The Iola Register, July 8, 2023

A splash of history

Organizers reflect on swim team’s 35-year legacy

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

In the summer of 1988, not long before Becky Carlson was about to embark on a hall of fame basketball coaching career, she stayed busy during the summers managing the Iola Municipal Pool.

It was a time when kids spent pretty much every hour they could down at the pool, one of the few respites from the brutal Kansas summers.

“You could just tell we had some really good swimmers,” Carlson noted.

With that thought in mind, she approached Phyllis Nelson, whose daughters were avid swimmers as well.

How about putting together a team, Carlson suggested, who could compete with other swimmers from the area, like Chanute, Parsons or Burlington.

That little spark turned into the Iola Seahorses, which wraps up its 35th season July 15 with the Southeast Kansas League Swim Meet at Iola’s Riverside Park.

Carlson and Nelson reflected on the team’s early goings, and how the Seahorses program has now stretched across generations of families.

“I don’t know how it is

now, but a lot of parents would drop off their kids as soon as the pool would open at 1, and they’d swim until we had a break from 5 to 6, where they’d hang out at the park,” Carlson recalled. “Then, when we reopened, they’d be right back here.”

It turns out many of those regulars were developing into skilled athletes.

After Nelson agreed to take on the coaching duties, Carlson reached out to other pool managers to find competitions.

The first happened that summer of 1988.

“I loaded 13 swimmers in our full-sized van, which was probably illegal,” Nelson laughed, “and we headed to Burlington.”

It was on the way when one of the youngsters noted the fledgling squad needed a mascot.

“I remember a girl in the back that said Iola already had the Colts and Ponies and the Mustangs and the Fillies,” Nelson said. “‘Now we have the seahorses.’”

City talks recycling, budget

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

Iola City Council members will hear a request Monday to partake in a joint recycling venture with Allen County.

The name stuck, although some chiding was in order.

“Another kid said, ‘I hope we move faster than seahorses,’” Nelson laughed. “They don’t move very fast.”

But the Iola swimmers did, bringing home several top finishes at their first meet in Burlington.

WHILE THE TALENT was there, the group still had its growing pains.

Mary Apt, whose own chil-

Janie Works, a volunteer with Allen County Recycling, already has approached county commissioners about having city and county employees work part time on cardboard collection on an interim basis.

A small but dedicated group of volunteers has overseen cardboard collection for the past several years, but as more businesses take part, it has grown too cumbersome for the group to maintain alone.

County commissioners expressed muted support at their June 27 meeting, saying they’d be willing to allocate 20

Locals embark on a Grand (Canyon) adventure

By RICK BEVARD Special for

“Your body got you down here, and your mind will get you out.”

This is the phrase we heard at 5 a.m. as we stretched our weary legs in preparation for our ascent from the depths of the Grand Canyon.

We had spent the night at Phantom Ranch. As we enjoyed our family-style breakfast, the server/host talked about his Native ancestry and how the Grand Canyon has long been a sacred place to be both feared and revered. As one of the seven natural wonders of the world, it’s a place of inspiration and immeasurable beauty, with deep gorges, lofty spires and a massive canyon.

Our host reminded us of how fortunate we were to be able to witness such beauty.

Only 1 percent of the 5 million people who visit the Grand Canyon each year hike all the way to its bottom and of that 1 percent, a mere fraction stay in its lodge. Some are on waitlists for years. Multi-day

hiking in the Canyon isn’t allowed without selection for a separate camping permit otherwise. We hit the jackpot. In fact, we had won the lottery.

For the last several years John Erbert and I, Iola High School Class of 2000 graduates, have organized hiking adventures. For 2023, our goal was to hike the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim.

As we began planning, we added friends.

In February, we were selected in the Phantom Ranch lottery for the Memorial Day weekend on condition that we have a sizable group to fill the cabin. With little trouble, we had a team of nine.

This crew has a shared history. It’s the fourth year John Erbert and I have hiked something of this magnitude and the second year with John’s wife, Magen, and Joshua Stiffler, IHS 1998 graduate, and of Oronogo, Mo.

This year the group also included other longtime friends as well as some new ones in Jud Hawley of Iola,

Iola native Rick Bevard joined several others on a hike to the depths of the Grand Canyon. COURTESY PHOTO

Becky Carlson, left, and Phyllis Nelson collaborated to form a local swim team in the summer of 1988. Thirty-five years later, the Iola Seahorses remain a staple for local swimmers of all ages. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

the Iola Register

Seahorses: Swim team had humble origins 35 years ago

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dren took part in the swim team competitions, was recruited to help get things organized.

“At its inception, the swim team, like many of the summer recreation programs in Iola, was organized and led by volunteers,” Apt said in an email. “The City of Iola generously provided facilities, some equipment and safety oversight (lifeguards), without charges for the program.”

Other businesses assisted with funds to sponsor entry fees and league fees.

The swimmers had to purchase their own swimsuits, goggles and caps.

“Mary was very instrumental in getting us into the SEK organization,” Nelson said. “Until then, our records were not accurate.”

Nelson recalled pestering Berkley Kerr, Iola’s parks director, about getting various amenities, such as lane ropes.

“Do you know how much those things cost?” he responded.

“You can take it out of my pay,” Nelson retorted. (As a volunteer, she obviously earned no income from the swim team.)

“But Berkley was very good to us,” Nelson continued. “He called me up one day, and asked me to stop by the pool. He had a huge wheel with the rope lanes we needed. It was fantastic.”

Kenneth Nelson, Phyllis’s husband, built wooden starting blocks for the team as well.

Support came in other ways, such as allowing the team to gather each morning for practice at 8 a.m.

The older team members, many of whom worked as lifeguards at the pool, also became de facto coaches, encouraging and teaching the younger swimmers the proper techniques.

It was a learning experience for Nelson as well, who would rent videos from Iola Public Library to learn (a) how to coach; and (b) how to coach swimmers.

“I thought, what did I

get myself into,” Nelson laughed. “I didn’t know how to teach motions, how to get the proper technique.”

She cringes when looking at old photos of some practices, such as when she worked to prevent kids from diving too deep to begin the races.

“We had a line of kids ready to dive into the pool at the shallow end,” Nelson confessed. The pool was only 2 feet deep there.

“I learned pretty quickly not to do that anymore,” she said

But the kids (and the coach) were quick learners, which led to almost immediate success.

Carlson, who was never able to attend swim meets because of her duties at the pool, said the public buy-in was vital to the group’s longevity.

“The best thing about the swim team, as I saw it, was that it got kids involved in something that was really good for them,” Carlson said. “They enjoyed it, and it gave them something to do. And it got kids who weren’t necessarily involved in other sports. All their parents had to do was drop them off at the pool, and we did the rest. The kids who hung out here in the summer were some of the best.”

Oftentimes, Carl-

son would dip into the pool’s lifeguard fund to buy food for the swimmers who were at the pool all day.

“We’d go to Kentucky Fried Chicken or McDonald’s and pick them up something to eat,” she recalled.

“We were fortunate to have some strong, committed kids involved,” Nelson agreed. “They were here every morning at 8 o’clock.”

AS THEY rolled through their memories, a few stand out.

Nelson recalled one Iola lifeguard — a football player — made light of the talents of some of the older girls after the swim team wrapped up a morning practice.

‘We’ve been challenged,’” Nelson declared.

Three girls volunteered to an impromptu race, one full lap of freestyle swimming.

“He had the lead going to the wall, but we had a little trick play,” Nelson said. “We knew how to do flip turns and he did not. We nailed the flip turns, and all three girls beat him.

“He was not happy.”

Nelson recalled another youngster, who also played on a local baseball team, decided to swim 20 laps before practice.

“I told him with all that work, he was probably going to hit a home

run that night,” Nelson said.

Apparently it worked.

“The next morning, he came in offering to swim 21 laps,” Nelson laughed. “He wanted to hit another one.”

WITHIN A few years, Iola became a part of two leagues, the Southeast Kansas League, and the Parsons Tri-State Leagues. (The Seahorses remain with SEK, 35 summers later.)

“I’m a little overwhelmed, not because of anything I did, but that somebody else would step up to coach after we were done,” Nelson said.

Among the other coaches who came and went were Nelson’s two daughters, Sara — now Sara Clift — and Keri Nelson.

Clift was about 9 years old when the Seahorses were formed; Keri was 5.

“I don’t remember a lot, but I remember swimming, and then suddenly we were going to races,” Clift laughed. “It was fun, I did enjoy it. It was an opportunity to hang out with friends. The relays were my favorite, getting to cheer for teammates down and back, and cheering on your anchor to win it.”

“It just came naturally to us,” Keri Nelson agreed. “Swim team just became a part of the normal lifestyle during the summer.”

Keri Nelson noted one season as she coached, the Seahorses’ oldest relay team was about to be disqualified because one of the members was missing.

“That’s when Maggie Apt said, ‘Hey, you’re still eligible to swim,’” Keri laughed. “So I put on my cap and swam with them.”

Once Clift was old enough, she agreed to coach the team, including one year with Keri as her assistant coach.

PERHAPS most gratifying, Phyllis Nelson said, is seeing multiple generations of the same family taking part in the swim team.

She noted Carter Hutton, a standout athlete at Iola High School, is a coach and competitor with the Seahorses, as his father was before him.

“The apple certainly doesn’t fall from the tree,” Nelson said. “Carter’s pretty good.”

“I was pretty amazed when I came back to Iola what a big deal the swim team still was,” Carlson said. “It was neat to see how it kind of exploded.”

Clift noted the swim team is in strong hands today, under the direction of Marcia Davis and the aforementioned Carter Hutton as assistant.

“That’s important to teach things properly, and I’m very impressed with how she teaches the proper strokes,

proper technique,” Clift said.

“We had a lot of fun,” Phyllis Nelson concluded. “I still have kids who are now in their 40s who come and say ‘This was my swim coach’ to their children.

Phyllis Nelson recalled once when Clift was away at college, and her class schedule had begun to take its toll.

“She called me up one night and said she was worn out,” Nelson said. “I told her, she needed to hit the water.”

Clift, who now works as a physician assistant with the Community Health Center at Southeast Kansas, agreed.

In fact, more folks should consider taking a dip when things get overwhelming, physically or mentally.

“It’s just a great exercise, and it’s something you can do all your life,” Clift said. “I know the high school does weights and conditioning through the summer, but I wonder if there’s a way to make swimming a part of it. It’s a total-body exercise. You’re training and developing all of the muscles in your body.”

