The Iola Register, Nov. 16, 2022

Lights to stay mostly dark this year

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

Downtown Iola will be a little less bright for the holi day season this year.

The city will not light the buildings surrounding the courthouse square for Christmas because the old strands have begun to fail.

The city did what it could to keep the lights ablaze last year, Assistant City Adminis trator Corey Schinstock told Iola City Council members Monday, by “robbing” bulbs from old strands of lights, but could not find appropri ate light bulbs or matching strands this year.

“I want to say how disap pointed I am,” Councilwom an Kim Peterson said. “I

want

make sure we as a council get that remedied for next year.”

again around the square and along North State Street.

Peterson said she also fa vored seeing more of State Street aglow with holiday lights, extending from Gar field Street to U.S. 54.

“It just makes it so much prettier,” she said.

Councilman Nickolas Kinder wondered if the city could replace the lights quickly enough for this year by utilizing residential lights.

That suggestion gained no traction.

“Commercial grade vs. residential makes a lot of difference,” Mayor Steve French responded.

“We have a whole year to figure this out,” Peterson concluded.

RRTC going strong

By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register

The Regional Rural Tech nical Center at LaHarpe con tinues to grow.

More and more students are taking classes at the RRTC, as new programs are added including the most re cent, automotive technology.

The building itself has been remodeled again and again to accommodate those new programs. Currently, new restrooms are being con structed.

Iola Council talks U.S. 54 rebuild price tag

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

With a $13 million road rebuild looming, Iola City Council members discussed how they plan to pay for it at Monday night’s meeting.

A charter ordinance al lowing the city to incur that much debt took center stage.

The plan is to utilize sales tax revenues to retire gener al obligation bonds over 30 years for the rebuild, City Administrator Matt Rehder

noted. The work is expected to begin in either 2024 or 2025.

While the roadwork costs have been pegged at about $9 million, the city must also tack on 10% for engineering costs, plus additional con tingency funding authority, coming to the $13 million fig ure, Assistant City Adminis trator Corey Schinstock said.

The charter ordinance is necessary, Rehder explained, because the state otherwise limits cities from issuing bonds costing more than

Kansas library under fire

By RACHEL MIPRO Kansas Reflector

ST. MARYS — Pottawat

omie Wabaunsee Regional Library is decorated for the holidays, with a snowfilled tiny Christmas village placed in the center of the book stacks. There’s a prin cess mural on one wall, com plete with a unicorn, and a dinosaur figurine over by the children’s nook.

All of it might be gone come January.

The city council is debat ing whether to renew the library’s lease with the city following the library’s re fusal to accept a lease clause asking it to remove all ma terial that could be viewed as socially, racially or sex ually divisive, including all

LGBTQ content.

The library has been housed in St. Marys since the 1980s, operating on an annual lease with the city.

The library serves eight locations, including Alma, Alta Vista, Eskridge, Har veyville, Olsburg, Onaga, St. Marys and Westmo reland, with county resi dents funding the library through taxes.

The St. Marys branch acts as the headquarters, with a designated “mini li brarian” delivering books from the library to all oth er eight locations, visiting them each week.

If the lease — which ends late December — isn’t renewed, the library will

See LIBRARY | Page A3

30% of a city’s assessed val uation. A $13 million project is equivalent to about 40% of Iola’s $32 million assessed valuation.

The ordinance was ap proved, but not without ex tensive debate.

Councilman Carl Slaugh objected to the cost, singling out ramifications of raising the debt limit.

“If you’re building a house, and the cost exceeds what you can pay, you generally change the scope of the proj

ect,” Slaugh said. “I’m won dering why we don’t change the scope and scale it back to what fits the limits instead of changing our charter ordi nance.”

Slaugh suggested doing the project in stages, target ing the worst parts for the first stage then doing the oth er half after the first project is paid for in 15 years.

Other Council members disagreed, noting a recent

Lisa Wicoff, Career and Technical Education Co ordinator for USD 257 and instructor for the anatomy and physiology class at the RRTC, gave board members an update on the program at a meeting on Monday eve ning.

The new auto tech pro gram has been off to a slow start because of supply chain issues, but students are studying under an instructor with the Flint Hills Techni cal College and already are working on cars.

