The 1st Infantry Division was initially constituted as the First Expeditionary Division in May of 1917 before being officially organized in New York City on June 8, 1917, under the command of Brig. Gen. William L. Siebert.
On Thursday to recognize the 100th anniversary of the 1st Infantry Division, the “Big Red One” will conduct a division run and a Victory with Honors ceremony.
The division run will begin at 6:30 a.m. on Fort Riley’s Custer Hill. Every unit at Fort Riley will participate in the run, led by Brig. Gen. Patrick D. Frank, 1st Inf. Div. and Fort Riley acting senior commander, and other division leaders. The four-mile path will take Soldiers around Custer Hill and past displays of military equipment.
The Victory with Honors ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. This will be the official recognition ceremony for the division’s 100th anniversary, complete with the firing of the period cannon “Old Thunder,” Soldiers in uniforms from throughout the division’s history and a look back at the major conflicts that have defined the world and the division over the last century.
Assessed property valuation determines the value of a residence for tax purposes and takes comparable home sales and inspections into consideration for that figure. That figure could be down this year in Geary County.
The property valuation is the price placed on a home in the community to calculate property taxes.
Final numbers are not yet in, but Junction City Manager Allen Dinkel said that a decrease in the assessed property valuation is likely.
“I think it’s going to go down two to three percent – I’m not going to speculate on any reasons on how it went down,” said Dinkel. “We deal with the number we get, we can’t change that number.”
Dinkel noted that the valuation is a number that he gets from the County.
If a decrease were to occur, it could result in decreased funding from the property tax mil levy in the amount of $160,000 if the levy remains the same for 2018.
Again, the final numbers have not yet been released.
State Representative Lonnie Clark, photo courtesy Facebook Lonnie Clark Kansas House of Representatives 65th District
The Legislature has overridden Kansas Governor Sam Brownback’s veto on a major income tax increase bill – the largest in state history.
The bill is expected to raise $1.2 billion over two years by increasing taxes and ending an exemption that benefited roughly 330,000 farmers and small business owners.
State Representative Lonnie Clark, Junction City, said that the members of the House knew that they needed to get something to generate revenue, satisfy the courts on public school funding, and try to get the state back into positive and out of the red.
“We came together last night, it was a pretty divisive win for the override,” said Clark. “We had three or four people toward the end change their vote from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ and it gave us a huge margin and a good victory for the state of Kansas.”
The House voted 88-31 and the Senate 27-13 to override the Governor’s veto.
Now the bill goes to the Kansas Supreme Court for review for adequacy of funding for public schools.
“Over the next three years, there’s going to be about $850 million that will come and go into the school program,” said Clark. “This is going to show the Court that we have made a conscientious good decision to make an avenue for funding of the schools.”
The state Supreme Court will review that proposed funding package before it can be implemented.
Kansas faces projected budget shortfalls of $889 million through June 2019.
The Junction City Commission met on Tuesday and approved a few actions.
Commissioners approved the purchase of used rescue truck for the Fire Department at a cost of $85,000, travel expenses of $1800 and lettering/stripping and radio expenses of $3000. The truck can carry equipment needed in specialized rescues, such as water rescues.
The Commission approved the $1,127,902 bid to Salina based APAC Kansas for the 2017 Junction City Street Maintenance program; the same company was awarded the bid for the KLINK resurfacing project on Washington Street from 6th St to 18th St. The bid total is $488,775 with the City’s share of that total at $261,000.
The City Commission meets again on Tuesday, June 20th at 7:00 pm.
Daniel Edwards, Topeka, has been sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison for the March 2015 stabbing death of 52 year old Sharon Moody at her Junction City residence.
Earlier this year, Edwards plead guilty to one count each of second degree murder and aggravated robbery, in a plea deal that has frustrated members of the community.
Krista Blaisdell, County Attorney, said that there are many factors that go into deciding the best outcome of a case.
“This case has been pending for an [extended] period of time; and looking at a case and moving forward with a case isn’t always an easy decision as far as how a case should be handled and what direction a case should go.”
Blaisdell noted that the hardest part of the job is balancing justice for the victim, justice for the family, and the protection of the community while balancing the defendant’s rights.
With the guilty plea, as part of the plea arrangement, Edwards will not be able to appeal his conviction. If the case went to a jury trial where Edwards was found guilty of felony or 1st degree murder – a likely appeals process would prolong the case (potentially for years) and a second jury could then find him guilty of a lesser sentence. In this plea agreement, Edwards will serve the totality of his sentence.
This case did not meet the statutory qualifications for the death penalty.
Blaisdell added that she worked closely with the family of the victim, Sharon Moody, to come to the decision to offer the plea agreement.
“[We’d] like to express our deepest condolences to the family of Sharon Moody; no family should have to go through the events and the tragedy that they had to go through.”
For the many in the community, that knew Moody the sentence for Edwards was met with mixed feelings; Blaisdell said that the best interest of the community will always be at the forefront of the County Attorney’s office.