Hiring rate cools

WASHINGTON (AP)

— America’s employers pulled back on hiring but still delivered another month of solid gains in June, adding 209,000 jobs, a sign that the economy’s resilience is confounding the Federal Reserve’s drive to slow growth and inflation.

The latest evidence of economic strength makes it all but certain that the Fed will resume its interest

rate hikes later this month after having ended a streak of 10 rate increases that have been intended to curb high inflation.

The June hiring figure is the smallest in 2 1/2 years. But it still points to a durable labor market that has produced a historically high number of advertised openings. The unemployment rate fell from 3.7% to 3.6%, near a five-decade low.

Long before she became a physician assistant for the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Sara (Nelson) Clift was a member, and then coach, for the Iola Seahorses swim team. The earlier photo is from 1997. REGISTER FILE PHOTOS.

Members of the Iola Seahorses begin a race during a 2013 swim meet at Iola’s Riverside Park. REGISTER FILE PHOTO

Obituaries

Meredith Rogers

Meredith Maxine (Heckman) Rogers, 67, of Iola, died Friday, June 30, 2023 at the Life Care Center of Wichita.

Meredith was born in Wertheim, Germany, on Dec. 22, 1955. As a baby, she was adopted by Charles “Elmo” Heckman and Irene R. (Black) Heckman.

On August 27, 1977, Meredith married Michael A. Rogers. To that union, two sons were born, Michael D. and Charles E. Rogers.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Michael, in 1990.

Meredith is survived by her two sons, Mike Rogers and wife Diane, Iola; Chuck Rogers and wife Susie, Iola; stepdaughter, Shanele Enaboifo, Lawrence; four grandchildren; and her beloved dog, Phoebe.

Meredith’s family will greet friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 19, in The Venue at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service.

Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 20 at the Covenant of Faith Christian Center, Iola. Inurnment will follow at Highland Cemetery of Iola.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association and left in care of the funeral home.

Condolences may be left at www.feuerbornfuneral.com.

Earnest Wright

Earnest P. Wright went to join his wife Betty Joe Wright on July 5, 2023. Cremation has been requested.

He was born to Lester and Agnes Wright in Fort Scott, on Jan. 26, 1932.

No injuries

Allen County Sheriff’s Department personnel survey the damage of a two vehicle accident at the intersection of U.S. 59 and North Dakota Road north of Moran Thursday. The drivers and passengers in the vehicles escaped serious injury and refused treatment at the scene. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Yellen strikes optimistic tone in China visit

BEIJING (AP) —

meetings or to revive additional contacts that disputes over technology, security and other respective irritants have disrupted. Yellen is one of sev-

eral senior U.S. officials expected to travel to Beijing to encourage Chinese leaders to revive interactions between the governments of the world’s two larg-

est economies. Treasury officials said earlier she wouldn’t meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and no breakthroughs were expected.

Earnest Wright

He and Betty had five children, Linda Doyle and Joe (deceased) of Virginia, Kathy Kelly and Dennis of Bennington, Becky Julich and Bob (deceased) of Forsyth, Mo., Debbie Bockover and Lyle of Olathe and Ernie Wright and Donna of Chanute.

He is survived by several grandchildren and great-randchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Betty, his parents, sister Mary, and brother Oliver.

He worked for Wonder Bread for over 30 years.

No services are planned. A private burial will be scheduled later. Arrangements are under the direction of Greenlawn Funeral Home in Branson.

Memorials may be made to First Christian Church, 102 N Grant, Chanute, KS 66720.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Premier Li Qiang expressed hope Friday for better communication after Yellen appealed to Beijing not to let frustration over U.S. curbs on technology exports disrupt economic cooperation. Both governments used positive terms to describe Yellen’s visit to China’s capital, which was aimed at improving strained relations, and stressed the importance of U.S.-China economic ties. They announced no plans for more high-level

Carters celebrate 77th anniversary

ATLANTA (AP)

—

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are marking their 77th wedding anniversary with a quiet Friday at their south Georgia home, extending their record as the longest-married first couple ever as both nonagenarians face significant health challenges.

The 39th president is 98 and has been in home hospice care since February. The former first lady is 95 and has dementia. The Carter family has not offered details of either Jimmy or Rosalynn Carter’s condition but has said they both have enjoyed time with each other and a stream of family members, along with occasional visits from close friends, in recent months.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have been on the American and international stage together for a half-century. What they described as “full partnership” began years earlier in the Carter family farm business before his political career and their decades of global humanitarian work since leaving the White House in 1981 and establishing The Carter Center the following year.

Through the center, Jimmy Carter conducted multiple diplomatic missions, working with the blessings of his Oval Office successors, even as he sometimes rankled them. The former

president and center employees have monitored at least 114 elections across Asia, Africa

and the Americas since 1989. They have recently turned their efforts to U.S. elections.

A race against time

Heat could exacerbate CO wildfires

By BRUCE FINLEY The Denver Post

At least six fires were smoking on 5,276 acres around western Colorado on Friday.

Kobach sues over licenses

By JOHN HANNA

TOPEKA, Kan.

(AP)

— The Republican attorney general of Kansas sued in state court Friday to block transgender residents from changing their sex on their driver’s licenses and to rebuke the Democratic governor for defying his interpretation of a new law.

Attorney General Kris Kobach is seeking an order to stop Gov. Laura Kelly, and agencies under her control, from allowing the changes to transgender people’s licenses. Kobach contends a law that took effect Saturday prevents such changes and requires the state to reverse any previous changes in its records.

Kobach has argued that the law applies in the same way to birth certificates, but the lawsuit filed Friday doesn’t address those documents. The settlement of a 2018 federal lawsuit requires Kansas to allow transgender people to change their birth certificates.

More than 900 people have changed the listing for sex on their birth certificates in the past four years. About 400 have changed their driver’s licenses in that period, about four times as many a month this year as previously.

The number of driver’s licenses changes accelerated in May and June as LGBTQ+ rights advocates encouraged people to do it ahead of the new law.

That new law defines a person’s sex as male or female, based on the “biological reproductive system” identified at birth, applying that definition to any state law or regulation. It also says that “important governmental objectives” of protecting people’s privacy, health and safety justify single-sex spaces such as bathrooms

and locker rooms.

Kansas is among at least 10 states with a law against transgender people using facilities in line with their gender identities, though the new law includes no enforcement mechanism.

Kobach’s lawsuit seeks to force the governor to enforce the law as he sees it.

It names as defendants two officials who oversee driver’s licenses.

While Kelly isn’t named as a defendant, the lawsuit holds her responsible for the policy on driver’s licenses. It quotes John Adams, the nation’s second president, and cites the Declaration of Independence in arguing that Kelly “does not possess the power that English monarchs claimed” centuries ago.

“The Governor cannot pick and choose which laws she will enforce and which laws she will ignore,” part of the lawsuit reads.

Kelly’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It isn’t clear how quickly the district court in Shawnee County, home to the state capital, Topeka, could deal with the case.

The governor’s office said last week that the state health department, which handles birth certificates, and the motor vehicle division, which issues driver’s licenses, would continue allowing transgender people to change the markers for sex on those documents. Her office said lawyers in her administration had concluded that doing so doesn’t violate the new law. Kelly is a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and vetoed the measure, but the Republican-controlled Legislature overrode her.

The new Kansas law was among a raft of measures rolling back transgender rights enacted this year in

statehouses across the U.S. But only a few states do not allow transgender people to change their birth certificates. Federal judges last month upheld policies in Oklahoma and Tennessee, and a no-changes rule in Montana is expected to face a legal challenge.

Kelly won her first term as governor in 2018 by defeating Kobach, then the Kansas secretary of state. He staged a political comeback last year by winning the attorney general’s race as she captured a second term, both of them by slim margins.

The governor’s statements about the new law are at odds with descriptions from LGBTQ+ rights advocates before the Republican-controlled Legislature enacted it over Kelly’s veto. The advocates predicted that it would prevent transgender people from changing their driver’s licenses and amounted to a legal “erasure” of their identities, something Kobach confirmed as the intent when he issued his legal opinion.

“For me to go into a bathroom and not have a marker that represents who I am, I was terrified. I was afraid I was going to get accosted or harassed,” said Ty Goeke, a 37-year-old transgender Topeka resident who changed both his birth certificate and driver’s license last month.

Goeke participated in a transgender rights rally last week with his wife, Mallory, who carried a sign made from a toilet seat, calling for the new law to be “flushed.” Ty Goeke said he sobbed with joy in a state health department office when he changed his birth certificate.

“Now that I have the correct marker, I feel much better, feel more confident,” he said. “I feel at ease with myself.”

The Devil’s Thumb fire closest to Denver, in the wilderness near Fraser, still isn’t fully contained but wasn’t spreading as firefighters worked to suppress flames with helicopter support — seizing opportunities ahead of anticipated gusty and erratic winds.

This fire has burned on 95 acres, consuming blown-down spruce and lodgepole pine trees, reaching into dense spruce near edges of the burn zone, according to the latest reports from federal fire managers posted on a government fire information website. They listed the fire as 25% contained and have closed a U.S. Forest Service road to keep hikers away from the Devil’s Thumb Trailhead, near where the fire broke out on July 4. Firefighters were planning to clear “pads” inside the burn zone where helicopters that haul water could land.

No evacuation orders have been issued. Forest Service officials declared “a full suppression” approach to the fire, even though it was burning in the wilderness.

Elsewhere around western Colorado, firefighters planned to attack flames and snuff hotspots Friday ahead of a shift to hotter and drier weather that favors flames. The National Weather Service on Friday issued a “red flag” fire danger warning covering much of western Colorado.

Spring Creek fire

Firefighting supervisors reported progress holding lines around the 3,200-acre Spring Creek fire south of Parachute, now 37% contained. Relatively calm winds, blowing at speeds less than 20 miles per hour, also gave an opportunity to ignite unburned trees and brush on the northeast side of the fire, according to updates provided on the federal fire information website. Water tanks, pumps and hoses positioned around the perimeter of the burn zone allowed firefighters to attack smoldering hot spots. And fire managers were deploying firefighters at night to areas close to hot spots, where they set up camps and worked to suppress the fire.

The proximity to oil and gas industry wells and other infrastructure in the Paracute area near

the upper Colorado River has complicated firefighting, forcing crews to carry monitors to detect hydrogen sulfide or other toxic and flammable gases that could be released if flames reach industrial facilities. No injuries have been reported. The cause hasn’t been determined. No evacuations were ordered.

