The Junction City Land Bank Board of Trustees approved the sale of 12 lots in the Deer Creek Addition to R & R Developers Inc..

The lots were sold for the amount of $57,000, which was $3,000 less than the original offer.

Dave Yearout, Zoning and Planning Administrator explained that the Land Bank Trutees lowered the cost because the original offer would have required that the Land Bank would have to cover the cost to replat the lots to how R & R Developers Inc. wanted them.

“The recommendation from staff was to reduce the purchase price by the projected cost of $3,000 to replat it and put all of that burden on the purchaser, so that if it turns out it takes a little longer or more effort to resolve that it’s on their nickel and not the Land Banks nickel to do that,” said Yearout.

Other conditions of the sale include respreading the specials over the next 20 years starting in 2016, the Land Bank will provide a standard ALTA Owner’s Policy of Title Insurance, with costs for said Title Policy and closing costs to be paid exclusively by the purchaser, and the purchaser will be responsible for arranging and paying for extension of gas and electric utility mains to serve the lots.

Land Bank Trustee Mick McCallister explained that they are moving in the right direction.

“What this will do in the next year or two is put some more houses out there that we will be collecting specials on, we’ll be collecting tax on, where as we weren’t before. We’re moving in the right direction,” said McCallister.

To date the Land Bank has now sold 14 lots out of the over 900 lots currently in their inventory.

The Geary County Sheriff’s Department is reporting the arrest of a Fort Riley man.

According to a press release from Sheriff Tony Wolf in the early morning hours of November 21, 2015 deputies responded to several areas on Boller Road in the northeast part of the county where a person used a motor vehicle to drive through several fields, destroying some crops and causing several thousand dollars of damage in the process.

Following a week-long investigation, the Geary County Sheriff’s Office identified and arrested Steven Anthony Bartuska, 21, of Fort Riley.

Bartuska was arrested for Felony Criminal Damage to Property, Criminal Trespass and Driving While Suspended. At the time of this report he is being held in the Geary County Detention Center without bond pending his first appearance in Geary County District Court.

As of late Tuesday afternoon there were just over 70 power outages remaining in Junction City, with approximately 30 personnel working to make repairs following the ice storm this past weekend.

Company spokesperson Jaycee Breese said Westar swelled their forces to deal with the storm.

Breese estimated service would be restored to all customers that can accept service by Tuesday evening.  The number Tuesday afternoon was actually higher than the total reported earlier following some sporadic outages.

MANHATTAN -Joshua Mall, 39, Riley, appeared in Riley County Court for a status hearing on Tuesday in front of Judge Malcolm.

Mall was booked for 2nd degree murder by the Riley County Police Department after an investigation into a fatal accident on October 5.

Mall was the driver of a 2001 Ford Ranger traveling in the 2400 Block of Tuttle Creek Boulevard. He lost control of the vehicle at Northfield Road and collided with a 2013 Chevy Cruz.

Immediately following the initial impact the Ford left the roadway and collided with a tree.

A child in the Ford, Madilyn Mall, 6, Riley, was transported to Via Christi where she died.

A status check was scheduled for December 19 at 1 p.m. to determine if the defense council has enough of the evidence related to the case to hold the preliminary hearing.

The preliminary hearing for Mall was tentatively scheduled for January 26.

Several USD 475 Schools on Junction City’s north west side lost power Tuesday afternoon for approximately one hour. 

Hugh Davis, USD 475 Communications Director confirmed that JCHS, Westwood Elementary, the Early Childhood Center, Larry Dixon Center, Professional Development Center and the Boys and Girls Club lost power.

Westar Energy was able to restore power within one hour.