The auto tech program is

Slingshot chauffeur

to

The city replaced its down town pole lights in 2021. Those will be used once

While some lighted trees and store windows will be decorated for Christmas in downtown Iola this year, the city’s lights out lining the rooflines will stay dark. REGISTER FILE PHOTO

Iola Elementary School student Cayleigh Rutherford gets a ride in a slingshot driven by owner Bill Hobbs last week. Rutherford was the first IES student to read books about each of the 50 states and was rewarded with the ride. The “Read Across America” books were purchased with Project Bookshelf, a fundraising effort to buy new books for the library.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TAMMY PRATHER

Piper Aronson, left, and Korbin Cloud received gold level recognition on the ACT WorkKeys test. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

U.S. 54 is in need of a full rebuild through Iola. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Fredonia considers adding solar farm

FREDONIA — City officals are reviewing a “compelling argu ment” to install a $4.4 million solar farm, the Wilson County Citizen reported.

For the last five months officials have looked at options pre sented by Scott Shreve, an energy consultant with the Texas-based Priority Power.

City Administrator Wesley Young said the city would get up to 60% back from the gov ernment as a “green” initiative rebate.

The solar farm would offset some of

the price the city pays for power during peak times between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

During the summer, peak rates regularly exceed $100 per MWh — a measure of elec trical energy — a price that fluctuates on the open market.

Owning a solar farm would allow Fredonia to reduce its rates once the project is paid for.

Young estimated consumers could ex pect reduced rates for at least 10 years, noting the lifespan of a solar farm ranged anywhere from 25 to 40 years.

Feds: Cocaine worth $450,000 seized from wheelchair wheels

NEW YORK (AP)

— Customs officers at New York’s Kennedy International Airport seized $450,000 worth of cocaine from a trav eler who was smug gling the drugs in the wheels of her wheel chair, federal authori ties announced.

The bust happened Nov. 10 when Customs and Border Patrol offi cers stopped a woman traveling from Punta Cana in the Domin ican Republic with a wheelchair whose wheels weren’t turn ing, agency officials said.

The officers X-rayed the wheelchair and noticed an “anoma ly” in all four wheels, CPB officials said in a news release. Officers checked the tires and found a white powder that tested positive for cocaine, they said.

A total of 28 pounds of cocaine with a

street value of $450,000 was removed from the wheels, officials said.

The woman, a Dominican citizen named Emelinda Pau lino De Rivas, was ar rested on smuggling charges and turned over to Homeland Se curity Investigations. It wasn’t clear if she had an attorney who could comment.

“CBP stands stead fast and determined in working with our part ners to identify the trans-national crimi nal networks responsi ble for importing these deadly drugs into our neighborhoods.” Fran cis J. Russo, Director of CBP’s New York field operations, said. “CBP’s mission is to guard the borders and ports of entry 24/7, 365 days a year to prevent these dangerous drugs from potentially kill ing our family, friends, and neighbors.”

Kansas voters reject power shift plan

proposing the amend ment again.

By DYLAN LYSEN KCUR

A week of counting ballots suggests Kansas voters narrowly reject ed an amendment to the state constitution that would have shifted reg ulatory clout from the governor to the Legisla ture.

It would have given the Legislature more power over defining how state laws should be carried out by agencies, particularly environ mental regulations on businesses. That would have weakened the gov ernor’s authority and strengthened the role of lawmakers.

Critics argued it was a move by Republican lawmakers who have long controlled the Leg islature to limit the po litical power of Demo cratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who just won reelection. The failed effort was fu eled partly over anger at the governor shutting down schools during the pandemic.

The ballot measure failed with 50.5% op posed and 49.5% in favor, a difference of about 9,000 votes.

The rules-and-regula tions amendment would have created a legisla tive veto — effectively giving lawmakers the right to cancel regula tions imposed by state agencies even when those rules put into practice the laws passed by the Legislature.

Regulatory powers historically have been a key function of the exec utive branch. But state agencies would have themselves newly ac countable to lawmakers.

Kansas Senate Vice President Rick Wilborn, a Republican, said law makers should consider

“These regulations, at the end of the day, have the force and effect of law,” Wilborn said. “We just have to work hard er in the future to build some trust and try to get this corrected.”

THE AMENDMENT would have allowed the Legislature to take away policy-making capabili ties from one of the few statewide offices Demo crats periodically con trol.

Republican lawmak ers in the spring pre sented the proposal as a way to move deci sion-making away from what they see as career bureaucrats in state gov ernment and put more authority in the hands of elected lawmakers.

They also said it pre vents the state’s execu tive branch — controlled by Gov. Kelly — from setting rules and regu lations that may go fur ther than legislators in tended in creating new laws.