Coal Mine fire

In southwestern Colorado, the Coal Mine fire in Archuleta County was mostly contained Friday after burning across 286 acres north of Pagosa Springs. Firefighters were focused on smoking hotspots in the interior of the burn zone.

Chris Mountain fire

About 12 miles west of Pagosa Springs, the 555 firefighters battling the Chris Mountain fire have deployed an aerial drone to map remaining hotspots. This fire ignited by lightning devoured trees and brush across 511 acres. It was 46% contained, mostly on the west side, according to the latest federal updates. Fire managers have sent firefighters to attack the interior of the fire in the face of “red flag” hot and dry conditions favoring flames, saying the fire wasn’t

expanding. Ground crews planned to clear fuel and form a line in the Devil Creek drainage on the east side of the fire.

“Conditions remain dry” with trees “receptive to burning,” fire managers said. “Any new fire starts could spread rapidly.”

Titan fire

Firefighters have been “mopping up” hotspots — hard physical labor to extinguish and remove burning material — and had largely contained the Titan fire, 11 miles northwest of Trinidad. This fire burned across 930 acres. Fire managers reported progress toward full suppression and containment.

Ground crews using heavy machinery have built and reinforced firelines.

Arkansas Loop fire

On Southern Ute land 25 miles east of Ignacio, the Arkansas Loop fire was burning in pinon and juniper forests. On Friday, the burn zone was measured at 127 acres with the fire 50% contained. Firefighters have been working in rocky terrain, trying to control and contain flames. Fire managers estimated this blaze will be fully contained by Saturday.

Kansas Attorney General has filed suit to block transgender residents from changing their sex on their driver’s licenses. KANSSAS REFLECTOR FILE

PHOTO

The Associated Press

A firefighter surveys damage caused by the Devil’s Thumb Fire in Colorado on Thursday. Investigators believe a lightning strike caused the fire, which has burned about 95 acres. GRAND COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE/TNS

Budget

Continued from A1

hours of employee time a week for 90 days, provided Iola does the same.

CITY COUNCIL members also will continue to discuss Iola’s 2024 budget, which must be finalized this summer.

At issue is the best avenue to generate additional revenues to support the general fund.

City Administrator Matt Rehder has developed three options involving hikes in either property taxes, trash collection fees or a combination of the two.

THE COUNCIL also will decide Monday the fate of dilapidated homes at 224 N. State St., 406 E. Lincoln and 515 and 617 S. Fourth St., all of which have been condemned and are slated to be demolished.

Monday’s 6 p.m. meeting will be at the New Community Building at Riverside Park.

The public is invited.

Public notices

Gunman gets 90 consecutive life terms

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A

white gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack on Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in a Texas border city was sentenced Friday to 90 consecutive life sentences but could still face more punishment, including the death penalty.

Patrick Crusius, 24, pleaded guilty earlier this year to nearly 50 federal hate crime charges in the 2019 mass shooting in El Paso, making it one of the U.S. government’s largest hate crime cases. Crusius, wearing a jumpsuit and shackles, did not speak during the hearing and showed no reaction as the sentence was read. U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama recommended that Crusius serve his sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorado.

payment of Project Costs (as said terms are defined in the Loan Act); and

WHEREAS, the City of Moran, Kansas (the “Municipality”) is a municipality as said term is defined in the Loan Act which operates a water system (the “System”); and

WHEREAS, the System is a Public Water Supply System, as said term is defined in the Loan Act; and

WHEREAS, the Municipality has, pursuant to the Loan Act, submitted an Application to KDHE to obtain a loan from the Revolving Fund to finance the costs of improvements to its System consisting of the following:

Replacement of approximately 12,000 linear feet of predominantly 4-inch cast iron waterlines with new PVC waterlines and rehabilitation of the 50,000-gallon water tower.

(the “Project”); and

Crusius still faces a separate trial in a Texas court that could end with him getting the death penalty for carrying out one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. As Crusius was led from the courtroom, the son of one of the victims shouted at him from the galley.

“We’ll be seeing you again, coward,” yelled Dean Reckard, whose mother, Margie Reckard, was slain in the attack. “No apologies, no nothing.”

Police say Crusius drove more than 700 miles from his home near Dallas to target Hispanics with an AK-style rifle inside and outside the store. Moments before the attack began, Crusius posted a racist screed online that warned of a Hispanic “invasion” of Texas.

In the years since the

shooting, Republicans have described migrants crossing the southern U.S. border as an “invasion,” waving off critics who say the rhetoric fuels anti-immigrant views and violence.

Crusius pleaded guilty in February after federal prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. But Texas prosecutors have said they will try to put Crusius on death row when he stands trial in state court. That trial date has not yet been set.

Joe Spencer, Crusius’ attorney, told the judge before the sentencing that his client has a “broken brain.”

“Patrick’s thinking is at odds with reality … resulting in delusional thinking,” Spencer said.

Crusius became alarmed by his own violent thoughts, Spencer said,

and he once left a job at a movie theater because of them. He said Crusius once searched online to look for ways to address his mental health, and he dropped out of a community college near Dallas because of his struggles.

Spencer said Crusius had arrived in El Paso without a specific target in mind before winding up at the Walmart.

“Patrick acted with his broken brain cemented in delusions,” Spencer said.

The sentencing in El Paso followed two days of impact statements from relatives of the victims, including citizens of Mexico and a German national. In addition to the dead, more than two dozen people were injured and numerous others were severely traumatized as they hid or fled.

WHEREAS, the

[PL

to the Safe Drinking Water Act (the “Federal Act”) established the Drinking Water Loan Fund to assist public water supply systems in financing the costs of infrastructure needed to achieve or maintain compliance with the Federal Act and to protect the public health and authorized the Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) to administer a revolving loan program operated by the individual states; and

WHEREAS, to fund the state revolving fund program, the EPA will make annual capitalization grants to the states, on the condition that each state provide a state match for such state’s revolving fund; and

WHEREAS, by passage of the Kansas Public Water Supply Loan Act, K.S.A. 65-163d et seq., as amended (the “Loan Act”), the State of Kansas (the “State”) has established the Kansas Public Water Supply Loan Fund (the “Revolving Fund”) for purposes of the Federal Act; and

WHEREAS, under the Loan Act, the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (“KDHE”) is given the responsibility for administration and management of the Revolving Fund; and

WHEREAS, the Kansas Development Finance Authority (the “Authority”) and KDHE have entered into a Master Indenture (the “Master Indenture”) pursuant to which KDHE agrees to enter into Loan Agreements with Municipalities for public water supply projects (the “Projects”) and to pledge the Loan Repayments (as defined in the Master Indenture) received pursuant to such Loan Agreements to the Authority; and

WHEREAS, the Authority is authorized under K.S.A. 748905(a) and the Loan Act to issue revenue bonds (the “Bonds”) for the purpose of providing funds to implement the State’s requirements under the Federal Act and to loan the same, together with available funds from the EPA capitalization grants, to Municipalities within the State for the

WHEREAS, the Municipality has taken all steps necessary and has complied with the provisions of the Loan Act and the provisions of K.A.R. 28-15-50 through 28-15-65 (the “Regulations”) applicable thereto necessary to qualify for the loan; and

WHEREAS, KDHE has informed the Municipality that it has been approved for a loan in amount not to exceed $473,000 (the “Loan”) in order to finance the Project; and

WHEREAS, the governing body of the Municipality hereby finds and determines that it is necessary and desirable to accept the Loan and to enter into a loan agreement and certain other documents relating thereto, and to take certain actions required in order to implement the Loan Agreement.

THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF MORAN, KANSAS:

Section 1. Authorization of the First Amendment to the Loan Agreement. The Municipality is hereby authorized to accept the First Amendment to the Loan and to enter into a certain First Amendment of the Loan Agreement, with an effective date of April 26, 2023, with the State of Kansas acting by and through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (the “Loan Agreement”) to finance the Project Costs (as defined in the Loan Agreement). The Mayor and Clerk are hereby authorized to execute the Loan Agreement in substantially the form presented to the governing body this date, with such changes or modifications thereto as may be approved by the Mayor and the Municipality’s legal counsel, the Mayor’s execution of the Loan Agreement being conclusive evidence of such approval.

Section 2. Establishment of Dedicated Source of Revenue for Repayment of Loan. Pursuant to the Loan Act, the Municipality hereby establishes a dedicated source of revenue for repayment of the Loan. In accordance therewith, the Municipality shall impose and collect such rates, fees and charges for the

GOING ON

Want

use and services furnished by or through the System, including all improvements and additions thereto hereafter constructed or acquired by the Municipality as will provide System Revenues (as defined in the Loan Agreement) sufficient to (a) pay the cost of the operation and maintenance of the System, (b) pay the principal of and interest on the Loan as and when the same become due, (c) pay all other amounts due at any time under the Loan Agreement, and (d) pay the principal of and interest on Additional Revenue Obligations (as defined in the Loan Agreement) as and when the same become due; provided, however, the pledge of the System Revenues contained herein and in the Loan Agreement (i) shall be subject to reasonable expenses of operation and maintenance of the System, and (ii) shall be junior and subordinate in all respects to the pledge of System Revenues to any Additional Revenue Obligations. In the event that the System Revenues are insufficient to meet the obligations under the Loan and the Loan Agreement, the Municipality shall levy ad valorem taxes without limita tion as to rate or amount upon all the taxable tangible property, real or personal, within the terri torial limits of the Municipality to produce the amounts neces sary for the prompt payment of the obligations under the Loan and Loan Agreement. In accor dance with the Loan Act, the obligations under the Loan and the Loan Agreement shall not be included within any limitation on the bonded indebtedness of the Municipality.

Section 3. Further Author ity. The Mayor, Clerk and other City officials and legal counsel are hereby further authorized and directed to execute any and all documents and take such ac tions as they may deem neces sary or advisable in order to carry out and perform the purposes of the Ordinance, and to make alterations, changes or additions in the foregoing agreements, statements, instruments and oth er documents herein approved, authorized and confirmed which they may approve, and the exe cution or taking of such action shall be conclusive evidence of such necessity or advisability.

Section 4. Governing Law. The Ordinance and the Loan Agreement shall be governed exclusively by and construed in accordance with the applicable laws of the State of Kansas.

