Joe and Sheila Markley, the Co-Directors of the C.L. Hoover Opera House, are attending the National Conference of the League of American Historic Theatres in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They presented two workshops highlighting the history and successes of the C.L. Hoover Opera House.
Geary County Commissioner Ben Bennett said Monday the county annex building at the southwest corner of 8th and Franklin is getting some roofing improvements. Bennett was updated on the project by Public Works Director Cory Trumpp.
Bennett stated. “He’s anticipating it’s probably going to cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of $40,000 to $50,000 to replace that roof. ” Requests for proposals will be submitted seeking bids for the project. The commission would then review and consider the bids.
Extreme heat is preparing to descend on a wide swath of the region including Junction City Wednesday afternoon through Saturday evening. The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat watch for that period.
High temperatures are expected in the middle 90s to around 100 degrees and will combine with humid conditions to bring afternoon heat indices into the 103-110 degree range.
Heat related illnesses are possible for those spending a prolonged amount of time outdoors, or those who are more susceptible to heat, such as young children and the elderly.
An excessive heat watch means that a prolonged period of hot temperatures is expected. The combination of hot temperatures and high humidity will combine to create a dangerous situatiuon in which heat illnesses are possible. Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun and check on relatives and neighbors.
By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
Work is beginning to upgrade Freedom Park overlooking I-70 across from the Marshall Army Airfield at Fort Riley. That park, now closed to the public, is the site for Atomic Annie the large cannon that has existed there for many years.
Geary County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Director Michelle Stimatze said the CVB and a group of business leaders have been meeting for about one year on this project. “We have finally been able to get it approved. The National Guard is doing some training on the hill, where Atomic Annie is. They’re going to be doing some atomic work and some other things.”
Stimatze stated the plan is to get the hill cleaned up for tourists traveling on I-70 to visit the site. The goal is to return the park to normal. “A couple of years ago when they were burning fields some of the fields burned and so did the trail up to the cannon. And so we’re working on that project to get it completed and get things back to where they used to be.”
Stimatze noted the long-term goal is to restore site for visitors to park in the parking lot at the bottom of the hill and then travel up to the top to Atomic Annie. “That’s the whole goal of this. Starting with the National Guard, and them there’ll be some other groups that will be going up there. And we’re going to clean it up and make it like it used to be a few years ago.” Right now the trail leading from the parking lot up to the top of the hill is closed due to liability concerns.
The National Guard is expected to work and train on site for about two weeks. Stimatze confirmed during that time concrete will be poured, and they’re hoping to get the cannons repainted. Other former military items including World War II era howitzers and an obsolete command track vehicle are located on the side of the hill at Freedom Park.
She noted the overall project, which also would include new signage and repainting of picnic tables, has been approved by the county commission. The cost must be kept under $50,000, but Stimatze said she expects the actual cost to be about $10,000. The money will come from the CVB budget via a one percent transient guest tax collected by the county. That tax is paid by those who use motel and hotel lodging facilities in Geary County. The funds are gathered for use on special projects like the Freedom Park improvements, or the recent effort to upgrade the playing field at Rathert Field.
The cannon was initially on loan from the Smithsonian Institute. According to the CVB there were 20 of the cannons manufactured. They were deployed overseas to Europe and Korea and often shifted around to avoid detection and targeting by opposing forces. Due their size, limited range, the development of nuclear shells compatible with existing artillery pieces and the development of rocket and missile based nuclear artillery, the M65 was effectively obsolete soon after it was deployed. However it remained a prestige weapon and was not retired until 1963.
Only eight of those cannons remain on display today through throughout the United States.
UPDATE:
The 911 service has been restored. Police dispatch confirmed the service was restored about 4 a.m. Tuesday. There were problems with the system that began about 5:30 p.m. Monday but the system is now working.
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The 911 system for Junction City and Geary County is currently experiencing issues. Century Link has been contacted as officials work to make repairs.
If you experience an emergency call 785-210-4709 for assistance.
Auditions for the Junction City Little Theater production of “Working” are scheduled Sunday and Monday evenings at 6:30 p.m. at the C.L. Hoover Opera House. This musical takes a different look at the seemingly humdrum lives of working people, revealing their hopes, aspirations and dreams.
Co-Director Mary Louise Stahl said people in a variety of professions are portrayed ranging from waitresses to businessmen and child care workers. Stahl said it is a musical so they’re looking for people that can sing. “It’s not dance heavy, you’ve got to be able to move a little bit, but it’s not dance heavy.”
Co-Director Brittany Lamb said the auditions will be in the Montgomery Rehearsal Hall on the second floor of the Opera House. “We’re looking for 16 bars ( music ) if they can come prepared. ” Those who audition will need to read from a script.
