Scrutiny over the Blight Ordinances by the city has caused quite the ruckus with local residents.

County Commission Chair Florence Whitebread said there has been a sharp increase in the calls and visits to GIS (Geographical Information System) Director Troy Livingston’s office.

“Since the city has really come down on the blight ordinances…he’s had numerous people in his office [that are] living in the city that want to know their exact boundary lines so that they know what piece of their property they need to take care of,” said Whitebread.

Whitebread said that Livingston noticed the spike in the recent weeks because residents don’t want to face fines for overgrown yards and/or the grass clippings.

“I would imagine it’s that (the grass clippings) and whether it needs to be mowed – there’s areas where the weeds and grass get pretty high and they probably want to know a determination of whether it’s their’s or their next door neighbors,” said Whitebread.

The city has previously said that in an effort to work on the image of Junction City fines would be imposed for grass clippings left in the streets/sidewalks and for blights.

 

If you are a high schooled aged student – besides the limited Friday night home football games, or waiting around for Sundown Salute and similar events – what is there to do in Geary county?

Efforts by city leaders are underway to bring more activities for youth in the community.

At the Joint City-County-USD 475 meeting in Junction City Monday evening, the topic of creating local activities for youth was heavily discussed.

City Commissioner Jim Sands will head a committee to lead the effort based on the activities for teens he had near his hometown of Columbia, Maryland.

“There was a town close to me I could travel to and we had places where we could just sit, we could watch television…and that’s what we need to provide, something for these guys to get together out of the school environment where we can just sit and talk…and that’s the interaction we need,” said Sands.

Sands noted that funding for the Boys and Girls club has been redirected and police activity is steadily increasing.

“I look at when I’m done on the weekend, Friday evenings I go home and my wife and I will sit and watch a movie; but if you’re 14, 15 even 13 to 18 years old what are you going to do – if you have a car you can go to another community – but what are you doing if there’s not a dance, if there’s not a movie….’what do these guys really want’, they want to go somewhere where they can sit, and we had teen centers growing up,” said Sands.

There will be discussion with school administrators, and efforts to gather student groups to discuss the possible activities in which they’d be interested.

Enhancing Spin City was discussed as well as  “house parties” for the teens.

What do YOU think? Are they on target with the needs of today’s youth?

Comment below.

With the extremely busy WIC clinic in Junction City, there was some good news from County Commission Chair Florence Whitebread at the County Commission meeting Monday.

“They have reopened their WIC clinic at Konza Prairie Clinic [for] two days a week,” said Whitebread. “That will help because…since Fort Riley closed their WIC office on Fort Riley which was managed by Riley county, many of those people come in to Junction City and so they’ve just been extremely busy and got way behind…so now that they have the employees to do the work they are able to reopen the clinic at Konza.”

The reopening of the Konza Prairie WIC clinic in Geary County gives residents more access to the services they need.

 

The next monthly Milford Lake Bird Walk will be on Saturday, August 27th at 8:00 am.

To participate in the walk, everyone will meet at the parking lot on the south end of the Milford Lake Dam, across the highway from the Corps of Engineers office.

The two to three hour walk will focus on southbound migrants and lingering summer species.

If you have binoculars or a bird book, you are more than welcome to bring them to the walk.

For more information call Geary County Extension Agent Chich Otte at 785-238-4161.

 

Stuff the Bus was a success in Junction City.

United Way Executive Director Nichole Mader has issued a thank you to the community. The Stuff the Bus Campaign received more than 5,000 pieces of school supplies for children in donations, and more than $700 in cash donations.

The supplies were divided and sent to USD 475 and Saint Xavier Schools.

Volunteers who assisted in the procvess included the United Way Board of Directors, USD 475 staff, Malia Lewis and girls from the Junction City / Fort Riley Girl Scouts, Central National Bank, Intrust Bank, Sunflower Bank, KS State Bank and Millennium Bank, Walmart,  and JC Transportation.