Section 5. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall take effect and be in full force from and af ter its passage by the governing body of the City and publication in the official City newspaper.

by the governing body

the City of Moran on

and signed and AP

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Saturday, July 8, 2023

~ Journalism that makes a difference

Baseball and small towns: ‘Obsolesence is a choice’

We’re almost to the AllStar Game, the halfway point of the Major League Baseball season. In my mind, we can already draw two conclusions. One is disheartening: the Royals’ season is over. The boys in blue have played 88 games so far and managed to lose 63 of them. At twenty games behind the first place Twins in the American League Central, the Royals can’t even see a team that has only won two more games than it’s lost. They’re one loss away from the worst record in baseball, a dubious honor held by the Oakland A’s, whose fans are boycotting the team due to their proposed move to Vegas.

Tim Stauffer Register managing editor

The second brings hope: this year’s changes to Major League Baseball are a success.

At the start of this season, the league rolled out three big changes: a pitch clock, bigger bases, and limits on defensive shifts. The pitch clock’s the big one. Dead time has been sucked out of the game. In fact, average game time this season is 2 hours, 38 minutes, down 31 minutes from last year. Hits are up. Stolen bases are up. Runs are up. Baseball is doing more with less.

FANS are loving it. Attendance was up 4.5% through the first half of the season.

That may not sound like a lot, but attendance had been dipping for years. And more fans are tuning into games. ESPN reports their baseball viewership is up 7% from last year. Fox and MLB.TV have also reported more viewers. This comes on the heels of last year’s World Series drawing the second-lowest audience ever.

Perhaps the best article covering this resurgence is “How Baseball Saved Itself,” written by Mark Leibovich of

The Atlantic. It was the cover story of the July/August edition of the magazine.

Leibovich thought he was setting out to compose baseball’s obituary, writing, “Baseball had a great run, a nice century. Boxing used to be huge too. Times change, tastes veer, attention spans shrink. Cultural gems become cultural relics. It’s no one’s fault; we move on to new things.” Sad, but true: America’s pastime was dead.

Leibovich spoke with several of the higher ups in MLB who saw the writing on the wall: year after year of lower batting averages, longer

Social Security needs fixed now Brenton Smith

It has been nearly 40 years since Congress was able to find common ground on the future of Social Security. While millions of people depend on the system as a lifeline, politicians have done little to slow the erosion of the program’s finances.

If the projections in the latest trustees report come to pass, the program without change would pay promised benefits into 2033, at which point the incoming revenue would be sufficient to cover roughly 77% of promised benefits.

That is not a long time, considering that the Social Security Administration expects someone turning 79 today to live long enough to feel the impact of these changes.

Many Americans mistakenly believe that this outlook means the nation has 10 years to think about the problem. It doesn’t. The forecast isn’t a guarantee. It is a stern warning about what might happen even in a robust economy.

The truth is that if the economy doesn’t cooperate, the consequences of Social Security will arrive sooner and hit harder than anyone expects. No one knows when benefits might be reduced, nor how much. At this point, no one even knows how the government would allocate a systemwide reduction of benefits to the individual.

As gloomy as all of that might sound, the harder part of the issue for Americans to digest is how quickly the problem is growing. Many voters tend to discount any concern about future benefits as the same old story. They see the latest warning as the same train coming down the same tracks only a year closer in time.

In reality, the train is larger, moving faster, on less stable tracks. Since 2019, the size of the gap between what Social Security has promised

Chicago Tribune

and what it expects to pay has grown by nearly $10 trillion — more than 40%.

Another way to look at that change in the size of the concern since 2019 is: For every $1 that the program has collected in payroll taxes, it has generated roughly $2 of promises that no one expects it to keep.

It is possible, of course, that Congress will find the common ground to make those promises good, but the prospects of a resolution dwindle as the size of the problem grows.

To illustrate, Democrats last August proposed new legislation under the “Social Security 2100″ brand. Back in 2019, that brand of legislation meant that the program would pay higher benefits into the next century — more than 80 years. In 2021, the sponsor of the legislation claimed that his revised proposal would provide only five years of expanded benefits and keep the program solvent for four extra years.

The effectiveness of the changes declined in part because the problem that it hoped to solve had grown by $6 trillion between 2019 and 2021.

The GOP, on the other hand, offers little more than platitudes about protecting the benefits of those in or near retirement. Yet none of the candidates mention what taxes they are willing to raise to keep the promise that has been made to those Americans who are 78 and younger.

As a presidential candidate in 2016, Donald Trump prom-

game times and plummeting attendance. They had to do something. Miraculously, what they did worked.

AND NO ONE’S complaining. Well, a few people are, as some always do. They lament how now that the game moves quicker, you might actually miss something while in line at concessions. Others say stadiums need to extend beer sales because the game moves quicker. Parents, meanwhile, roll their eyes. It’s now possible to take the kids to an entire baseball game, something that hasn’t happened in a generation.

As I read Leibovich’s article, I kept thinking about Iola. People say the same things about baseball as they do about small towns. We’re a relic of the past. We’re dying. Boring. No future. Nobody’s fault, really—we just haven’t been able to keep pace with the times.

Considering what baseball did to improve the game, I think there are questions worth asking: How can we quicken Iola’s pace? How can we return to what we do best? It’s not about trying to become something completely different. Sure, purists will always object to change, but if baseball can do it, why can’t we?

Quality housing, strong schools, dynamic small businesses, great healthcare, renewable energy and charging stations, outdoor dining, a community recycling program, a vibrant arts community—these come to mind as opportunities akin to larger bases and a pitch clock. Baseball didn’t try to become football. The changes weren’t revolutionary. 4.5% growth isn’t huge. But it’s something. It’s progress.

Leibovich ends his article, which you really should read, this way: “The idea is that baseball needs to attract new fans. But there’s a parallel notion here, with life lessons embedded. Change can invigorate at any age. It’s important to keep traditions, and base runners, moving. Obsolescence is a choice.”

Let’s play ball.

Activists hold signs appealing for Congress to preserve Social Security fund funding Feb 24 in Cypress, Calif. GETTY IMAGES FOR MOVEON/ARAYA DOHENY/TNS

ised that economic growth would offset the need for benefit reductions or higher taxes. His vision was the economic Holy Grail, a painless solution for Social Security. In reality, the program’s actuarial balance declined by 25% during his presidential term despite an economy with the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. There is only one fact about Social Security on which all experts agree. The longer we wait, the harder it gets. Today, we are now looking at a rate increase of 3.61% to keep the program solvent because about 15 years ago, Congress couldn’t muster the resolve to increase the payroll tax by 1.92%.

One thing should resonate in the mind of every voter. If Congress wouldn’t tackle the problem when it was small and required gradual change, one must ask why anyone believes that a future Congress will undertake the task when challenges are larger and the cost great. The passage of time is financial cancer to Social Security.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Brenton Smith is policy adviser for the Heartland Institute, a think tank in Arlington Heights.

Shred this ruling! Judge’s injunction is off the mark

In his July 4 ruling blocking the Biden administration from communicating with social media companies on issues of content, Louisiana Federal Judge Terry Doughty quickly showed himself to be a deeply unserious jurist, writing that the case “arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States’ history.” He apparently slept through high school history classes on the Alien and Sedition Acts, Jim Crow and McCarthyism.

If Doughty believes that the government engaging with social media platforms to encourage certain uniform policies and flag the spread of, for example, medical and election misinformation that could be destabilizing and harmful to public health and order is unconstitutional, then it seems like Doughty could benefit from engaging with a first-year law class.

The Constitution has enshrined, for very good reason, the principle that the government cannot compel or censor almost any type of speech. It certainly has not dictated that the government can never communicate preferences or express concern to companies whose size, scope and ability to shape public opinion and discourse

were unfathomable to the First Amendment’s framers.

The Daily News routinely receives calls, emails and letters from government officials of every stripe taking issue with coverage and pushing us to reword things, shift coverage, change descriptions and even pull stories. Every journalist receives such pressure, and understands it to be simply part of the push-pull of public dialogue. Is it censorship? No, because we can, and often do, simply refuse, just as social media companies have always been at liberty to tell the government to take a hike when it comes to requests to remove speech.

If anything, the tech sector is under, not over, regulated by the federal government. That doesn’t mean the feds should suddenly gain veto power over speech (they certainly shouldn’t) but efforts to constrain the power of the tech monopolies is firmly in their wheelhouse and in the public interest. Hopefully this aberration and distraction of a ruling is quickly overturned on appeal, and Doughty can look into those remedial classes.

— New York Daily News

A view of fans during a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres on May 21 in San Diego. Attendance at Major League Baseball games has risen this season, as fans welcome changes that have sped up games and increased action. AP PHOTO/BRANDON SLOTER

Bevard: Grand Canyon trek enthralls

Continued from A1

Glaze of Lenexa, Karis Sutherland of South Carolina, Rachel Cox of North Carolina, and Don Erbert of Iola. We all felt the call to put our fitness, perseverance and prowess to a test where the physical demands met the mental.

In preparation, we trained with 20-pound packs walking stairs, trails, hills and any other incline we flat-landers could find. With a team of nine coming from different fitness levels and regions, it was tricky territory.

We assembled near Flagstaff, Arizona on Saturday evening.

A starting time of 5:15 a.m. on Sunday was met with a glorious sunrise view at Mather Point.

We started at the south rim of the canyon, descending 8 miles and almost 5,000 feet along the rugged South Kaibab Trail down to the Colorado River and Phantom Ranch.

The sun was unrelenting. At the canyon’s bottom it was 99 degrees. A jump into the frigid 40-degree currents of the mighty Colorado quickly cooled that.

With the afternoon ahead of us, we had plenty of time to take in the surroundings.

That evening, we enjoyed a hearty steak dinner along with members of the other cabins. We found the Phantom Ranch to be welcoming, charming, and far beyond our expectations. It truly is a remarkable experience. We played games, enjoyed the river, and wrote postcards for our loved ones which would be carried out by mules and mailed.

The next day we hiked 10 miles up via Bright Angel Trail.

As we ascended, the snow accumulated at a

record pace. The north rim was determined inaccessible and its opening date would be pushed from May 15 into mid-June.

Our host was right in his prediction. Our mental side kicked in while we emerged from the canyon along the Bright Angel Trail, allowing ourselves to loosen up and enjoy the challenge.

The trek brought many different sights and new greetings, and a few more sunburns, aches, and leg contractions. The endless switchbacks tuckered us out but nothing the sense of accomplishment wouldn’t cure. Looking down or up at any time was awe-inspiring and mesmerizing. We finished in about 8 hours.

This was my first visit to the Grand Canyon and I got to experience it from the inside out with some of my favorite, funny, and incredibly driven friends.

We sang, cheered and ribbed one another as we hiked together. The team was encouraging in pushing each other to their full potential.

