Tommy Webb set the tone for the day inside the Farm Bureau building.
Webb was the keynote speaker for Riley County’s annual in-service training day — a day set aside for county staff and employees to mingle together, hear about each other’s departments and participate in various workshops.
Webb, who grew up a starving child in war-torn Korea in the 1950s, spoke about the power of compassion and how it’s shaped his life after being adopted by an American couple in Oklahoma in 1959.
Webb, who later moved to Junction City with his new family a few years later, said he’d not be where he is today if it hadn’t been for the way other people found value in him during his earliest years.
Deputy County Clerk Cindy Volanti, who started the training day nine years ago, said Webb’s message is an important one to hear for anyone whose career is built on working with others.
“The message was valuing people,” she said. “The value of your coworker and what you do for each other within the office setting, and the value of the citizens of Riley County, and making sure that we show that respect to them as well.”
Commissioner Ben Wilson was also a fan of Webb and said the training day is an important event for staff and employees to remain in sync with each other.
“I think it’s been really good,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of presentations by all our departments so all our employees can be on the same page and understand what others do.”
After Webb presented his speech, he told KMAN that his message is universal.
“When we choose to value others, it makes us better people in the journey of life,” the former Marine said. “And society is made up of people, and when we have better people, we have a better society.
“Family is truly the foundation, but the local government is really the heartbeat of our society, I believe.”
Staff and employees also had the option later during the day to hear from Sgt. Scott Hagenmeister and Lt. Greg Steere of the Riley County Police Department.
Hagenmeister and Steere conduct active violence training sessions for schools, businesses and local governments.
Steere said recent events have caused an uptick in requests for the training.
“When we get requests, because this is such a relevant topic, we do the very best we can to go out and give the very best information we can,” he said.
Some of the statistics officers shared stated that the average active violence incident lasts 12 minutes and that 37 percent of them last less than five minutes.
They also said that the offender is acting alone 98 percent of the time and that 97 percent of the time the offender is male and often white.
Steere said the best thing people can do is to have an exit plan in case the unthinkable happens and that the worst thing to do is freeze and not take any action.