MANHATTAN — Kansas State University’s fall commencement ceremonies will be Friday, Dec. 11, on the Manhattan and Kansas State University Polytechnic campuses, and Saturday, Dec. 12, on the Manhattan campus. The university will award 1,300 bachelor’s degrees, 340 master’s degrees, 70 doctorates and 10 associate degrees. More than 300 students are earning their degree through K-State Global Campus distance education programs. Commencement ceremonies Dec. 11 include the Graduate School at 1 p.m.in Bramlage Coliseum. Marlin Fitzwater, university alumnus and former presidential press secretary, will be the commencement speaker and receive an honorary doctorate. Representing the Kansas Board of Regents at the Graduate School ceremony will be Regent Joseph Bain, Goodland. Commencement on the Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus will be at 7 p.m. in the Student Life Center. D. Shane Bangerter, Dodge City, chair of the Kansas Board of Regents, will be the commencement speaker. Commencement ceremonies Dec. 12 will all take place on the Manhattan campus. The following is a schedule ceremonies and speakers: • College of Agriculture, 1 p.m. in Bramlage Coliseum. Jason Bergtold, associate professor of agricultural economics, will give the commencement address. • College of Arts & Sciences, 8:30 a.m. in Bramlage Coliseum. Donald Saucier, associate professor of psychological sciences and the university’s2015-2016 Coffman chair for distinguished teaching scholars, will give the commencement address. • College of Business Administration, 11:30 a.m. in Bramlage Coliseum. Ken Selzer, Kansas insurance commissioner, will provide the commencement remarks. • College of Education, 10 a.m. in Bramlage Coliseum. Carol Adams, executive director of teaching and learning for USD 383, the Manhattan-Ogden School District, will give the commencement address. • College of Engineering, 4 p.m. in Bramlage Coliseum. Cathy S. Ritter, president of Constellation Design Group Inc., will give the commencement address. • College of Human Ecology, 2:30 p.m. in Bramlage Coliseum. Dennis Hulsing, president and CEO of Hulsing Enterprises LLC, will give the commencement address. A webcast of the commencement ceremonies will be streamed live at k-state.edu/graduation/. A virtual commencement ceremony is available at global.k-state.edu/students/commencement for distance education students unable to attend their commencement ceremony in person. The website includes a listing of students earning degrees through distance education, a place for family and friends to post congratulatory messages and other commencement-related offerings. DVDs of the ceremony may be ordered through the K-State Campus Store in the K-State Student Union at 800-KSU-CATS or 785-532-6583. The DVDs are $19.99. Also, Kansas State University’s Army and Air Force ROTC units will have commissioning ceremonies at 10 a.m. Dec. 11 in the K-State Student Union’s Forum Hall. The Army ROTC will commission two officers and the Air Force ROTC will commission two officers.

 

According to the National Weather Service of Topeka, the sun will be out today, but broken cloud cover will then build in from north to south across the area with a small chance for a few flurries near the Nebraska border this afternoon. Highs will range from the upper 30s near the Nebraska border to the middle 40s in east central Kansas.

Early This Morning: Mostly clear. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph.

Today: Mostly sunny until late afternoon then becoming mostly cloudy. Highs around 40. West winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy. Lows in the upper 20s. West winds 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 40s. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph.

Wednesday Night: Clear. Lows in the lower 20s. West winds up to 10 mph.

Thursday: Sunny. Highs around 50. Southwest winds up to 10 mph.

Thursday Night: Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 20s.

Friday: Sunny. Highs around 50.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 30s.

Saturday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 50s.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows around 30.

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

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 30s.

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

The Geary County Commission was pleased with the work down over the past couple days to clean up from the ice storm that hit this past weekend.

Chairman Ben Bennett explained crews had been out working around the clock since Saturday clearing and treating roads.

“They did call out the road graders Sunday to scrape the ice off of the gravel roads, and that was pretty tricky,” said Bennett.

He added that crews did have all of the county roads and county right of ways cleared of any tree limbs and debris by Sunday night.

Commissioner Florence Whitebread was also pleased with the county’s response.

“I thought the county handled all of our ice storm problems really well. I saw the sheriff’s car out on patrol in our area several times, and I think that’s good because if people have car trouble sometimes you need that help, especially with that kind of ice,” said Whitebread.

She went on to say that the county did get lucky, because it could have been far worse.

“We were very fortunate not to have the high winds, and it didn’t get as cold as prior ice storms had been. So to me this wasn’t a bad storm, it was one we had to take care of, but not bad like we’ve had in the past.”

The county has opened it’s burn pit to allow people to drop off tree limbs. It will remain open throughout the week, and possibly weekend. Depending on the traffic throughout the week the county will make the decision whether to open the burn pit this weekend later this week.