As the singing sensation Don Erbert liked to belt out every couple of

miles “...Happy trails to you.”

Beauty awaits. Choose your path.

About the author: Rick Bevard and his family live in the Kansas City area where he works for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Cargo ship fire expected to burn for days

NEWARK, N.J.

(AP) — A cargo ship docked at the East Coast’s biggest port smoldered for a third day and will likely burn for several more after the fire claimed the lives of two New Jersey firefighters, officials said Friday, acknowledging that they’ll be discussing how first responders are trained.

What caused the fire aboard the Grande Costa d’Avorio, an Italian-flagged vessel carrying cars and other goods, at port in Newark won’t be known until an investigation after the fire is out, according to Coast Guard Capt. Zeita Merchant, the captain of the Port of New York and New Jersey.

A crew of 20 firefighters, salvage workers and a New York fire boat blasted jets of water onto the ship to contain the intense heat, which officials have said burned on the 10th through 12th levels at the rear of the ship. Flames occasionally flared from top level.

Crews described the difficulty controlling the blaze.

“Access is tough. The heat is extreme. It’s a steel box. So it’s a very complex situation,” said Gordon Lorenson of Donjon Marine, a salvage

company assisting with the fire. Fire crews have to pour enough water onto the vessel to douse the flames but too much could cause the ship to tilt, he said, so they then pump it off the ship. The vessel listed slightly to its right but was stable, according to Tom Wiker, president of Gallagher Marine Systems, which was representing the ship’s owner, the Grimaldi Group.

The Port Authority relies on local fire departments, like Newark’s, to assist with fires since it doesn’t have its own firefighting agency.

Authorities declined to answer whether firefighters should have gone into harm’s way to put the blaze out when no lives appeared to be at risk on the ship with 28 crew members.

Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Frage said the city has an agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey covering their response to fires and they continue to have conversations “today and going forward in terms of training.” He didn’t offer specifics about training. Lorenson said shipboard fires are unique from one event to the next and can change.

Special thanks to our community partners for your donations: Like

Terr y Sparks

Allen County Commissioners

Honorable Daniel Creitz

IOLA PHARMACY

Several organizations stepped up to join in the fun and help educate our youth and families on safety, including Iola Police Department, Allen County Sheri ’s O ce, Emprise Bank, Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center, Elks #569, Farm Bureau Financial Services - Sharla Miller, Iola Register, Thrive Allen County, SEK Multi-County Health Department, and Allen County Farm Bureau.

ACMAT thanks the Allen County Farmers’ Market for allowing us to partner with them for such a wonderful event and for CASA of the 31st Judicial District for providing free snow cones, Hope Unlimited for providing free popcorn, Red Beard BBQ, and the Kansas Highway Patrol and to Iola Fire Department with a water hose nale to help keep everyone cool.

With the help of all these community partners, we are building a healthier and safer community.

~ Allen County Multi-Agency Coalition

Joining author Rick Bevard for a memorable trip to the Grand Canyon are, from left, Karis Sutherland, Joshua Stiffler, Don Erbert, Jud Hawley, Charlie Glaze, Rick Bevard, John Erbert and Magen Erbert. Not pictured is Rachel Cox from North Carolina. COURTESY PHOTO

Iolan Don Erbert smiles for the camera while trekking the Grand Canyon, from rim to rim. COURTESY

US approves munitions for Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration has decided to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine and is expected to announce on Friday that the Pentagon will send thousands of them as part of a new military aid package worth up to $800 million for the war effort against Russia, according to people familiar with the decision.

Helping hands

Iowa teen gets life sentence for killing teacher

DES MOINES, Iowa

(AP) — The first of two Iowa teenagers who pleaded guilty to beating their high school Spanish teacher to death with a baseball bat was sentenced Thursday to life with a possibility of parole after 35 years in prison.

A judge sentenced Willard Miller after a sentencing hearing that lasted more than seven hours.

Miller and another teen, Jeremy Goodale, had pleaded guilty in April to the 2021 attack on Nohema Gra -

ber. The 66-year-old teacher was fatally beaten while taking her regular afternoon walk in a park in Fairfield.

In sentencing Miller, District Court Judge Shawn Showers acknowledged Miller’s young age but also noted he had “cut Nohema Graber’s precious life short,” devastating her family and the community.

“I find that your intent and actions were sinister and evil. Those acts resulted in the intentional loss of human

life in a brutal fashion,” Showers said. “There is no excuse.”

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors had recommended Miller receive a term of between 30 years and life in prison, with the possibility of parole. Goodale is to be sentenced later.

Before being sentenced, Miller said in court Thursday that he accepted responsibility for the killing and apologized to the Graber family.

“I would like to apologize for my actions, first

and foremost to the family,” he said. “I am sincerely sorry for the distress I have caused you and the devastation I have caused your family.”

Miller also apologized to the Fairfield community, his own family, Goodale’s family and the police.

“I’m realizing just the magnitude of my actions, and I know it’s wrong and I knew it was wrong and yet I still carried through,” he said. “I still did what I did, and I accept responsibility for that.”

The decision comes despite widespread concerns that the bombs have a track record of causing civilian casualties and sparked a call from the United Nations to both Russia and Ukraine to avoid using them. The Pentagon says it will provide munitions that have a reduced “dud rate,” meaning fewer unexploded rounds that can result in unintended civilian deaths.

U.S. officials said Thursday they expect the military aid to Ukraine will be announced on Friday. The weapons will come from Pentagon stocks and include Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles and an array of ammunition, such as rounds for howitzers and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System,

officials said.

Long sought by Ukraine, cluster bombs are weapons that open in the air, releasing submunitions, or bomblets, that are dispersed over a large area and are intended to wreak destruction on multiple targets at once.

The officials and others familiar with the decision spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Ukrainian officials have asked for the weapons to aid their campaign to push through lines of Russian troops and make gains in the ongoing counteroffensive.

Russian forces are already using cluster munitions on the battlefield and in populated civilian areas, U.S. officials have said.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, some cluster munitions leave behind bomblets that have a high rate of failure to explode — up to 40% in some cases. U.S. officials said Thursday that the rate of unexploded ordnance for the munitions that will be going to Ukraine is under 3% and therefore will mean fewer unexploded bombs left behind to threaten civilians.

Iolans Caiden Cloud, left, and Dillon Slaven clear away dead foliage and litter from Iola’s downtown flower pots Thursday evening. This is the second year the pair has assisted Donna Houser and the Iola Community Involvement Task Force with the flower pots’ upkeep. City crews water the displays periodically to keep them vibrant during the torrid summer months. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Sports Daily B

Iola slugs past Pittsburg late

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

Tre Wilson’s inside-thepark home run was reason for celebration and the Iola’s AA Indians lone win over Pittsburg Post 64 at home Thursday in the regular season finale.

The Indians (22-6) got behind Wilson’s double, which turned into a four-run insidethe-park homer thanks to some Pittsburg throwing errors. Logan Page also mashed a solo home run to claim a 5-4 victory.

Iola dropped the opener, 8-6, after a comeback attempt fell short.

“I told him we wanted that real Tre (Wilson) back and he’s stroking the baseball right now,” Iola head coach Ethan Tavarez said. “He roped it and got that swing, that clutchness back and getting guys

scoring was big.”

Iola finished their regular season winning 10 of their last 12 games.

Game one — 8-6 loss Iola fell behind early when Pittsburg brought two runs home in the top of the second.

The Indians took a 6-4 lead in the sixth after a four-run rally, but lost the lead late when the Patriots scored four in the seventh to claim the win.

Pittsburg’s Jonah Sparks smacked an RBI double before he scored on an error to give Pittsburg the early 2-0 advantage.

The Indians got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Sam Hull singled to center field to bring Brandon McKarnin home.

Jack White then reached on an error to shortstop which brought another run home

and squared things up at 2-2.

Pittsburg responded with one in the fifth on an RBI grounder by Ethan Rhodes, and an RBI double by Rocco Bazzano in the sixth put Iola in arrears, 4-2.

“We had a couple errors and blooper deals that got us down but it was important to pick each other up because they’re all teammates,” Tavarez said. “The second game we did a much better job of doing that and being better teammates for each other.”

Iola took the lead in the next half inning when Ashton Hesse was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Korbyn Fountain then singled to right field to score Page and White for the go-ahead run. Hesse then scored on a wild pitch for a 6-4 lead.

But Pittsburg’s rally in the seventh proved too much to overcome.

Saturday, July 8, 2023

Kvitova, Kyostuk advance at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England

(AP) — Petra Kvitova reached the third round at Wimbledon for the second year in a row, nine years after winning the second of her two titles at the All England Club.

The 33-year-old Czech, who was injured in a knife attack at her home in 2016, beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-2 Friday on Day 5 of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.

The left-handed Kvitova first won the Wimbledon title in 2011 and then added another in 2014. She has only reached one other Grand Slam final, losing to Naomi Osaka in the deciding match at the 2019 Australian Open.

Madison Keys, an American who won the Eastbourne International title on grass ahead of Wimbledon, also reached the third round. The 25th-seeded Keys defeated Viktorija Golubic 7-5, 6-3.

Trevor Church started on the mound for the Indians and went 5.2 innings, allowing four runs on one hit with eight strikeouts. Hesse took the loss in relief after tossing the final 1.1 innings and allowing four runs on three hits.

Game two — 5-4 win Logan Page took the pitching duties in the nightcap and allowed four runs through five innings while also smacking a third inning solo homer.

“The first couple of innings I was a bit jittery but once I got into a rhythm, it’s about pounding the zone and making sure my off-speed pitches are good,” said Page. The home run, he recalled, “felt amazing. I haven’t hit the ball well this year and hopefully that can get me going in a

See INDIANS | Page B2

Indians take down Olpe in season finale

By QUINN BURKITT

The Iola American Legion A Indians finished their season on a high note with a two-game home sweep of Olpe Thursday.

The Indians (15-7) had seven pitchers toss a combined three-run and six-hit outing while Kyler Isbell drove home two runs for a 6-3 win in game one. In game two, Iola’s Grady Dougherty threw a five-inning no-hitter for a 7-0 victory.

The Indians have now won seven of their last eight games as they head into the zone tournament next week.

Game one — 6-3 win Iola scored two runs in the

bottom of the second and three more in the third while five Indians pitchers combined to allow only one run.

Eight of Iola’s 11 batters had hits in the win. Taking the hill for Iola were Kade Nilges, Ryan Gold-

en, Tyler Lord, Lucas Maier, Easton Weseloh, Drake Weir and Isbell. Isbell earned the win, tossing a scoreless fourth inning and striking out two.

