its finest.
That’s the best way to describe the Children’s Mercy and Geary Community Hospital partnership to include specialty clinics for children ages birth to 21.
Construction on the nearly 7000 square foot clinic will service over 800 children from the Junction City that were seen in Kansas City in the past year, in addition to hundreds of other families from across the region.
“Certainly it will impact Junction City and Geary County, but it will be much broader than that – it will be a regional service for many different children and families,” said Joseph Stratton, Geary Community Hospital (GCH) CEO.
The Children’s Mercy Clinic inside GCH will be located in the lower level of the hospital and include twelve exam rooms, three dictation pods, two treatment rooms, height/weight rooms, restrooms, a nurses station and a reception area.
There will also be a drive up entrance with a Children’s Mercy canopy for direct access to the clinic. “The space is going to be a kid-friendly space, a lot of bright colors, a lot of bright design,” said Stratton.
Each Children’s Mercy Clinic has a different theme – for example an aviation design in Wichita. Early ideas for themes in GCH include cars, trucks, jeeps, and possibly tanks to tie in with the military in the region. Final design plans are still months away.
“Some of these ventures or partnerships that come together are kind of like a crawl, walk, run – they develop over time,” said Stratton. “We have a long term agreement with Children’s Mercy to occupy the space, so we very possibly could be having another conversation five years from now about the additional space that’s needed for other services.”
The clinic will definitely be a financial boost to GCH; but early estimates on the financial impact are still uncertain due to the nature of the partnership.
“[Children’s Mercy] will take care of a lot of services that take place in the clinic, and when they come outside the clinic and need to take care of other services, we at Geary Community Hospital – here in our facility – will be able to provide those services for them.”
The clinic will be staffed by at least three specialty physicians from Children’s Mercy.
The project is projected to cost $1.9 million and be complete by the Spring of 2018. The project was privately funded by the Geary Community Healthcare Foundation, the R2B4 Bramlage Family Foundation, and other regional foundations.
Since January approximately 400-450 cats and 300 dogs have been brought to the Junction City / Geary County Animal Shelter. Space is a concern as well as the need for items such as canned and dry dog food, cat litter, long-lasting dog chews, blankets, newspapers, laundry detergent and “Dawn” liquid dishwashing detergent. “Dawn” has been mentioned specifically because of its ability to de-grease and quickly fleas.
The information was reported by the director of the shelter, Vanessa Gray, to the Junction City Breakfast Optimist Club at their meeting on Wednesday.
Support of Friends of Animals and donations provide support on a limited budget. Gray reported that the animal shelter’s budget may decrease from $234,000 last year to $218,000 this year.
Gray shared the steps followed when an animal is brought to the shelter. They include checking for a micro-chip, trying to contact the owner if the person is identified in the micro-chip, giving the animal appropriate vaccinations, de-worm on a three-day cycle, doing a flea treatment if needed, taking a picture of the animal and putting it on Facebook, holding the animal for 72 hours and doing treatments as necessary. If there is no owner identified the animal is put up for adoption and after three days a behavior test is done to identify any social behavioral issues the animal may have. There is a “Foster” program for animals. They can be placed in a home for 60 days rather than being kept at the shelter. Gray noted, “Friends of Animals” are helpful with adoption and establishing “life-long” homes for animals.”
On August 19th there will be a “Clear the Shelter” event and cats may be adopted for as little as $10. Normally the fees are as much as $200 or more per animal. For more information on how you or organization can help contact the Junction City / Geary County Animal Shelter at 238-1359.
The Geary County Sheriff’s Department has reported that Deputies responded at 10:50 p.m. Tuesday to a single vehicle non-injury accident on K-57 Highway mile marker 21.
Eric Manning II, Fort Riley, was driving a 2017 Hyundai Accent when a deer entered the roadway. Manning swerved to avoid striking the animal, the vehicle went into the west side ditch and struck a barbwire fence.
UPDATE:
Junction City police responded at 5:42 a.m. Wednesday to 935 Valley View Drive Apt. 7 for a check welfare case. Police Detective Lieutenant Jeff Childs said when officers arrived on the scene they gained entry to the apartment. “where a subject ( a female ) was located deceased. The case is under investigation. Foul play is not suspected at this time. We do not believe the public is in any danger from this incident.”
The victim was a resident of the apartment.
——
Junction City police have responded to a Valley View Drive apartment location early Wednesday morning in a case involving a deceased person.
JCPost.com has also learned a coroner and chaplain have been called to the scene.
No other details have been released.
JCPost.com will update the story as we proceed through the morning.
One of the original “freedom writers” will be the guest speaker at the general session for USD 475 on Friday, August 11th.
The District hosts a General Session for employees annually to mark the beginning of a new school year. This year the keynote speaker will be Manny Scott – one of the original “freedom writers.”
In addition there will be an appearance and speaking engagement before General Session which will be open to the public. This public presentation will be held at Junction City Middle School located at 700 Wildcat Lane.
The public presentation begins at 7:30 am and is free to attend.
“When I was fourteen, I dropped out of high school. I was sitting on a park bench. Helpless, hurting, and hopeless, I was thinking about doing something that would have gotten me incarcerated or killed. The ending of my story seemed certain. But a total stranger sat down next to me, and inspired me to take a path in life down which very few people travel. From that moment, I began writing a new chapter in my life. And that has made all the difference.”
His poor school performance landed Manny Scott at the back of Erin Gruwell’s English class—a group now known as the original Freedom Writers. Their story was told in part in the 2007 film – Freedom Writers starring Hillary Swank.
Scott, the former high school dropout now has degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and Trinity International University. He is currently working toward a Doctorate degree in Chicago.
Scott’s speaking engagements and appearances have motivated members of the Department of Education, the National Education Association and countless organizations and schools worldwide.
He has appeared on ABC News’ Nightline and The View.
Learn more at mannyscott.com.
*feature photo courtesy mannyscott.com
|
50%
|
High
|
80° | Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 80. South winds 5 to 10 mph. |
by: DeAngela McDougald
