Author: Brandon Peoples

A former Taekwondo instructor from Wamego will spend the next three years on probation after a Pottawatomie County judge sentenced him for convictions on two counts of sexual exploitation of a child. Scott Hertzig pleaded guilty earlier this year two the charges following his arrest last year. In court Thursday he read a letter, acknowledging he broke the law and attributed his actions to years of child sexual abuse at the hands of his brother. The 37-year-old stated in court that viewing the images normalized what he experienced and that he got no sexual gratification in viewing the images. Because…

A Fort Hays State University freshman from Manhattan recently took home the top prize in an entrepreneurial challenge with his business plan for “Cow Fences.” Ethan McPherson’s plan is built on the concept of a virtual farmer’s market and is slated to connect beef and pork producers directly to consumers. For his efforts, McPherson won a $6,000 cash prize at the 2022 Faulkner Challenge, a business plan competition at Fort Hays State. He says it provides an opportunity for producers to increase their revenues by shipping products directly to someone’s doorstep, cutting out the need for the traditional farmer’s market.…

Pottawatomie County commissioners on Monday approved a temporary position to be created for the Treasurer’s Office, for a term of about four months. County Treasurer Lisa Wright says lately the workload in the office has created some challenges getting some of its scanning needs completed. Wright says her office has been trying to scan all necessary forms into its web database but have been falling behind. She says there is funding available in the budget to pay for the position. Community Corrections Pottawatomie County has appointed a Wamego Police Department officer and court clerk as its representative for a planned…

A new fire affecting mostly public property near Tuttle Creek Lake gave Riley County firefighters some challenges Monday. This one was in the area of Baldwin Park Road, north of University Park. Riley County issued a new disaster declaration to request assistance. No structures were threatened and no evacuations were said to be necessary as of late Monday evening. Crews were conducting back burning to help reduce available fuels. At Monday’s Pottawatomie County Commission meeting, Emergency Management Director Jennifer Merrow noted the lake fire and Shannon Creek fires were both well contained. No structural damage was seen. “There was some…

A ribbon cutting will take place Friday to celebrate the completion of the new Aggieville Parking Garage. Manhattan city officials are planning a 10 a.m. ceremony just east of the facility’s entrance off Laramie Street. It will include members of the city commission and city staff as well as the architect and general contractor and Aggieville business owners. The garage will officially open to the public at 11 a.m. following the ceremony. Vehicular access to the garage will be accessible only by the way of the Laramie and 14th Street intersection. Currently access from North Manhattan Avenue remains closed for…

Eighteen months after breaking ground on its largest project, Sunset Zoo officials on Saturday unveiled Expedition Asia, the renovated and expanded new home to its Malayan tiger, Amur leopard and sloth bear exhibits. Zoo Director Scott Shoemaker greeted the public Saturday and thanked everyone for support of the $4.3 million project and for its patience. The project is the largest such renovation and expansion in the zoo’s 90 year history. “I know the zoo has been disrupted for the last year and a half while we constructed these exhibits. Parts of the zoo were not available to the public. We…

Riley County Police arrested a 22-year-old Junction City man early Friday morning in Aggieville on Geary County warrant alleging numerous sex-related crimes. Marvin Gatewood was taken into custody just after midnight at Tubby’s Sports Bar. Gatewood was known to have an active warrant for attempted rape, attempted aggravated criminal sodomy, aggravated burglary, aggravated sexual battery, criminal restraint and battery. The charges held a $300,000 bond. The crimes are alleged from February in the Grandview Plaza area. After his arrest, Gatewood was transported to the Geary County Jail. Online court records show Gatewood is also accused of rape from two other…

Pottawatomie County continues to grapple with what to do with its old courthouse, which has sat vacant in Westmoreland for almost a decade. A site visit was held Thursday featuring architectural consultants who are evaluating the property for possible Brownfields Technical Assistance grants through the local office of the Environmental Protection Agency. A popular suggestion was to turn the old courthouse into a co-working space, similar to Wamego’s Iron Clad. Sean Garrigan of Pennsylvania-based Stromberg/Garrigan & Associates, the firm working with the EPA, says co-working spaces have become a novel concept among rural communities. “We helped get one established across…

The Manhattan-Ogden School Board unanimously approved some significant changes to its Pandemic Response Plan Wednesday, including the disbanding of its medical advisory committee. “We’ve reached the point where our default now is no longer being closed and are there opportunities to open. It’s more of a default of let’s open things up unless you have a good reason why we can’t,” said Dr. Marvin Wade, USD 383 Superintendent of Schools. It also means the district will no longer update its COVID-19 data dashboard, following suit with the Riley County Health Department, which has changed its data collection. Wade says an…

A wildfire scorched at least 1,500 acres Wednesday in areas of northern Riley and Pottawatomie counties. Crews worked well into the night to contain the fire with assistance also called in from the Kansas Forest Service. The fire began in the Fancy Creek area near Carlson Road which also hopped into Pottawatomie County, including areas of Mariadahl and Shannon Creek Roads as well as Booth Creek road north of Highway 16. The latter was reportedly brought under control late Wednesday night. At one point at least two Riley County structures had to be evacuated according to authorities, but no structural…