Olpe jumped ahead in the top of the first when James Kimberlin singled to center field to bring home the first run of the game.

Iola’s Weseloh singled to center field to plate a run and tie it at 1-1 in the bottom of the second. Isbell followed with an RBI single to take a 2-1 lead.

Isbell came to the rescue again when he gave Iola the lead in the bottom of the third when he singled to center field to score two more runs. Two batters later,

See IOLA | Page B2

Keys will next face Ukrainian player Marta Kostyuk. She advanced when Paula Badosa retired from their match with a back injury with Kostyuk leading 6-2, 1-0.

See WIMBLEDON | Page B2

MLB hosts HBCU AllStar Game

SEATTLE (AP) — Ken

Griffey Jr. holds a plethora of titles, especially in this part of the country. Hall of Famer. Cultural icon. The guy who made baseball in the Pacific Northwest relevant. Arguably, the greatest of his generation. He even holds a title in association with Major League Baseball as a special adviser to Commissioner Rob Manfred.

But what’s most meaningful to Griffey currently is his association with Friday’s HBCU Swingman All-Star Classic that serves as the first major event of All-Star Game festivities, featuring players from 17 Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The event was an idea generated by Griffey, fostered into reality with help from MLB and comes at a time when U.S.-born Black representation in the majors is at its lowest level since tracking began more than 30 years ago.

“It’s all about trying to get seen. I mean, if I can give an opportunity for a kid, one kid, two kids, three kids to be seen, how many kids can that be over

See MLB | Page B2

Iola’s Tre Wilson knocked a go-ahead inside-the-park home run against Pittsburg Thursday. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

The Iola Register

Iola’s Lucas Maier pitches to Olpe. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

F1 welcomes Brad Pitt; wary of protestors

SILVERSTONE, England (AP) — Brad Pitt is joining the Formula One paddock for his new movie. He might stand as much chance as anyone else of beat-

ing Max Verstappen.

Verstappen will be aiming for his eighth win in 10 races this year on Sunday as he surges toward winning the title for a third straight

year. His Red Bull team has won 19 of the last 20 races going back to July 2022.

As F1 welcomes Pitt for a weekend of filming around the British

Grand Prix, race organizers and police are wary of possible environmental protests.

PROTEST WARNINGS

Activists representing the Just Stop Oil

Indians: Split one game apiece with Pittsburg

Continued from B1

good direction.” Pittsburg went ahead in the top of the second when Carsen Nickelson doubled to right field to bring home a run and the 1-0 lead. Garrett Hanson then singled to center field to plate another run and sink Iola into a 2-0 hole.

Trevor Amershek sent a ground ball error to Iola’s first baseman which was mishandled and allowed another Patriot run to score for the 3-0 edge. Connor Vanbecelaere doubled to right field to bring home one more run in the third.

Logan Page’s solo home run to right field in the bottom of the third put Iola on the board and on the road back.

“He (Page) got the adrenaline pumping toward the end there and he has that mindset, goes out there and does his job how we want him to,” said Tavarez. “If he doesn’t have that adrenaline pumping he

doesn’t hit that home run either.”

A few at bats later, Wilson’s shot to center field, which was misplayed and overthrown at third, allowed Wilson, Fountain, Church and Hesse to score for the 5-4 advantage.

Pittsburg didn’t have any more answers for Page or Iola’s defense, and Iola hung on for the 5-4 win.

Last season, the Indians lost to Pittsburg’s AAA American Legion team in the deciding matchup to reach na-

tionals. The Indians will host the Winfield Vikings (37), who still have four more games to play, for their Kansas American Legion Zone 2 matchup in Humboldt next Friday at 5 p.m.

MLB: HBCU All-Star Game to create opportunities

Continued from B1

the next five, 10, 15 years?” Griffey said. “How many lives will that one person change? That’s all we’re trying to do.”

Fifty players in total were selected to take part. For some, it may be the biggest stage they’ve ever played on and the best opportunity for scouts and executives to see that despite limited resources compared to others in Division I baseball, their talent deserves to be showcased.

“It’s huge. I think a lot more people see his name and they get drawn to it just because he’s Ken Griffey Jr.,” said Trey Paige, who played this past season at Delaware State. “Having his name on it draws attention from people who would have had no idea about it.”

That’s partly the goal, especially with how current numbers have tracked.

A recent study from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida found Black U.S. players represented just 6.2% of players on MLB opening day rosters, down from last year’s previous record low of 7.2%. There wasn’t a single HBCU alum on a major league roster on opening day this season, either.

That is why Griffey pushed for this event to be part of All-Star weekend rather than his original thought of having it take place during the Hank Aaron Invitational in Florida, an MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation sponsored event focused on youth players. It’s another title Griffey hopes can eventually be added to his career re-

sume — someone who helped grow and create opportunities for under-recognized Black players.

“I would love to see the numbers to my dad’s when he played, but that’s so far from now,” said Griffey, whose father played from 1973-91, overlapping with the careers of HBCU standouts like Lou Brock and Andre Dawson. “I just want for these kids to have an opportunity to believe in themselves and go out and play.”

Griffey’s participation in the event is not passive. This isn’t simply his name and logo attached to the title for the sake of interest and attention. He’s seen firsthand some of the resource limitations facing HBCU schools, but from a slightly different perspective — his youngest son Tevin plays football at Florida A&M.

“I just threw out a very big idea ... but it was one of those things that needed to be done,” Griffey said. Griffey isn’t alone in this mission, or the first game. Jerry Manuel and Bo Porter are managers for the game. Others helping include Dawson, Marquis Grissom, Harold Reynolds, Rickie Weeks Jr. and Griffey’s dad — known at this point as Senior.

The elder Griffey, now 73, reminisced at a time during his playing career when demographic participation rates weren’t tracked, but anecdotally nearly 30% of the majors comprised of U.S.-born Black players.

When Senior and Junior were teammates with the Mariners in 1991, it was the first

year of the TIDES study. At that time, 18% of players in the majors were Black. It’s now to the point where last year’s World Series was the first since 1950 that didn’t have a U.S.-born Black player on either roster.

“We’ve got to keep going and passing it down from generation to generation,” said Bethune-Cookman’s Hylan Hall. “When I go back home, I train younger guys. I’m around younger guys and show them that it’s fun. ... The younger generation is looking at me and looking up to me and I know that’s a great responsibility.”

MLB’s current lack of Black players is frequently attributed to the rising costs of elite-level youth baseball, among other factors. The league has sought to address that inequity, and there are signs those investments are beginning to pay off.

Four of the first five picks in last year’s MLB amateur draft were

Black. Those four were among the hundreds who had participated in diversity initiatives such as the MLB Youth Academy, DREAM Series and the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program. MLB has also pledged $150 million in a 10year partnership with the Players Alliance. The nonprofit organization of current and former players works to increase Black involvement at all levels.

“Running this organization from the beginning as the first executive director, I am confident that we’re already making an impact,” said Jean Lee Batrus, executive director of the joint MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation. “The numbers are growing when you look at youth sport. There’s more kids playing youth baseball and softball and I can speak specifically to underrepresented in diverse communities that there’s a desire there.”

group ran onto the track at last year’s race, passing close to cars shortly after the race was red-flagged for a first-lap crash. Since then, Just Stop Oil protesters have made their mark on British events including Wimbledon and the Ashes cricket. The group wants the British government to block all new oil, gas and coal extraction projects.

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton

signaled he would back a “peaceful” protest but expressed concern for the safety of drivers and protesters if anyone makes it onto the Silverstone track again.

“From my perspective, and I think my team’s, we are very, very focused on sustainability, we believe in what people are fighting for and we are making those changes as a sport,” Hamilton said Thurs-

See F1 | Page B6

Iola: Downs Olpe

Continued from B1

Dougherty singled to left and Lord came home to score for the 5-1 lead.

Olpe made its final push in the sixth when Brayden Lieneman scored on a passed ball for the 5-2 score. Cade Whitmore then scored on a wild pitch to cut Iola’s lead to 5-3.

But Weir doubled to left field to bring home Golden with an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth for the final tally.

Game two — 7-0 win

Dougherty couldn’t be touched in the second game, striking out four over five innings, and the Indians scored four runs in the first to take control.

Nilges doubled to left field to score Blake Ellis and Lord for the early 2-0 lead. Golden singled to cen-

ter for another run, and Isbell was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to take a 4-0 advantage.

Ellis singled to center field to bring another run in the second.

Iola’s final runs were delivered in the bottom of the third when Weseloh singled to score Nick Bauer and Weir.

Dougherty only allowed three base runners, all on walks.

Nilges and Weseloh led Iola with two RBI’s apiece.

“I think we’re peaking at the right time,” Iola head coach Jason Bauer said. “We had a rough stretch where we didn’t hit the ball but we’re hitting the ball and striking out a lot less now.”

The Indians travel to Ottawa to face off against Garnett next Tuesday for their zone tournament at 8 p.m.

Wimbledon: Update

Continued from B1

Badosa is dating Stefanos Tsitsipas and social media has been filled with photos and videos of the two of them lately.

“It’s amazing to have him supporting me. As you know, we have a very good relationship,” Badosa said. “We’re there for each other, so it’s nice to have him. But

not only in this tournament. It’s nice to have him in general.”

Tsitsipas will continue his second-round match against two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray later Friday on Centre Court. That match was suspended Thursday with Murray leading 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-4.

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Not all diabetics are overweight

DEAR DR. ROACH:

Why do commercials for diabetes show most people who need medication as overweight? I know slim people who have this problem. —R.J.

ANSWER: There are several different types of diabetes mellitus (“diabetes” is from the Greek root word meaning “to go through,” referring to the excess urination in people with high blood sugars, while “mellitus” means “sweet”), differentiating it from diabetes insipidus. (“Insipidus” means tasteless. I’m very glad laboratory analysis has replaced tasting.) The most common type in adults, Type 2 diabetes, is much more common in people who are overweight or obese. About 90% of adults with Type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese. Insulin resistance, the hallmark of Type 2 diabetes, is greatly increased in overweight people. People who are not overweight with diabetes can have sev-

Dr. Keith Roach

To Your Good Health

eral different problems, including Type 1 diabetes (an autoimmune disease where the insulin-producing cells are attacked); antibodies to the insulin receptor; monogenic diabetes (formerly “maturity onset diabetes of the young,” with six known genetic variants). There are even rarer causes of diabetes mellitus, some of which are likely in lean or even underweight people. Commercials are designed to make people identify with the actors, but cannot reflect the tremendous diversity of people with diabetes.

