The Geary County Historical Society will host Celebrating Past Times at their historical sites on April 23.

On that Saturday, the St. Joseph Church Historic Church and grounds will be open from 10 a.m. until noon. A cemetery tour at that location is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. To reach the Church take Interstate 70 to exit 307, turn south on McDowell Creek Road, go 1.5 miles, and turn left onto the grounds.

The Spring Valley Historic Site at the corner of K-18 and Spring Valley Road on the west side of Junction City will be open on April 23 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. A school reenactment at the site will begin at 11 a.m. and feature curriculum from the turn of the century. Historic demonstrations throughout the site will include daily settler life at the 1850’s cabin and wood carving, spinning and weaving at the Wetzel cabin. You try roping a calf or make your own rope.

Also, on Sunday April 24, from 1-4 p.m. you can also explore the early 1900s era Starcke House located next to the museum at 530 North Adams. “Eunice Starke” will lead you on a guided tour of the home at 1:30 p.m. You will be able to enjoy refreshments on the porch and try playing some of the turn of the century games.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is delaying roughly $90 million in contributions to pensions for public school and college employees as a potential short-term response to lower-than-expected tax collections.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s office announced the move Friday. It said Brownback’s budget director notified the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System that the contributions due on April 15 would be “temporarily delayed.”

Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said it’s not yet clear how long the contributions will be delayed.

Since the current fiscal year began in July, tax collections have fallen $81 million short of expectations. State officials and university economists meet April 20 to issue new revenue projections.

Hawley said delaying KPERS contributions gives the state flexibility. She said various options for keeping the budget balanced will be discussed publicly after the new revenue forecast.

NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Kirk Schulz has been confirmed as the 11th president of Washington State University and will receive a five-year contract with a base salary of $625,000 per year.

The WSU Board of Regents made those decisions at a meeting on Friday.

The regents also decided that Schulz will receive an additional retention incentive of $25,000 per year.

Schulz is currently president of Kansas State University. He was paid just over $465,000 last year.

He was chosen last month to replace Elson Floyd, who died of complications from cancer last year.

Schulz will take over as president on June 13.

The contract also stipulates that Schulz and his family will be provided the use of a house in Pullman and a condominium in the Seattle area.

Schulz’s contract also includes an appointment to the WSU faculty as an engineering professor.

The AARP Driver Safety Program will be offered again this year in Geary County on April 21 and 22 at the Geary County 4-H / Senior Citizens Center.

Deb Andres, Geary County KSU Research and Extension Family & Consumer Science Agent, reported that the eight-hour course is designed to meet the needs of drivers over the age of 50. It will help participants sharpen their driving skills, develop strategies for adjusting to age-related changes in vision, hearing and reaction time. and learn about the effects of medications on driving performance.

The program will be taught by David Fanshier, AARP-certified instructor.

To register contact the Geary County Senior Center at 238-4015. The cost is $15 per person for AARP members and $20 for non-members. The enrollment deadline is noon on Friday, April 15. The class will meet each day from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the 4-H / Senior Citizens Center.

Lunch will be available at the Senior Center for $3.50 for people over 60, or $5.25 for people under 60. Meal reservations may be made when you register for the class.

By Margaret Ziffer
Fort Riley Public Affairs

A combination of coincidence and preparedness allowed the Fort Riley Fire
Department to transition from classroom training to real-life support of
Barber County, Kansas’ fire suppression efforts March 23 to 27.

What started as routine fire mitigation training in Hutchinson, Kansas,
quickly evolved into something significantly more hands-on.  In the middle
of the week, the training team received a call that a wildfire in Oklahoma
had spread to Kansas.

“I’m pretty sure we were all overwhelmed with what was happening,” said
Shawna Hartman, Kansas Forest Service fire information officer.  “We had a
(social media) hashtag that was ‘FireMitigation2016,’ but we changed it to
‘#TrainingJustGotReal.'”

With the exception of somewhat uncooperative weather and high winds that
prevented scheduled prescribed burns, training went largely as planned early
in the week; however, by Wednesday “it was an unprecedented, historic event
where we had a fire in Kansas that could potentially burn thousands of acres
during a multi-day incident,” Hartman said.  “It was just coincidence that
we were in Hutchinson, an hour and a half away, and already set up in an
incident management structure and could go down there and assist Barber
County.”

The training participants were ready to respond.

“With humidity being at dangerously low levels and the wind being at 50
knots per hour, we knew that if anybody had an issue, they were going to
need help fast,” said Mark Neely, Fort Riley wildland fire manager.  “So we
were prepared.  When you have conditions as dry as it was, with those wind
speeds, it was very difficult to get a handle on that fire.  We were able to
transition our whole team-all our crews and resources-to Medicine Lodge,
(Kansas).”

Neely has participated in the annual training since 2008 and said it’s the
reason Fort Riley and other firefighters were able to support Barber County
so quickly.

“Because the team comes together every year and we work with each other-even though we’re from different agencies and even different states-we know each other because we work on these projects and tasks,” he said.  “We sit on
different work groups and committees for the state, we have a Kansas
Wildland Fire interagency group.  We also have Kansas prescribed fire
groups.  So it’s these partnerships that we’ve formed in these classrooms
and in training that allowed us to come together very quickly, to know the
strengths of each person and to be able to capitalize on that immediately.”

A total of nine Fort Riley firefighters assisted other entities the
remainder of the week, battling the blaze in Barber County.  But there were
many others who helped across the state.

“It’s amazing to see cowboys from all over showing up to help move cattle
around and keep them safe,” Neely said.  “Fence builders showed up to start
rebuilding fences.  We could talk about the fire suppression side of things,
but the awesome community support from across the state that came to provide
all these peripheral items-they were sorely needed and should be considered
a great achievement.  It shows how Kansans will always pull together and
help each other out.”

The Junction City Police Department has reported the arrest of two people late Thursday night at South Park at 1500 Saint Mary’s Road.

They included Gregory E. Heaven, 23, Junction City, on suspicion of Felony Possession of Marijuana, Drug Paraphernalia, Felony Interference with Law Enforcement and Criminal Trespass, and Malea Janae Ragas, 21, Abilene, on suspicion of DUI, Possession of Marijuana, Drug Paraphernalia, and Criminal Trespass.

The arrests were reported at 11:34 p.m. Thursday.

A dry northwest flow will continue today and into Saturday according tot he National Weather Service of Topeka. Gusty afternoon winds , low relative humidity and dry fuels will combine for elevated fire danger today and gain on Saturday for parts of the area. Highs today will warm into the 60s with lows tonight falling into the upper 20s to middle 30s. A freeze warning is in effect for parts of north central and northeast Kansas tonight. A chance of rain returns Saturday night through Monday. There is a chance of strong to severe storms Sunday afternoon and evening south of I-35.

Today: Sunny. Highs in the mid 60s. Northwest winds 5 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 30s. East winds 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 70s. Southeast winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.

Saturday Night: Warmer. Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of rain showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the mid 50s. South winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.

Sunday: Mostly sunny with slight chance of rain showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph shifting to the northwest in the afternoon.

Sunday Night: Cooler. Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 40s.

Monday: Cooler. Mostly cloudy in the morning then becoming mostly sunny. Slight chance of rain showers. Highs around 60.

Monday Night: Colder. Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 30s.

Tuesday: Sunny. Highs in the lower 60s.

Tuesday Night: Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 30s.

Wednesday: Sunny. Highs in the upper 60s.

Wednesday Night: Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 40s.

Thursday: Sunny. Highs in the lower 70s