A second candidate has filed for election to the mayor’s position in Grandview Plaza.
According to the Geary County Clerk’s Office, Honey Grant has filed for election to mayor. She will join Rick Geike in seeking the mayor’s spot. Grant is currently a member of the city council, while Geike is currently the mayor of Grandview Plaza.
Allan Rothlisberg and Marvin Edison earlier both filed for a seat on the Grandview Plaza City Council.
PRESS RELEASE
The Geary Community Healthcare Foundation will host their 15th annual country and western fundraising event, Boots, Chaps, and Cowboy Hats, on Friday, June 9th at Bob and Lynn Small’s big red country barn. Tickets to the fundraiser are $50 each, and the deadline for reservations is Friday, June 2nd.
All proceeds from Boots, Chaps, and Cowboy Hats will support Children’s Mercy Clinics at Geary Community Hospital.
Guests will dine on Cox Brothers BBQ, participate in both live and silent auctions, and dance to the music of Nashville recording artist Rusty Rierson.
Just a few of the items available for purchase include: Royals tickets and parking pass donated by 1420 KJCK-Eagle Radio, Cox Brothers BBQ party package, KSU tailgating set donated by Allen and Paula Dinkel, Longaberger basket donated by Geary Community Healthcare Foundation, Far Side Collection and framed cartoon donated by Dr. John and Helen Kovac, Baskin Robbins coupons donated by Junction City Baskin Robbins Peggy and Terry Heldstab, and a bottle of Japanese Whisky donated by Kendall and Meghan Schoenrock. A sunset cruise on Milford Lake on a pontoon boat for eight donated by Tim Date – Milford Lake Marina; a Mexican fiesta dinner for six donated by Rex and Jolana Matney; BBQ Pulled Pork and Ribs for 20-30 donated by Goodwood BBQ – Lance Custer, Ken Dillon, and Kenny Ziegler; and a two-day fall turkey hunt donated by Brad Roether – Grandpa Boone’s Cabins and Outfitters will be auctioned off during the live auction.
This event would not be possible without our generous corporate sponsors: 1420 KJCK – Eagle Radio; Valley View Senior Life; KS State Bank; Godfrey’s Indoor Shooting & Archery Ranges, and Wealth Management & Trust Services – Central National Bank; and underwriters: Accessible Home Health; Animal Care Clinic-Mark Stenstrom, DVM; Bayer Construction; DEL Motors; Dillon Painting; Joe and Jane Handlos; Handy’s Convenience Stores; Heldstab Appliance-Terry and Peggy Heldstab; LaDonna Junghans State Farm Agency; Ben Kitchens Painting Company; Kollhoff Pharmacy; Landmark National Bank; Rex and Jolana Matney; McCaleb Electric-Darrel and Kaye McCaleb; Noel Park-Edward Jones Investments; Security Solutions; Bob and Lynn Small; Charles and Katharyn Volland; and Waters True Value Hardware. Nashville Recording Artist Rusty Rierson is proudly sponsored by Millennium Bank and Coyotes Saloon.
For more information about this and future events please contact the Foundation at 238-3787 or visit www.gchcf.org.
Manhattan, KS, May 26, 2017 – May 27 through August 6, the Flint Hills Discovery Center
invites you to spend the summer designing skate parks, mixing dance beats and creating roller coasters in the new exhibit, Design Zone. Here, guests can discover the science behind how videogame developers, music producers, roller coaster designers and other creative problem solvers use math and physics to do the amazing things they do.
In this highly interactive, hands-on exhibition, visitors can explore a variety of creative concepts to learn the processes and tools needed to create a successful design. Design Zone covers three thematic areas, all highlighting the importance of science and mathematical thinking in areas critical to building creativity and innovation: art, music and engineering.
“It’s the perfect exhibit to entertain children, but also keep them learning all summer long,” says Susan Adams, Flint Hills Discovery Center Director. “Design Zone does a great job providing an educational experience for youth ages eight to fourteen-years-old by making physics fun. It removes the classroom aspect and provides an environment children get excited to dive into, which can sometimes be hard to capture in our world.”
Accompanying Design Zone is Brain Teasers. A smaller exhibit that offers 21 challenges for
puzzle enthusiasts of all ages, Brain Teasers is designed to sharpen problem-solving skills and provide plenty of fun. Visitors must use creative thinking and problem-solving strategies such as looking for patterns, thinking ahead, setting aside preconceived ideas and looking at problems from different perspectives to solve these puzzles.
“Becoming a light-show DJ, designing a skate park, mixing drum beats and creating roller coaster tracks are just a few things visitors can expect to experience while visiting this summer,” said Molly Kurtz, Flint Hills Discovery Center Marketing Coordinator. “While it may just seem like fun, it’s actually teaching things like ratio, slope, beats per minute and velocity.
DESIGN ZONE was produced and is toured by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. This
exhibit was made possible by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.
A ninth candidate has entered the race for one of three seats on the Junction City Commission; Bob Henderson, local business owner, is the latest to file for election.
“I first came to Junction City as the first retail development director for the EDC (economic development commission), that was before it was part of the Chamber,” said Henderson. “I think it’s very important that we have a City Commission that responds to our business; especially in such areas as the mil levy and property tax.”