DEAR DR. ROACH: I take several prescribed medications every morning, together with over-the-counter supplements. Because

I have a difficult time swallowing pills, it was suggested that I use a pill crusher (for pills that the pharmacist deems OK to crush) and to mix the crushed pills with a little applesauce (1-2 tablespoons). It works great, but I have to wonder, is there anything taken away from the full effectiveness of all the pills, including instant interactions, when they form a powder? — E.R.

ANSWER: Generally not. Drug companies take the powdered drug and squeeze it together into a pill to make it easier to take, but it’s not inherently better than taking it as a powder. As you say, you need to check with the pharmacist. Some pills are designed to release medicine slowly, and that ability is lost when you crush it.

Friend is lying about college

Adapted from an online discussion.

Dear Carolyn: I have a very good college friend who is taking much longer to graduate than I did, but until recently, I didn’t think too much of it. Over Christmas, she told people that this spring was her last semester and that she’s finally getting her degree. Some things she said didn’t add up, because I went through the same program, so I wondered whether she was really ready to graduate. I felt bad thinking this without proof, but she spends so much time hanging out with me and playing video games with her boyfriend, and she used to have to study hard just to pass our courses.

This week, her boyfriend confided in me that my friend actually stopped enrolling in classes two years ago and is going to tell everyone she decided to switch majors. He said it’s been such a burden, because he’s the only one who knows — until now. Her parents have

Thank

Carolyn Hax

invested so much money in her education, and they don’t know. I guess they aren’t checking too closely. (They are loaded.) I’m concerned because she’s keeping up this farce and not doing anything with her life. As a concerned friend, should I confront her, or is this a mind-my-ownbusiness kind of thing?

— MYOB?

MYOB?: Your friend might be in trouble emotionally, so I wouldn’t jump straight to MYOB. And the boyfriend may need someone to step in, too, because he, like any regular person, is not qualified to be the sole source of help to someone dealing with serious things. The trajectory you describe — struggling, dropping out, lying to cover it up, seeking pain relief in constant gaming or other habitual

escapism — can be part of a depression-anxietyshame spiral. As always, I say this with the caveat that I am not a licensed health professional of any kind. But that possibility and the need for a professional evaluation are worth mentioning to the boyfriend, so (a) he can urge her to get help if she isn’t already getting it and (b) she can tell people the truth or consent to his telling some people, so both of them can get more support.

I don’t think I can overstate how far the pandemic-stress tentacles can still reach right now. People who, as you said, had to work hard just to stay on their path (be it school, work, family relationships, sobriety, mental health), and/or who don’t have strong and engaged support networks, are especially affected by the years of added strain. So please ask your friend how she’s doing, and convey to the boyfriend the urgency of getting some other people involved.

you very much, Mr. Roboto

BERLIN (AP) — A United Nations technology agency assembled a group of robots that physically resembled humans at a news conference Friday, inviting reporters to ask them questions in an event meant to spark discussion about the future of artificial intelligence.

The nine robots were seated and posed upright along with some of the people who helped make them at a podium in a Geneva conference center for what the U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union billed as the world's first news conference featuring hu-

manoid social robots.

Among them: Sophia, the first robot innovation ambassador for the U.N. Development Program, or UNDP; Grace, described as a health care robot; and Desdemona, a rock star robot. Two, Geminoid and Nadine, resembled their makers.

Organizers said the event at the AI for Good Global Summit was meant to showcase the capabilities, but also the limitations, of robotics and how those technologies could help the U.N.'s sustainable development goals. The media event featured introductions from the robots' companions or

creators, and a round of questions to the robots from reporters.

READERS' thoughts:

∙ Can we also please leave the confront-ordo-nothing paradigm behind? Why not also ask the friend directly how it’s really going, based on past shared experience — and express concern, and open the possibility of a dialogue?

∙ Thank you so much for your answer. The pretender doesn’t need confrontation, but support — desperately. She should know that she’s not alone in concocting her charade — and that friend and boyfriend will continue to love her through coming clean.

∙ As someone with ADHD (not yet diagnosed in college) who struggled to focus and wasted a lot of time, I would say to talk to your friend (from a place of concern but not while being patronizing). There is so much shame about not being as productive as other people, and for years I thought I was just stupid. Your friend is embarrassed and is avoiding. Give her a hug and have a talk.

by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

by Mort Walker

Browne

by Patrick McDonell

Yesterday’s Cryptoquote: Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread. — Richard Wright

AND LOIS by Chance Browne

ZITS

BEETLE BAILEY

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by Chris

BLONDIE by Young and Drake

MUTTS

MARVIN by Tom Armstrong HI

Root, root, root for the home team...

A number of Iola Recreational baseball teams have been in action this week. From top left, clockwise, is Landon Shelton of Nelson Quarries, Treyvion Trester of Emprise Bank, Brycen Baker of Nelson

F1: Hits main stage amidst protests

Continued from B2

day. “But safety is key. We don’t want to be put in harm’s way and we don’t want to put anyone else in harm’s way.”

McLaren driver Lando Norris said there should be “pretty severe” consequences if lives are put at risk.

“If it happens in the paddock and things like that, I guess that probably causes different scenarios, but it just can’t happen on a race track because you put actual people’s lives in danger,” he said.

Six activists who stormed the track last year were spared prison sentences in March. Local police said they will deploy facial recognition technology.

VERSTAPPEN LEADS

PRACTICE

Verstappen was top again in both Friday practice sessions, leading the first by .448 seconds over teammate Sergio Perez and the second by .022 from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Verstappen complained

of a lack of grip early in the first session but it hardly seemed to limit his pace.

Alex Albon was third fastest in each session in a strong showing for Williams, which also saw American driver Logan Sargeant fifth in the second session, behind Perez. The kind of dominance shown so far this season by Verstappen and Red Bull is already making F1 history. Red Bull is the first team to win all of the first nine races of a season since McLaren won 11 in 1988.

That 1988 season was enlivened by a fierce battle between world champion teammates Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, though. Verstappen’s own teammate, Perez, started the season strongly but has faded, partly because he’s struggled repeatedly in qualifying, and was 81 points off Verstappen in second place.

FIA president Mohamed Bin Sulayem told The Associated

Press this week that he doesn’t see a need to rein in Red Bull for the benefit of F1 as a whole. “Nobody’s stopping the other teams from being better,” he said.

If Verstappen wins on Sunday, he will become only the fifth driver in F1 history with victories in six consecutive races, and the first since Nico Rosberg for Mercedes in 2015 and 2016.

HAMILTON’S HOPES

Hamilton and Mercedes need a lift after a tough weekend at the last race in Austria, with Hamilton placing 10th in the sprint and eighth in the race. He’s expecting a boost from the home crowd.

“So happy to be back. This grand prix is the best,” Hamilton said Thursday. “The crowd just lifts you and the whole team up. And there’s this kind of feeling of floating when you come here on that positive energy that everyone brings, and just seeing so many flags, so

many caps and people supporting us. It really just helps spur you along.”

Friday practice wasn’t ideal for Mercedes, though, as Hamilton was 12th fastest in the first session after complaining his car was bouncing. Teammate George Russell said his steering was vibrating as he placed 14th. In the second, Russell placed 12th and Hamilton 15th.

Philipsen secures hat trick of Tour de France stage wins; Vingegaard in yellow

BORDEAUX, France

(AP) — It was not so long ago that Jasper Philipsen was nicknamed “Jasper Disaster.”

In the space of a week at the Tour de France, he has morphed into “Jasper The Master,” dominating the sprints with ease.

The Belgian rider secured a hat trick of stages on Friday by claiming yet another mass sprint in Bordeaux. Philipsen was expertly led to the front by his Alpecin–Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel then comfortably countered a move by veteran sprinter Mark Cavendish.

Biniam Girmay completed the stage podium, and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard kept the yellow jersey.

Philipsen has won five mass sprints in a row on the Tour after claiming two stage wins last year.

“If you told me this one week ago I would think you’re crazy, but so far it’s a dream for us, a dream Tour and we just continue and hopefully we can add another one,” Philipsen said. “I think from now I’m looking to Paris also.”

Philipsen was given the nickname by Alexander Kristoff when they raced together because he caused a lot of crashes.

“Then he was a little clumsy. And he also forgot a lot of things,” Kristoff told Het Laatste Nieuws. “Then he lost his sunglasses, or couldn’t find his toiletry bag, or forgot his shoes. He was often a disaster, a disaster. The nickname was meant as a joke, not an insult.”

Philipsen made no

such mistake when Cavendish hit the front in the finale. He calmly returned onto his wheel and overtook Cavendish to deny the rider known as the “Manx Missile” a record 35th Tour stage win.

Cavendish equaled Merckx’s record of 34 wins on the 2021 Tour, 13 years after his first success. Cavendish, who has never won the Tour, unlike five-time champion Merckx, will retire at the end of the season.

“He (Cavendish) was really strong and I would have also loved to have seen him win, and I think everybody,” Philipsen said. “He’s up there, in good condition.”

After two grueling days of brutal climbing across the Pyrenees, the super flat 170-kilometer (105-mile) Stage 7 looked like the perfect occasion for the main contenders to enjoy a day off inside the peloton.

And they made the most of it to relax.

Vingegaard waved to TV cameras and blew kisses to fans, while

second-placed Tadej Pogacar chatted with Van der Poel on the long sections across the Landes forest. On a very hot day in southwestern France, Van der Poel and Philipsen put ice cubes in their jerseys.

After their epic duel over the past couple of days in the Pyrenees, Vingegaard and Pogacar were happy to rest their legs but remain vigilant in the last 30 kilometers when the race animated ahead of the final sprint.

There was no major changes in the general classification: Vingegaard kept his 25-second lead over the twotime champion. Jai Hindley remained in third place, 1 minute, 34 seconds off the pace.

It was a bit unclear at the start of the stage whether the breakaway ignited by the quartet of Simon Guglielmi, Nelson Oliveira, Mathieu Burgeaudeau and Jonas Abrahamsen would grow bigger, but no other rider looked interested in joining their collective effort.

One by one, following their team’s in-

Super fan Steve!

If you’ve been to an Iola American Legion baseball game recently, there’s a good chance you’ve seen this guy, Steve Uttes, around. He served as an honorary coach for Iola’s A Indians against Olpe Thursday. PHOTOS COURTESY OF LESLIE WEIR

structions via radio connected to their earpieces, the fugitives sat on, leaving Guglielmi alone at the front.