The show is scheduled September 5 – 8.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a Kansas man has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first degree murder in the killing of a confidential drug informant whose body was found by deer hunters.
33-year-old Steven Meredith, of Junction City, entered the plea Friday. His trial had been scheduled to start Monday.
Prosecutors said that Meredith killed 48-year-old Carrie Jones in October 2017 because he believed she would provide information about him in a drug case in which he was later convicted. Her body was found in rural Riley County.
Meredith’s sentencing is set for Sept. 23. Assistant Riley County Attorney Kendra Lewison says the state agreed to seek a lesser sentence of 20 years in prison. Meredith will be allowed to ask for no less than 15 years.
New technology involving hearing assist loops will be implemented at the C.L. Hoover Opera House in Junction City.
Opera House Co-Director Joe Markley explained how it will assist patrons. “It allows a patron with a hearing aid to sit adnd just touch the tcoil button on their hearing aid, and the sound that comes over our speakers in the theater goes directly into their hearing aid.”
Markley is hopeful the construction necessary for this project can begin this month with completion in the August – September time frame.
By Martin Hawver
With a flurry of philosophical in-fighting, Kansas has subtly turned that human malady of being “able bodied” into a character flaw that should be punished, or at least not tolerated when distributing food stamps.
You remember the issue: The Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF), or at least a handful of its managers, decided that it would give about $110 a month in food stamps to about 5,500 single, no-dependents, able-bodied Kansans between 18 and 49 years old. Nope, not forever, just for three additional months above the three-month per 36-month period of assistance for those who are poor. Oh, and to those who haven’t found a 20-hour-a-week job or participated in state-managed employment training and job search activities.
Those three extra months—July, August and September—were incidentally falling at the end of the three-year restart of the federal food stamp eligibility program in which the federal government pays for those food stamps and pays the state half its administrative costs in distributing them.
House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, recalled that back in 2015 the Gov. Sam Brownback governorship managed to convince the more-conservative-than-now Legislature to clean up the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to make sure that those welfare recipients weren’t scamming the federal government out of money through the state welfare qualification standards.
The concept: Those welfare recipients should be working like everyone else and supporting themselves, no spending on vacations or other frivolous activities, just survival, if they met the training and job-search and minimum employment standards.
Now, that’s a pretty good standard. People ought to work for a living if they can, maybe get a little assistance while they are in a tough spot, but basically get back to work.
Well, Hawkins pushed Attorney General Derek Schmidt into closing down the new, short-term food stamp program by threatening Gov. Laura Kelly with a lawsuit: She was disregarding the 2015 law, which she had voted against while a senator, which limited eligibility for food stamps and even outlawed asking the feds for some wriggle room in distributing food stamps.
Kelly decided that it would cost the state more money than it is worth to defend the three-month program against the state attorney general. Probably a fair call, not spending state money on lawyers to defend handing out federal money to the poor.
But, at some point, you almost have to wonder whether the response to DCF spending that federal money on poor people—and probably some are scammers, but probably others have aged out of foster care or are jobless veterans or just can’t find work they can handle—is worth the political scrap it fueled. It’s probably one of those situations where lawmakers could have looked the other way—until Oct. 1—given away food stamps and later said, “Darn.”
Everyone out there who thinks that we’re paying too much in federal taxes and aren’t getting enough back for it, well, you remain correct. The state is sending back those food stamps, so they will go to poor people in other states, where we don’t have to walk around people begging on the sidewalk or at stoplights or at exits from malls, who will spend the money at grocery stores in other states.
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com
Rodeo competition and entertainment come to Junction City this Friday and Saturday, July 19th and 20th. The 26th annual version of the Junction City Rodeo will be held at the Fairgrounds arena just off South Spring Valley Road. Rodeo time is 7:20 p.m. each evening and there will be a Special Needs Rodeo on Saturday at 10 a.m.
Rodeo Association President Darryl Blocker said in addition to the rodeo events entertainment will be provided by the clown, Ty “Stormin Norman” Stewart and the Silver Buckle Drill team. The Fort Riley Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard who will be in attendance as well. The rodeo queen will be crowned Saturday night.
There are a number of different rodeo events, said Blocker, “You’ve got the bull riding, saddle bronc, barrel racing, bareback, team roping and kid’s events such as mutton busting and the boot scramble.
You can get tickets in advance at Orscheln’s Farm & Home, 121 East Chestnut Street in Junction City. The price is $9 in advance and $10 for adults at the gate the evening of the rodeo. For children ages 6-12 they are $4 in advance and $5 at the gate.