“We will continue to do our best to protect the citizens of Geary County, to promote justice within the confines of the law, and do our best to keep this community safe.”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) recently introduced bipartisan legislation to protect postal customers across the country from indefinite “emergency closure” of post offices. Their bill, S. 1204, would end the U.S. Postal Service’s practice of using its emergency suspension process, which was designed for temporary closures, to indefinitely close post offices without notice to the community, opportunity to appeal, or a timeframe for either reopening or permanently closing the facility.
“Kansans in rural communities know and often depend on the U.S. Postal Service as a mechanism for commerce, communicating with friends and family, and receiving critical deliveries such as medications through the mail,” said Sen. Moran. “When a post office closes in a small town, the resulting problems and harm to the local economy can be significant. By requiring advance notice ahead of any closures for the community and providing local residents the opportunity to appeal, this bipartisan legislation will give Kansans more influence over the presence of a post office in their communities.”
Since 2011, 650 postal facilities across the country have been “temporarily” closed under emergency suspension. Hundreds of these remain closed today in communities where the Postal Service has not told residents if – or when – those post offices might reopen. Since 2011, there have been over a dozen such suspensions in Kansas – due to staffing issues, expired or canceled leases or safety and health concerns.
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Geary County Emergency Management is seeking volunteer help with the parking duties for patrons attending the Symphony in the Flint Hills event on Saturday.
Garry Berges, Emergency Management Director, said they need approximately 10 to 12 volunteers to help throughout the day. “If they are interested in coming out for any length of time they need to contact my office at 238-1290 and we’ll get their information.” Volunteers will be provided with food, water and gatorade throughout the day.
Help is needed at about 10 or 11 a.m. and a second group at about 2:30 p.m. for parking, and also in the rehab tent.
Gates to the Deer Horn Ranch area where the Symphony is being held will open at 11 a.m. with the bulk of traffic expected to arrive between 3 and 5 p.m. The Kansas City Symphony and Michael Murphy will be performing with the concert activity running from about 6 to 9:30 p.m.
The Land Bank Board has directed city staff to seek requests for proposals from local realtors to market the numerous vacant housing lots on the west side of Junction City.
Allen Dinkel, City Manager, explained that they would select a realtor to market the Land Bank products. There are many lots available. “I think we have to get people that want to live here in Junction City. Work with the EDC to get more people to live here, want to live here, build here.”
Dinkel noted there are a lot of houses for sale in Junction City right now. “And until we get that number down it’s going to be tough to build new houses.”
Dinkel added he thought many of the things being put in place are good to try and get more people to live in Junction City.
“The pressures of serving a community are very high for firefighters.”
June is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD month.
When many think of PTSD and those that suffer from it the common references are men and women in the armed forces, or children that may have survived horrific childhood experiences; but it’s your local heroes that are often a forgotten piece of the conversation surrounding post traumatic stress disorder.
Terry Johnson, Junction City Fire Chief, said that the stress of your job – to help, save others – can sometimes consume you.
“We see people hurt, homes destroyed, you’re dealing with illnesses that you don’t know what it is; and you do this day in and day out,” said Johnson. “Every third day for 24 hours, you’re answering the call for help, and it wears on firefighters quite a bit.”
According to the American Journal of Psychology, about 18 percent of firefighters experience post traumatic stress disorder symptoms. And approximately 27 percent of all firefighters suffer from some form of mental illness related to ptsd.
“We used to call it ‘burn-out’, but really it’s traumatic stress; that’s what we do – deal with traumatic incidents all the time,” said Johnson. “We need to be aware of the signs and be aware that the stresses do get to us.”
The National Center for PTSD identifies the following symptoms for someone whom may be struggling to cope with a traumatic incident:
Reliving the event: nightmares, flashbacks, smells or sounds may be triggers
Avoiding situations that remind you of the event
Negative changes in beliefs and feelings
Feeling ‘keyed’ up, or hyper-arousal: hard time sleeping/concentrating
Symptoms disrupt your life or make it hard for you to get through the day.
“One of the great things about firemen is they always look out for each other; so when someone starts to have a hard time and starts to show those symptoms, we try to get them help,” said Johnson. “The fire service is a brotherhood, it’s a family.”
And PTSD doesn’t only affect firefighters; many of the men and women who work in public safety are exposed to traumatic or devastating events multiple times throughout a career. Johnson noted that sometimes just “opening up” and having a conversation about whatever you’re feeling can help the healing process and allow time for a vacation or break from duty if necessary.
If you or someone you know is struggling, there are several ways to get help. Talk with a doctor, seek treatment. There are also several crisis hotlines available depending on your need. For more information visit: https://ptsdusa.org/get-help/hotline-crisis-numbers/.
The 1st Infantry Division was initially constituted as the First Expeditionary Division in May of 1917 before being officially organized in New York City on June 8, 1917, under the command of Brig. Gen. William L. Siebert.
