Firefighters from both Geary and Riley County responded to the area near mile marker 316 on Interstate 70 for a fire about 3 p.m. Tuesday.  The site is about 19 miles east of Junction City.

Geary County Rural Fire Chief Garry Berges said the right front tire came off an eastbound vehicle. “He said he thought he had a flat tire, it was wobbly, and then all of a sudden the tire took off and caught the grass off the roadway on fire.”

Berges estimated less than one acre of grass burned. No one was injured.

There is a possibility that the proposed new sports complex will be called an activities complex.

Dennis Beson, Chamber of Commerce CEO, mentioned the idea during a convention and visitor’s bureau advisory meeting.

“If you call it a sports complex, the only thing that people think about is that there’s some sort of sports – soccer, and baseball, and the actual fields that get built; but we think we’re focusing a little bit more on an activities complex, and what we’re talking about is a more holistic property – something that can be used with bike trails, walking trails, possibly a playground,” said Beson.

The activities complex could also be a potential location for bigger events like Sundown Salute or Jammin in JC.

“We actually could have that event right down in a complex area and people would have places to park, it could all be in one location, and then maybe not tie up the center of town that sometimes affects businesses,” said Beson.

The top priorities on the table now for the possible sports complex/activities complex project include finding land and working toward the 501c-3 status, which would make it a nonprofit entity. Beson noted that officials are also waiting to learn the fate of the possible new school project.

“There’s some possibilities that if a new school gets built, we could possibly co-locate where the new school is, or they don’t know what to do with the old school and maybe that could be a potential [location]; so we’ve kind of been waiting, but we do have some private property land that we’ve been talking to some folks [about],” said Beson.

Beson added that data collected shows a good foundation for a business plan for the project.

No final decisions have been made on the proposed sports/activities complex.

“This is a historic opportunity for our community.”

Pat Landes, City Commissioner, was amongst the first to speak out in support of a new Junction City High School project.

“The State will match up to 48 percent currently and there’s no expiration date on that,” said Landes. “After July 1st that number could actually go up to 69 percent where it used to be; and then with the Heavily Impacted Aid, in which I believe we are one of 23 school districts in the country that receives this funding, to have the balance of basically our mortgage payment or another 52 percent to pay for a brand new high school is an opportunity that would be absolutely foolish to let go.”

Amid growing concern over the reliability of State and Federal funds, Landes said that using this funds for local projects is something that is very commonplace.

“The City already does [it], as far as using our local match dollars to lineup with the State and Federal highway dollars to fix things along 77 Highway,” Landes notes as an example. “The walking trail between the middle school and the high school, we’re doing matching funds on that, so this idea that it’s wrong to take money from outside our community – it’s already happening and that’s how you maximize your dollars to make those good projects happen that can really benefit your community.”

In lieu of the delayed Heavy Impact Aid payment from the Federal government, Landes is unchanged from his initial sentiments.

“We’ve had reassurances from our Senators, Senator Moran and Roberts, that the money is there; we have a brand new President and administration in office and they’re working through their own things with Congress and our support for the military is huge and I think our new President feels the same way, and I really have no concern that the [heavy impact aid] funding is going to be there,” said Landes.

USD 475 received notice last week that the payment would be delayed until the summer months. District officials are expected to recommend changing the Bond Election date from May 9th to a tentative date of August 1st at the next Board of Education meeting.

“I guarantee there isn’t a school district in the country that wouldn’t love to be in our shoes right now, if you could build a brand new high school and not raise your local mil levy to do that – and [they’ve] already worked these things through with the bond council – boy, I think it would be an absolute foolhardy not to do this,” said Landes.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating $6 million to help farmers and ranchers impacted by the wildfires which burned across Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas this month.

“The availability of USDA conservation funds targeted toward restoring land impacted by the fires is appreciated,” said Sen. Moran. “I have asked USDA to provide maximum flexibility in administering the federal assistance programs in response to the disaster, and will continue to make clear the urgent need for more immediate assistance to those impacted.”

The funding, which is being made available through the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), is designed to assist farmers and ranchers who are working to rebuild their facilities and restore their land. EQIP is a voluntary program which provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers to help plan and implement conservation practices that address priority local and state resources concerns.

Sen. Moran met with Acting USDA Secretary Michael Young last week to discuss the challenges facing farmers and ranchers impacted by the wildfires.

Background

• Producers who wish to apply for EQIP funding must submit a complete program application, establish “farm records”, and other documentation to support eligibility.
• Step-by-step assistance can be found at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/getstarted.
• Kansas will begin accepting applications in the near future.
• Producers in the affected counties are encouraged to check with their local NRCS service centers for additional information.

Click here to listen to and download an audio version of the statement.