MANHATTAN – Police in Riley County responded to the area surrounding and the residence of 3303 Shady Valley Drive outside of the city limits of Manhattan, Kansas at approximately 10:07 a.m. on December 21, 2015. This response came after police received a report of a female brandishing a firearm in the backyard of the residence and firing multiple rounds.

Officers arrived on scene and found that the adult female had gone inside of her home and barricaded herself inside. Police made contact with this female via telephone and communicated with her for several hours. At approximately 6:35 p.m. police were able to take this female into custody with no significant injury.

Shawn Nichole Muller, 28,  was booked for aggravated assault; use of a deadly weapon. Bond was set at $20,000.

The Riley County Police Department was assisted by the Junction City Police Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Riley County Emergency Management, and Riley County EMS during this incident. RCPD would like to thank these agencies for their support. The Riley County Police Department would also like to thank the American Red Cross for their assistance in providing accommodations for displaced residents and law enforcement personnel during this nearly 8 and a half hour long incident.

Officers and detectives continue to investigate this matter and anticipate additional information to be released on Tuesday

 

 

MANHATTAN – As of 4 p.m., police continued to work to find a peaceful solution to the situation at  3303 Shady Valley Drive in Manhattan.

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MANHATTAN- Law enforcement authorities in Riley County are outside a home near Shady Valley Drive and Valleywood Drive in Manhattan after a report of shots fired just after 9.am. on Monday and a woman barricaded inside a home.

The area is still closed to traffic and residents in the are were asked to stay indoors.

The Riley County Police mobile command center and additional officers arrived on the scene just before 11a.m. The officers are equipped with tactical gear and rifles.

It is unclear at the time of call to police if shots were fired, according to police spokesman Mat Droge on the scene. “Original reports were of shots fired,” he said. As officers arrived, the suspect barricaded herself in the residence. She is

talking to officers by phone as they work for a peaceful resolution, according to Droge.

“The tactical team was called in because of their training with barricaded suspects,” he said. “To our knowledge, she is the only person in the home and a hostage negotiator is talking to her.”

 

 

 

The impact of Fort Riley on the social services that must be provided by Geary County drew attention during a County Commission meeting with the area legislative delegation on Monday.

During a discussion on juvenile care, Commissioner Florence Whitebread asked why isn’t Fort Riley funding some of those costs….adding it’s not fair. “Fort Riley brings us a lot of trade and a lot of business, but they also bring us a lot of social services. We have a lot of children in need of care, we have people in the jail, we have people in the juvenile center, we have wrecks. A lot of them are connected with service personnel. So naturally, we’re talking about the county attorney’s office, community corrections, the court service, all those departments, and it really ups our tax bill.”

Discussion with the legislators led to a consensus on their part to ask state legislative researchers to find out what other posts have done to address the problem.

The Commission was encouraged by State Senator Tom Hawk to collect data as well on the amount of funding that has to come from the Geary County taxpayers.

Junction City Mayor Mick McCallister is wanting to focus on housing issues between Fort Riley and Junction City in 2016.

While looking ahead to the new year Mayor McCallister explained that his number on task for 2016 is to correct the “disconnect” between the City and Post concerning the amount of housing being built on Fort Riley.

“I firmly believe that agreements were made back in 2006 and 2007 and then again in 2010 on a number of houses that were to be on the on post inventory, and that number has now kind of grown away from that agreement,” said McCallister. “And I believe it is a big goal of mine to make sure that the Army’s partner stays to the agreement, and the promises made from the Army to the Community.”

McCallister noted that Fort Riley recently lost 400 and some Soldiers and you can tell in Junction City by the number of for sale and rent signs up in front of houses.

“You can drive around this community and you can see for rent, for sale on every single block in town. As that inventory number grows out on Fort Riley, it directly affects what’s happening in the community.”

He went on to say that the City has contacted Army Officials both in Washington and at Fort Riley about the issue. He hopes to sit down with the local officials early in 2016 to develop a plan on how to move forward.

A proposed bill would would put drug asset forfeiture funds that currently goes to law enforcement into the state general fund.  That could impact local law enforcement agencies that use those funds for equipment purchases.