In addition to wanting to be a voice for local business and property owners, Henderson is passionate about “cleaning up” the city.
“Mick McCallister just recently has been talking about cleaning up the blight, and I totally agree with him on that; I really think we need to cleanup the gateways into Junction City, the downtown area, Grant Avenue – all of that,” said Henderson. “Blighted houses cannot remain blighted houses, we need to take care of that.”
Henderson previously served on the Geary USD 475 Board of Education for 12 years, both as President and Vice President.
If the candidate list for the City Commision reaches ten, there will be an August primary election ahead of the November general election.
Other candidates include:
The filing deadline for the Junction City Commission is Thursday, June 1st at noon.
The first Junction City Community Band concert of the summer is scheduled Sunday evening at 7 p.m. at the C.L. Hoover Opera House. Admission is free.
The band will perform a variety of marches and popular music. Dr. Ferrell Miller will be the featured soloist on accordion.
The band performs each Sunday in June at the Opera House.
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The Live Well Geary County Coalition has received confirmation from the Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Kansas, Pathways to a Healthy Kansas grant application committee that 15 sites across Kansas have been chosen for a site review, and that Live Well Geary County will be one of them.
Mike Ryan, Chairman of LWGC, said the site visit will occur June 6th.
Following the site visits, a grant award of $500,000 will be made to eight applicants across Kansas. Award notification will occur on June 30th. The community initiative to begin the grant will take place on August 1st, 2017 and the funding period will be from August 1st, 2017 to July 31st, 2020. Last year LWGC was selected for a site visit, but failed to be one of the eight finalists.
The purpose of the Pathways to a Healthy Kansas initiative is to inspire long-lasting, community-wide well-being by creating supportive, healthy environments; focusing on strategies that build community engagement and transform the way residents stay healthy as they work, play and interact socially. It also incorporates more opportunities to be healthy in normal daily routines–through access in schools, worksites, health care providers’ offices, food establishments and social networks. The initiative provides community coalitions with the tools and resources needed to remove barriers and engage their communities in ways that enable healthy eating and tobacco-free, active living to become a way of life.
The Pathways Team will be represented by the Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Kansas, the Wichita State University Community Engagement Institute and the Kansas Health Institute. Technical assistance will be provided to LWGC via the Public Health Center, Thrive Allen County and Work Well Kansas.
Ryan stated, “The opportunity for Geary County to be awarded a grant of this magnitude is receiving a ground-swell response from a variety of agencies to include: the Geary Community Hospital, USD 475, Delivering Change, Geary Community Health Care Foundation, the Geary County Health Department, Junction City Commission and Geary County Commission, Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization, Wheels of Hope and Geary County Extension to name a few.”
“I’m extremely proud of their efforts here today.”
Those are the comments of Junction City High School Marching Band Director T.J. Taylor following the performance by the band in the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington D.C.
The band marched in the parade down Constitution Avenue from Seventh to 17th Street just past the White House and the Washington Monument.”We turned the corner and we cranked it up and we kept it going for a couple of blocks while we were in the TV zone as well as the review stand. We just got a lot of applause. It was a huge, huge crowd for this parade. So it was pretty inspirational for our students and me as well.”
Taylor said he had to be the most proud band director in Kansas and maybe the whole country right now. “Just to see these kids putting forth the effort. They didn’t slow down a bit and didn’t falter at all anywhere along the way.”
The band visited Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, and performed in a standstill concert at the World War Two Memorial during their trip to the nation’s capitol. They are planning to arrive back in Junction City via charter bus Tuesday afternoon.
The band began their trip last Thursday and arrived in Washington D.C. about 26 hours later on Friday.
Memorial Day was observed with a ceremony at Fort Riley on Monday.
These photos were taken by Nita Miller.
First impressions are lasting.
Phyllis Fitzgerald, Mayor of Junction, said that when it comes to your appearance or your community…you only get one first impression.
“Whether you’re meeting somebody or coming into a community or business, the first thing you see might be the last thing you remember and it may cause you to not ever want to come back or it may cause you [to say] ‘I’m going to keep going back’,” said Fitzgerald.
When it comes to the community, her approach is one of teamwork and leadership.
“That are a lot of leaders in our community, not just the political leaders or the leaders in the workplace, but I feel like there’s a lot of other leaders in our community,” said Fitzgerald. “I really believe that if one person is out doing good – like picking up trash, like I do – I do get a lot of other people who will get out and do the same thing; in a neighborhood, there’s going to be people, or one or two folks that are going to step up to the plate.”
And when by stepping up to the plate, Fitzgerald is referring to taking pride in the appearance and perception of Junction City.
“I really believe in the community, there’s a lot of leaders that live in our neighborhoods; and I would really love to start seeing some of those silent leaders in our different neighborhoods just kind of step out and take the initiative and start taking charge of how your neighborhoods look – their appearance,” said Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald has been an advocate for hometown pride and conducts regular trash pickups in the main entrances to Junction City.
Fitzgerald’s comments, echo that of Commissioner Mick McAllister in “what is the standard that you are willing to live with?” in reference to taking pride in the appearance of the community.
