December 6, 2016-Severe weather can be both frightening and dangerous for automobile travel. Motorists should know the safety rules for dealing with winter road emergencies. AAA reminds motorists to be cautious while driving in adverse weather. For more information on winter driving, the association offers the How to Go on Ice and Snow brochure, available through most AAA offices. Contact your local AAA club for more information.

AAA recommends the following winter driving tips:

• Avoid driving while you’re fatigued. Getting the proper amount of rest before taking on winter weather tasks reduces driving risks.
• Never run a vehicle in an enclosed area, such as a garage.
• Make certain your tires are properly inflated.
• Keep your gas tank at least half full.
• If possible, avoid using your parking brake in cold, rainy and snowy weather.
• Do not use cruise control when driving on any slippery surface (wet, ice, sand).
• Always look and steer where you want to go.
• Use your seat belt every time you get into your vehicle.

Tips for long-distance winter trips:

• Watch weather reports prior to a long-distance drive or before driving in isolated areas. Delay trips when especially bad weather is expected. If you must leave, let others know your route, destination and estimated time of arrival.
• Always make sure your vehicle is in peak operating condition by having it inspected by a AAA Approved Auto Repair facility.
• Keep at least half a tank of gasoline in your vehicle at all times.
• Pack a cellular telephone with your local AAA’s telephone number, plus blankets, gloves, hats, food, water and any needed medication in your vehicle.
• If you become snow-bound, stay with your vehicle. It provides temporary shelter and makes it easier for rescuers to locate you. Don’t try to walk in a severe storm. It’s easy to lose sight of your vehicle in blowing snow and become lost.
• Don’t over exert yourself if you try to push or dig your vehicle out of the snow.
• Tie a brightly colored cloth to the antenna or place a cloth at the top of a rolled up window to signal distress. At night, keep the dome light on if possible. It only uses a small amount of electricity and will make it easier for rescuers to find you.
• Make sure the exhaust pipe isn’t clogged with snow, ice or mud. A blocked exhaust could cause deadly carbon monoxide gas to leak into the passenger compartment with the engine running.
• Use whatever is available to insulate your body from the cold. This could include floor mats, newspapers or paper maps.
• If possible run the engine and heater just long enough to remove the chill and to conserve gasoline.

Tips for driving in the snow:

• Accelerate and decelerate slowly. Applying the gas slowly to accelerate is the best method for regaining traction and avoiding skids. Don’t try to get moving in a hurry. And take time to slow down for a stoplight. Remember: It takes longer to slow down on icy roads.
• Drive slowly. Everything takes longer on snow-covered roads. Accelerating, stopping, turning – nothing happens as quickly as on dry pavement. Give yourself time to maneuver by driving slowly.
• The normal dry pavement following distance of three to four seconds should be increased to eight to ten seconds. This increased margin of safety will provide the longer distance needed if you have to stop.
• Know your brakes. If you have anti-lock brakes (ABS) and need to slow down quickly, press hard on the pedal-it’s normal for the pedal to vibrate a bit when the ABS is activated.
• Don’t stop if you can avoid it. There’s a big difference in the amount of inertia it takes to start moving from a full stop versus how much it takes to get moving while still rolling. If you can slow down enough to keep rolling until a traffic light changes, do it.
• Don’t power up hills. Applying extra gas on snow-covered roads just starts your wheels spinning. Try to get a little inertia going before you reach the hill and let that inertia carry you to the top. As you reach the crest of the hill, reduce your speed and proceed down hill as slowly as possible.
• Don’t stop going up a hill. There’s nothing worse than trying to get moving up a hill on an icy road. Get some inertia going on a flat roadway before you take on the hill.
• Stay home. If you really don’t have to go out, don’t. Even if you can drive well in the snow, not everyone else can. Don’t tempt fate: If you don’t have somewhere you have to be, watch the snow from indoors.

Visit AAA’s YouTube page for more videos on winter driving tips.

December 7, 2016 – High school students can gain valuable creative and marketing experience and earn cash prizes for themselves and their schools by producing one-minute videos based on the theme “Start With Trust” (BBB’s tag line) in a contest sponsored by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Foundation. All students in grades 9–12, including those who are home-schooled, may submit an entry. They can work in teams of 2-4 persons or individually to produce and market their videos on social media.