The negative impact on the Junction City Police Department and Geary County Sheriff’s Department was outlined Monday to the area legislative delegation during a meeting that included law enforcement officials and the Geary County Commission.

State Senator Tom Hawk of Manhattan feels it’s time for the delegation to monitor this matter. “That they’re able to take those assets when they get some of those particular cases and use that for body cameras and equipment so it’s not a burden on the taxpayers.”

It was the first time the delegation had about this proposal.

Hawk stated, “I did not realize that one of our representatives had a bill that might change that. That would have quite a devastating effect. So I think our delegation needs to be pretty heads up about that, and play defense, and make sure we protect our local unit of government, and county here.”

The Geary County Sheriff’s and Junction City Police Departments have used the drug asset forfeiture funds for purchases ranging from vehicles, rifles, and shotguns to body cameras and radios.

More information is surfacing on all the security measures that were in place for Sundown Salute this past July 4th.

Junction City Police Chief Tim Brown explained it tied in with concern ISIS might do something at a large event involving military. “There were a number of reports about particular terrorist groups wanting to do harm to military related events. And so there was a specific concern as to whether or not the parade that we had, not to mention the venue in the park, was going to be a target in this.”

Brown said that were extra security measures, and most of the information that police received was from the FBI and Fort Riley.  He confirmed extra officers and security were brought in for the Sundown Salute parade and the Vietnam Veterans ceremony that followed. Some of the security personnel were undercover officers in the crowd at both events, which included 1st Infantry Division soldiers.

No problems occurred.

The Geary County Commission has approved five appointments to boards.

They include the appointment of Lisa Nabus and Julie Glasgow, and the reappointment of Bailey Bohn and Jorgan Beck to the Geary County Free Fair Board. There are still two positions on that panel still to be filled.

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The Commission reappointed Ron Strauss to the 4-H / Senior Citizens Building Committee.

 

The City of Junction City is continuing to make progress in paying its substantial debt.

In 2015 the City was able to pay off approximately $9 million in debt services according to Allen Dinkel, City Manager.

“We started the year in about $135 million in debt, we’re going to end the year in about $126 million in debt, so we’ve brought it down quite a bit,” said Dinkel.

The majority of the debt is in the form of general obligation bonds, and are setup to be paid of on a certain schedule, which the City has been able to maintain.

Dinkel went on to explain that the City’s budget includes a mill levy of roughly 47 mills, of which 20 of those mills go directly to paying off the City’s debt,”which put’s a constraint on everything else, because that’s money you don’t have then to put into streets, curb and gutters, sidewalks and all of the other issues you have to have.”

In order to maintain the city’s infrastructure with less money Dinkel continues to work closely with the City’s department heads, commission and community to find the perfect balance within the funds available.

The Geary County Sheriff’s Department reported that Deputies responded to Old Highway 77, the 7400 block for a single vehicle rollover accident.

Jeremy Belcher, Fort Riley, was driving a Buick Century south on Old 77 Highway when the vehicle hydroplaned and left the roadway, rolling over. No injuries were reported.

The accident was reported at 11:48 p.m. Sunday.

According to the National Weather Service of Topeka, mild temperatures continue with periods of rain and clouds. Chance for rain increases Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Isolated thunder may be possible across fareastern KS. On Friday there is a slight chance for rain in north central KS.

Today: Colder. Partly sunny. Highs in the mid 40s. West winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Lows around 30. South winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tuesday: Not as cool. Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 50s. South winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.

Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain showers. Lows in the upper 30s. South winds 5 to 15 mph shifting to the west 5 to 10 mph after midnight.

Wednesday: Partly sunny with a 30 percent chance of rain showers. Highs in the upper 40s. Northwest winds 5 to 15 mph.

Wednesday Night: Colder. Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 20s.

Thursday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 40s.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows in the lower 30s.

Christmas Day: Mostly cloudy with slight chance of rain. Highs in the lower 50s.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain showers. Lows in the mid 30s.

Saturday: Colder. Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain. Highs in the lower 40s.

Saturday Night: Colder. Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain and snow. Lows in the mid 20s.

Sunday: Partly sunny with a 30 percent chance of rain and snow. Highs in the upper 30s.