Given the profile of the stage, Guglielmi’s breakaway was born dead since it looked certain from the start that he would be caught once the sprinters’ teams launched the chase. But it put the French rider in the spotlight, with the bunch riding at a casual pace until the intermediate sprint, with 82 kilometers left.

Guglielmi was caught further down the road after Pierre Latour and Nans Peters escaped from the bunch in the chase. After Guglielmi got dropped, the pair prolonged their effort for a while but were ultimately swallowed.

Saturday’s hilly Stage 8 from Libourne to Limoges in central France could favor a breakaway before the fight resumes between Pogacar and Vingegaard during Sunday’s ascent of the Puy de Dome.

Saudi money could go to women’s tennis

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Egyptian tennis pro Mayar Sherif does not pretend to be an expert on the subject of Saudi Arabia’s record on women’s rights, other than to say: “I know it’s not the best.”

What Sherif, who made her Wimbledon debut this week, did say is she thinks it’s possible positive steps can be made in that area if tennis follows the path of golf and other sports by doing business with — and competing in — the kingdom that boasts a $650 billion sovereign wealth fund.

“Women’s rights in the Arabic world need to improve. ...

If you start changing this from the outside by bringing in tournaments, and start to create a different kind of atmosphere, that’s going to help,” Sherif said in an interview with The Associated Press at the All England Club. “If you put women with skirts — and so on and so forth — on court, maybe one young girl from Saudi Arabia sees the matches there and says, ‘I

Royals Sherman joins MLB relocation group

NEW YORK (AP) —

Owners of teams in two of the Oakland Athletics’ former cities will help evaluate whether the franchise should move to Las Vegas.

Philadelphia Phillies chief executive officer John Middleton and Kansas City Royals CEO John Sherman will serve on Major League Baseball’s relocation committee, a person familiar with their appointment told The Associated Press on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made.

30 clubs, which must approve the move by at least three-quarters vote.

There has been no announced timetable for MLB to consider a relocation.

Oakland’s lease at the Coliseum expires after the 2024 season and the A’s, who have the worst record, lowest attendance and smallest payroll in the major leagues, say they hope to move to a new ballpark in Las Vegas.

want to play tennis. I want to be like those girls.’ And that’s a way to change a mindset.”

Sherif is not alone in hoping for that sort of transformative effect

in a place where rights groups say women continue to face discrimination in most aspects of family life and homosexuality is a major taboo, as it is in

HEALTHY FOR LIFE

most of the rest of the Middle East. Whether engagement will work, as International Tennis Hall of Famer and

See SAUDI | Page B8

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They join Milwaukee Brewers chairman Mark Attanasio, picked last month by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to chair the relocation committee. That group will evaluate the team’s application, define the new operating territory and television territory, then make a recommendation to Manfred and the eight-man executive council. The council formulates a recommendation to all

Las Vegas would become the fourth home for a franchise that started in Philadelphia from 1901-54, moved to Kansas City for 13 seasons and arrived in Oakland for 1968.

Nevada’s Legislature approved providing $380 million in public financing for a proposed $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat ballpark with a retractable roof on the Tropicana hotel site of the Las Vegas Strip. The new venue would be close to Allegiant Stadium, where the NFL’s Oakland Raiders moved in 2020.

France’s Nans Peters, right, and France’s Pierre Latour ride in a breakaway during the seventh stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 170 kilometers. AP PHOTO/DANIEL COLE

Saudi: Massive funds could just be ‘sportswashing’

Continued from B7

rights advocate Billie Jean King argues (“I don’t think you really change unless you engage,” she said last week), or this whole phenomenon is an example of “sportswashing,” whereby Saudi Arabia and other countries — think of Russia or China hosting the Olympics, or Qatar hosting the men’s soccer World Cup — use fields of play to change their public image, what seems quite clear is that tennis is, in-

deed, going to be next.

The ATP is working to conclude a multi-year deal to put its Next Gen Finals — the end-ofseason event held each November for the tour’s leading young players — in Saudi Arabia.

WTA

Chairman Steve Simon’s visit to the kingdom with some tour players in February, and his acknowledgement last week that his organization will “continue to have conversations” with the Saudis, make it sound as if the women’s tour is preparing to

head there, too. It probably is not a coincidence that, days before Simon’s comments, his tour announced plans to increase payouts at tournaments so that women will make the same as men at more events in the coming years. The common denominator in all of this?

“Money talks in our world right now,” said 2022 French Open semifinalist Daria Kasatkina, who came out as gay last year.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has enacted wide-ranging social reforms, including granting women the right to drive and largely dismantling male guardianship laws that had allowed husbands and male relatives to control many aspects of women’s lives. Men and women are still required to dress modestly, but the rules have been loosened and the once-feared religious police have been sidelined. Gender segregation in public places

RACING THIS WEEK

GRANT PARK 220 CHICAGO STREET RACE

has also been eased, with men and women attending movie screenings, concerts and even raves — something unthinkable just a few years ago. Still, same-sex relations are punishable by death or flogging, though prosecutions are rare. Authorities ban all forms of LGBTQ+ advocacy, even confiscating rainbow-colored toys and clothing. Thanks at least in part to social media, women in Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in

CHICAGO BONUS

PHOTO: A general view of the Chicago Street Course during a weather delay Sunday. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty)

New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion, charged from eighth on a Lap 61 restart to the front of the field and won the series’ first-ever street race on the Chicago Street Course in overtime.

Now that’s how you make a Cup debut

CHICAGO—When the Grant Park

220 turned topsy-turvy at the 49lap mark, the change didn’t slow New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, the first driver to win a race in his first NASCAR Cup Series start since Johnny Rutherford accomplished the feat 60 years ago.

Driving the No. 91 Chevrolet under the aegis of Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 program, the three-time Supercars champion charged from eighth on a Lap 61 restart to the front of the field and won the series’ first-ever street race on the Chicago Street Course in overtime.

Asked whether he thought victory was possible in his NASCAR debut, Van Gisbergen chuckled.

“No, of course not, but you always dream of it,” he said. “Thank you so much to the Trackhouse team and (sponsor) Enhance Health, Project91. What an experience in the crowd out here. This was so cool. This is what you dream of. Hopefully, I can come and do more.”

What changed the tenor of the race dramatically was NASCAR’s decision near the midpoint of the event to shorten the race from the scheduled 100 laps to 75, putting a large group of cars that had pitted on Lap 43 inside their fuel window.

After the previously dominant cars of Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick pitted with others for tires and fuel on Lap 47—Van Gisbergen among them—Justin Haley, Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott led the field to green on a single-file restart on Lap 49. At the time Van Gisbergen was 18th, but not for long.

“Wow, when we had that back strategy back to 18th, I started to worry a bit, but the racing was really good,” said Van Gisbergen. “Everyone was respectful. It was tough, but a lot of fun.”

The Kiwi passed Haley for the lead on Lap 71 and beat him to the finish line by 1.259 seconds, after the sliding car of Bubba Wallace knocked Ricky Stenhouse’s Chevrolet into the Turn 1 tire barrier to cause the ninth caution on Lap 74 and force overtime.

The decision to shorten the race was a saving grace for Elliott, who had crashed

Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 91 Enhance Health Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the Cup Series Grant Park 220 at the Chicago Street Course Sunday. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

his No. 9 Chevrolet during qualifying and started from the rear of the field in a backup car. Elliott held third after the final restart and finished ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch, who were fourth and fifth, respectively.

“Once they changed that race

XFINITY RECAP

CHICAGO—Drenching rain and standing water on the Chicago Street Course forced NASCAR to declare Cole Custer the winner of The Loop 121 Xfinity race three laps short of halfway and five laps short of the completion of Stage 2. Custer had led all 25 laps of NASCAR’s first-ever street course race before

distance, we got pretty fortunate to end up being able to make it on gas,” Elliott said. “We kind of inadvertently flipped the strategy.” Haley, who started 36th after crashing in practice on Saturday, said he was beaten by a world-class driver on 16-lap better tires.

lightning strikes in the area on Saturday caused NASCAR to red flag the race and then to postpone completion until Sunday morning. But the rain persisted, forcing NASCAR’s hand.

“It’s been an awesome weekend overall,” said Custer, who drives the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. “The whole event, the whole thing that NASCAR’s put on here—the whole city—it’s been pretty unreal… The course is such a blast to drive.

“Today, we definitely wish we could have run all the laps. We don’t want to win it this way, but at the end of the day, we had a really fast car. I think everybody knew that.”

This marks the first time NASCAR has declared a winner short of the halfway point or the end of the second stage, the two benchmarks for an official event (with the second criterion in effect starting in 2020 after the advent of stage racing, which was introduced in 2017).

the Arab world, are aware of the gap between their lives and those of women in less restrictive societies. But Saudi women who seek to carve out some freedom for themselves have been punished. Even as the government has enacted topdown reforms, it has severely cracked down on any form of political dissent, arresting women’s rights activists and other critics and sentencing them to long prison terms and travel bans.

Atlanta Motor Speedway

ET Sunday, USA

DETAILS

• 30 miles south of Atlanta on Highways 19 & 41, 1500 Tara Place, Hampton, GA

• Original track was built in 1959-60. A recon guration was completed in 1997

• 1.54 mile quad-oval on 850 acres

• Approximately 1/4 mile each banked at 28 degrees

• Straightaways banked at 5 degrees

• Frontstrtch 2,332 feet (including dogleg)

• First race July 31, 1960 — Dixie 500, won by Fireball Roberts with a four-lap average of 133.870 mph

• Fastest qualifying lap — Geoffrey Bodine, set Nov. 15, 1997, with a time of 28.074 seconds and a speed of 197.478 mph

• Bruton Smith purchased Atlanta International Raceway in 1990 and renamed it Atlanta Motor Speedway. Under Smith’s stewardship, AMS has expanded.

• The speedway continues to entertain fans with a host of events and activities with a fans rst motto that has seen a modernization of the facilities with upgraded infrastructure to carry the facility into the 21st century

• The next generation of Atlanta Motor Speedway was started July 2021 as the track was re-paved. The six-month, multi-million dollar project began hours after the checkered flag of the Quaker State 400 on July 11. In addition to being repaved, the track was re-imagined, increasing the banking from 24- to 28-degrees and producing superspeedway style racing on the 1.54 mile oval.

Chase Elliott in Victory Lane last July at Atlanta.

JARED C. TILTON/ GETTY IMAGES

• Saturday’s THE LOOP 121, Chicago Street Course WINNER: COLE CUSTER