Geary County Community Schools Foundation board members have accepted a check from Major Saver for $28,185.
According to school district officials half of the money will be used to help fund grants and scholarships for staff and students. The other half is allocated to the schools that sold restaurant cards.
MANHATTAN, KANSAS —From 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 3,everyone who brings a non-perishable food item to the Manhattan Public Library will receive a $1 voucher to pay library fines. Vouchers will be good throughout the month of December, with a maximum of 10 vouchers per person. All of the donated food will be given to the Flint Hills Bread Basket to help combat food insecurity in Manhattan.
Library Director, Linda Knupp, championed the idea as “a way to promote good will during the holidays and give back to the community.”
Suggested items include:
The following items will not be accepted:
Volunteers from the Manhattan Library Association will be in the library’s atrium to accept donations and issue vouchers. For more information, please contact the Manhattan Public Library at 629 Poyntz Avenue, (785) 776-4741 ext. 100, or www.MHKLibrary.org.
The Flint Hills Breadbasket is located at 905 Yuma Street. It was founded in 1983 as a Community Food Network to collect and distribute food to those in need. Their food pantry is open Monday – Thursday from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. and Fridays from 1:00 to3:00 p.m. to distribute food.
To see the complete schedule for the Breadbasket, visit www.breadbasket.manhattanks.org or call (785) 537-0730.
Bond has been set at $250,000 cash or surety for a Junction City man arrested by police on allegations including suspicion of rape, aggravated indecent liberties with a child, aggravated sodomy, and aggravated indecent solicitation of a child.
Police reported that 21 year old Marc Thomas Allen Fueston of Junction City was arrested on Thursday.
The status check and preliminary hearings have been scheduled for December 1st in Geary County District Court.
The campaigning is over, but 68th District Representative Dave Baker is still out blazing the trail – and this time, he’s talking health and fitness.
“Live Well Geary County is one of the programs that Geary County is moving on right now and I’ve been part of the committee on that and it’s an exciting program, it’s a big change in eating habits and living well in Geary County,” said Baker.
Changing the attitudes surrounding healthy eating will be a lofty task, one that Baker said is very much needed in the community.”We’ve always grown up with soda pop and cake and ice cream and fast foods and comfort woods, we need to get people back out into the dirt, working in the garden and eating healthier.”
Baker adds that people need to decrease time spent on computers, cell phones and watching television and get out and be more active.
Geary County was recently ranked as the most food insecure county in the state with 1 in 5 people experiencing hunger, but Geary County was also amongst the highest fast food restaurants per capita in the state.
One out of every three adults were obese in Kansas in 2015 – a trend that is increasing over the years.
Release: The VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System is pleased to announce we received accreditation for a period of three years for its Community Living Center rehabilitation programs and services. The latest accreditation survey was the best in the history of VA Eastern Kansas resulting in ZERO findings. Surveyors from the international accrediting body, CARF (theCommission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities), made mention that the VA EasternKansas survey is also the first one they have completed in which zero findings were recorded.By pursuing and achieving accreditation, VA Eastern Kansas has demonstrated that it meetsinternational standards for quality and is committed to pursuing excellence.
This accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation an organization can receive and shows our organization’s substantial conformance to the CARF standards. An organization receiving a Three-Year Accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer review process. It has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit its commitment to offering programs and services that are measurable, accountable, and of the highest quality.
VA Eastern Kansas, with medical centers in Topeka and Leavenworth as well as nine other community-based clinics spread throughout eastern Kansas and western Missouri, has been providing care to our nation’s heroes in the Leavenworth area since 1933 and in the Topeka region since 1946. VA Eastern Kansas currently serves more than 37,000 veteran beneficiaries and employees more than 1800 professionals.
CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality,value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now known as CARF International, the accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services.
We would welcome an opportunity to further acquaint you with our services and respond to your questions. We believe our organization is a valuable asset, and our CARF accreditation underscores our commitment to the community of we serve.
For more information on the CARF survey, please visit their site @ https://www.carf.org/home
What’s Happening at the Library?
Basket Making
6 p.m., Dec. 12, Hobby Haven
Students will learn the basic techniques of basket weaving by completing a project each time the class meets. This is also an excellent opportunity for anyone who wants to renew or hone their weaving skills. Class size is limited, so register early. Ages 15 and older. Anyone under the age of 15 must be accompanied by an adult.
This month’s project is: Christmas Ornament
Class Fee: $8.00
Registration closes November 28th.