First Place prizes of $500 will be awarded to both the creators of the winning videos and to their schools or to a charity if the students are home-schooled. Second Place prizes of $250 will be awarded to the creators of the runner-up videos and to their schools or to a charity if the students are home-schooled. Winners will be selected from the following areas: metro Omaha/southwest Iowa (includes: Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties), metro Lincoln/greater Nebraska (all of Nebraska except metro Omaha), South Dakota and the Kansas Plains (all counties except Franklin, Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami and Wyandotte).

The prize-winning videos will be judged based on how well they adhere to BBB’s brand, express the theme “Start With Trust,” the quality of production and how many times they are viewed on BBB’s YouTube channel – BBB of NE, SD, KS Plains and SW Iowa – where the videos will be posted.

“In an innovative way, this competition provides an opportunity for high school students to learn the values of BBB – trustworthiness, ethical behavior, reliability and objectivity – and compels them to discover how these values can be applied in their everyday lives. Contestants will also gain valuable marketing experience because they are challenged to get the most views on YouTube by promoting their videos on social media,” explained BBB President and CEO Jim Hegarty.

“We are excited to see the different approaches talented and creative students take to express BBB’s ‘Start With Trust’ theme. We also hope the students will have fun making memorable videos and marketing them. Aside from the obvious benefit to the students, this is also a wonderful opportunity for their schools,” said Hegarty.

The submission deadline is Friday, January 13, 2017, and the winners will be notified on or before March 1, 2017. Complete details about the contest and requiredforms can be accessed by clicking on the “Student Video Contest” icon on the homepage of BBB’s website at bbbinc.org.

For more information, please contact BBB Senior Communications Specialist Jeff Niebaum at 402-898-8550, 800-649-6814 #8550 or jniebaum@bbbinc.org. BBB and its Foundation look forward to awarding the outstanding videos and the production teams’ schools.

The Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors will assign a Board member to be a part of each Advisory Committee in the future.

This is a change from the current setup where advisory committees send a person to the Chamber Board.

Dennis Beson, Chamber CEO, outlined the planned change. “Because I want the Boards to basically finish out the cycles that they’re in so that come 2017, actually all of our divisions – that’s another thing that we’ve been working on is aligning everybody so that they all change in January, instead of one in January, one in March, one in June and then one that doesn’t ever change for some reason.”

Beson said that it’s possible that in the future the person appointed from the Chamber Board is the Chair for the different division for that year – a one year term. “It’s going to allow our thirteen member Chamber Board to have a little bit more interaction, so it’s not the same person doing it for three years and it’s not the same to give some an opportunity to get some of our other Board members who may be interested in the different things, a chance to serve on an Advisory Committee.”

Beson reported on the plan to the Junction City Commission Tuesday evening.

The proposed final plat for a new Dollar General store project is on the agenda for the Junction City – Geary County Metropolitan Planning Commission Thursday evening.

Planning and Zoning Administrator David Yearout said the proposed plat is for property at the southwest corner of North Monroe Street and Grant Avenue. “A large vacant lot owned by a group of doctors here in town. Dollar General is proposing to take roughly the east half of that property and construct another Dollar General store.”  He added the doctor’s group is called SKAK Enterprises LLC.

Yearout noted staff is recommending the proposal on the final plat be continued until a later MPC meeting because they feel a traffic analysis needs to be done. He noted there are also some drainage issues. “We just think there needs to be more effort put into really laying this plat out.”

The MPC meeting begins at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Municipal Building.

Junction City police have reported the arrest of a 33-year old Junction City man, Daniel Scott Pettigrew,  on multiple counts  including suspicion of Aggravated Battery, Rape, Criminal Threat and Kidnapping. He was arrested Tuesday at the JCPD.

—

Police have arrested Natasha Fenese-Antwanett Cliff, 30, Junction City, on suspicion of Aggravated Arson and Aggravated Burglary.  According to authorities the allegations stemmed from a mattress fire in her apartment and other separate damage to a neighbor’s apartment door.