Members from Fort Riley under the command of Captain Milton L. Lewis, including soldiers Specialist Roger C. Conen, Specialist Cynthia P. Hedrick, and Sergeant Lorna Lawrence. Other volunteers included Kael Nelson, Julius Mader, Jason Mader, Nancy White, and Johnny Dunlap.

Mader thanked the members of Reaching Hands and the Junction City Rotary Club for donations of supplies, and the support of Fort Riley officers and staff.

Mader stated, “As we close out our seventh annual Stuff the Bus, I am reminded of how amazing this community is. Junction City / Geary County knows how to LIVE UNITED.  The community understood the importance of this event and how it impacted the lives of so many, and they came out to lend a hand.

Early Childhood Classes –

First Day of School Tuesday, August 23

AM Classes: 8:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

PM Classes: 11:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

1803 Elmdale Avenue

USD 475’s Early Childhood program has a number of services and will now be expanded further to include more support for eligible families in Geary County. The program will offer free educational services through a range of program intensities for typically developing preschool-age children and children with identified developmental needs. Program placement is based on criteria such as:
•        Free/Reduced lunch eligibility
•        Single parent
•        Teen parent (parent 19 or younger at the time of the child’s birth)
•        Children of active duty military
•        Either parent is lacking a high school diploma or GED (at enrollment)
•        Limited English proficiency
•        DCF Referral
•        Children qualify for migrant status
•        Lower than expected developmental progress in at least one of the following areas: Cognitive development; physical development; communication/literacy; social-emotional/behavior; adaptive behavior/self-help skills

 

 

 

Hugh Davis

Executive Director of Communications – USD 475

On Wednesday, August 24th the 2016 Major Saver Discount Card will launch in all USD 475 elementary and middle schools.

Students will be selling $10 cards with 19 different offers starting on Wednesday, August 24th through Tuesday, Septmember 6th.

The cards can be purchased with cash, check or online at https://www.majorsaver.com/. Cards will be mailed directly to the customer.

For Smartphone users, cards can be purchased by downloading the Major Saver App and offers can be redeemed directly from the app without a physical card.

Participating businesses include:

• YMCA
• Subway
• Coach’s
• Papa John’s
• Burger King
• Domino’s
• Junction City Bowl
• Wendy’s
• Marco’s Pizza
• Sonic
• Baskin Robbins
• Texas Roadhouse
• FroYo Junction
• Ike’s Place
• Fuzzy’s
• Papa Murphy
• Cappuccino Junction
• Geary Rehabilitation and Fitness Center

Proceeds from the sales benefit the participating schools and the Geary Community Schools Foundation.

Fore more information you can contact the Geary Community Schools Foundation at 785-717-4063.

United States Senator Jerry Moran will tour the Biosecurity Research Institute (BRI) on Thursday, August 23rd as a member of the Senate Health Appropriations Subcommittee.

Moran will tour with BRI Director Dr. Stephen Higgs whom will brief the Senator on the instutute’s research regarding the Zika virus.

The Zika virus has been diagnosed in more than 1900 people in the country and Moran has been in contact with the Director of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Tom Frieden in regards to the response to the Zika epidemic.

Moran’s visit to the BRI on the campus of Kansas State University allows the senator to gather information to better understand the Zika virus and help to protect Kansans, and Americans, against it.

Moran will tour Thursday, August 23rd at 9:45 am at Pat Roberts Hall on the campus of KSU.

The I-70 westbound bridge at the K-70 / K-177 interchange in Geary County is scheduled for repairs beginning Tuesday ( August 23 ).  KDOT said they will included a concrete overlay and concrete surface repairs on both lanes of the bridge deck.

Traffic will pass through the work zone in the passing lane at a reduced rate of speed of 65 mph. Once the driving lane work is completed traffic will move into the driving lane while repairs are made on the passing lane.

Plans call for the project to be completed and traffic to be returned to normal by October 10, weather permitting.

King Construction Co. Inc. of Hesston, KS is the prime contractor for the project. The project cost is $261,144.