Word 101-Dorothy Bramlage Public Library
Microsoft Word is a word-processing software used to write letters, make lists, take notes, create resumes, generate invoices, etc. And even if you are not planning on doing a lot of writing, word processing will come in handy when you are composing an email. This class will provide you with the information you need to use Microsoft Word to: copy, cut, and paste; to underline, center, change font sizes and styles; to save your documents, and use spell check. Students need basic mouse and keyboarding skills for this class.
Registration closes November 28th.
It’s a tough time for the farm community.
Geary County Extension Agent Chuck Otte said that the community is on the brink of a farm crisis similar to the one in the 1980s.
“We’ve been through a 20 year honeymoon, we had very good prices, very good profitability and farmers were very productive, very profitable; the period from 2010 to about 2014 – 15 was record high profitability, but we went from over $100,00 average profit per farm in Kansas in 2014 to $4000 last year and in 2016 there’s a good chance that it could be a negative profitability,” said Otte.
The statewide trend is that 10 to 15% of the farm community statewide will be affected by the crisis – there are approximately 200 farmers in Geary County.
A major contributor is the falling commodity prices that are out of the hands of producers, says Otte. “We’ve had good crops, and when you’ve had a glut of grain on the market you’re going to have lower prices – so that’s the big problem right now.”
Otte said that his role as an Extension Agent is to help producers figure out where they can cut costs without hurting production.
According to Living History Farm, “The boom of the 70s became the bust of the 80s because surplus production rose, land prices rose, too many farmers were carrying too much debt, problems in the economy forced interest rates to historic highs, and a new administration tried to cut back on government support. As a result, marginal farmers were forced off their land. Many did not go quietly as farm protest movements heated up during the 80s. The number of farmers shrank, and the average farm got bigger.”
The Junction City Ladies Reading Club is selling their signature pecan halves.
They are ideal for gifts and holiday baking and usually sell out quickly. The price per bag is $12.
Interested buyers can contact Charlotte Grelk at 238-5523 or tcgrelk@cox.net to make the necessary arrangements.
Proceeds from the pecan sales are used for the maintenance and upkeep of the group’s historic clubhouse located at 3rd and Jefferson Streets.
The Ladies Reading Club has been in continuous operation since 1875 and is the oldest affiliate of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in Kansas.
Geary County Commission Chair Florence Whitebread received a special honor at the 2016 Geary County Extension Council Annual Meeting.
Whitebread received the Appreciation Award, an award presented to someone that “exhibits phenomenal support for Extension programs” and in her case, the community as well.
“I do the things for the community because I think it’s something that I need to do and that I want to do, and I just couldn’t believe receiving [this] attention for doing that – I mean, something that I think is normal that a person ought to do for their community,” said Whitebread.
Not only has Whitebread served as County Commissioner for 24 years, she has been a staunch supporter of 4-H programs and fundraisers, the Geary County Historical Society, and her church – to name a few.
Although she didn’t seek re-election to the County Commission, Whitebread said she won’t be on the couch twiddling her thumbs. “I’m already asked to serve on a Board here (Extension Council), I’ve been asked to serve on a couple other boards, so I don’t think I’m going to have too much time to think about missing anything – there’s just too many things to do.”
Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent said that Florence was the obvious choice to 
receive the Extension Council Appreciation Award.
“Some people may just be involved in one aspect of the program or another…sometimes somebody comes along and makes a big impact one year, sometimes it’s an accumulation of what they’ve done over a long period of time…she has been there for 24 years, working with us, helping us and supporting us, being at our events – it just seemed like a wonderful time to recognize and incredible woman,” said Otte.
The Geary County Extension Council Annual Meeting was Thursday, November 17th at Stacy’s Restaurant in Grandview Plaza.
A concept putting a new Junction City High School on the west side of the city near the City Middle School received extensive review during a JCHS Steering Committee meeting Thursday evening.
Bill Clark, USD 475 Director of Business Operations, explained they took into account the direction the city will grow in the future, and what the city will look like in 20 years. “We took a look at what land is available out west. We also took a look at traffic ability. Where are the main roads that can help move traffic in such a large volume in an expedient manner?”
Clark said there have also been discussions with KDOt about potentially building a bypass along Taylor Road, roughly the I-70 292 exit area. That would go around the western side of Junction City and tie in to US 77 Highway. “So when you look at all that on a map it kind of paints a picture of what will be the center of the city in 2030, 2035, the road networks that support such.”
Two potential properties have been identified in that area where a high school could possible be built, but the land would have to be acquired. They are west of the middle school on both the south and north sides of K-18 Highway.
Right now the steering committee appears to be split on whether to build a new high school at a new site or at the current JCHS location on North Eisenhower Street. The idea of renovating the current building is not getting as much support.
The steering committee, which will eventually make a recommendation to the USD 475 Board of Education, will continue their series of meetings on December 1.