But critics saw the proposal as a power grab by the state’s dominant political party, spurred on by frustration with Kelly’s leadership of the state amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She was the first governor in the country to send students home for the remainder of a school year and she was blistered by Repub licans for shutdown ac tions they thought hurt businesses in ways that were out of proportion to the public health threat.

Democratic state Sen. Ethan Corson said the proposed amendment was ill-conceived and would have disrupted the way the state is gov erned. Corson said Kan sas voters have told the Legislature that they think the current pro cess works.

“It was a vote of confi dence in the process that

we have,” Corson said, “which, by and large, has really served the people of Kansas well.”

The Kansas Cham ber of Commerce, a powerful conservative political force for the state’s businesses, en dorsed the measure.

Eric Stafford of the Kan sas Chamber said the amendment would have provided checks and bal ances on the governor’s authority.

The vote may have been influenced by mis information, Stafford said, like concerns over Republican lawmakers trying to take power away from a Democrat ic governor. He said the chamber has been push ing for rules and regula tions reform long before Kelly was elected gover nor.

“We’ll move on,” Stafford said, “and see what other ways we can continue to work to strengthen the regulato ry climate in Kansas.”

But the change could have chill efforts on the state’s ability to regulate business in Kansas.

While debating the

Financial Focus

amendment in the Kan sas House, Democratic state Rep. John Car michael said that law makers would use the new power to invalidate rules and regulations that protect Kansans — such as environmen tal rules that business groups oppose.

The change could have threatened state environmental regula tions for clean air and water. Carmichael said industry groups like hog farmers have opposed them as unnecessary and burdensome to busi ness.

Wilborn contends the amendment would have made sure the state’s rules and regulations are working as law in tended. He said the Leg islature’s committee for rules and regulations has voiced concerns to the governor’s adminis tration that were then ignored.

“Accountability is key here,” Wilborn said. “We are held account able as lawmakers. We want to have some say in the final rules and regu lations.”

Here’s your ‘recession survival’ checklist

It’s unfortunate, but recessions are a fairly normal part of the economic landscape. When a recession occurs, how might you be affected? The answer depends on your individual situation, but regardless of your circumstances, you might want to consider the items in this recession survival checklist:

Assess your income stability. If your employment remains steady, you may not have to do anything different during a recession. But if you think your income could be threatened or disrupted, you might want to consider joining the “gig economy” or looking for freelance or consulting opportunities.

Review your spending. Look for ways to trim your spending, such as canceling subscription services you don’t use, eating out less often, and so on.

Pay down your debts. Try to reduce your debts, especially those with high interest rates.

Plan your emergency fund. If you haven’t already built one, try to create an emergency fund containing three to six months’ worth of living expenses, with the money kept in a liquid account.

Review your protection plan. If your health or life insurance is tied to your work, a change in your employment status could jeopardize this coverage. Review all your options for replacing these types of protection. Also, look for ways to lower premiums on home or auto insurance, without significantly sacrificing coverage, to free up money that could be used for health/life insurance.

Keep your long-term goals in mind. Even if you adjust your portfolio during times of volatility, don’t lose sight of your long-term goals. Trying to “outsmart” the market with short-term strategies can often lead to missteps and missed opportunities.

Don’t stop investing. If you can afford it, try to continue investing. Coming out of a recession, stock prices tend to bottom out and then rebound, so if you had headed to the investment “sidelines,” you would have missed the opportunity to benefit from a market rally.

Revisit your performance expectations. During a bear market, you will constantly be reminded of the decline of a particular market index, such as the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average. But instead of focusing on these short-term numbers, look instead at the long-term performance of your portfolio to determine if you’re still on track toward meeting your goals.

Assess your risk tolerance. If you find yourself worrying excessively about declines in your investment statements, you may want to reevaluate your tolerance for risk. One’s risk tolerance can change over time — and it’s important you feel comfortable with the amount of risk you take when investing.

Keep diversifying. Diversification is always important for investors — by having a mix of stocks, mutual funds and bonds, you can reduce the impact of market volatility on your portfolio. To cite one example: Higher-quality bonds, such as Treasuries, often move in the opposite direction of stocks, so the presence of these bonds in your portfolio, if appropriate for your goals, can be valuable when market conditions are worsening. (Keep in mind, though, that diversification cannot guarantee profits or protect against all losses in a declining market.)

A recession accompanied by a bear market is not pleasant. But by taking the appropriate steps, you can boost your chances of getting through a difficult period and staying on track toward your important financial goals.

Critics viewed it as a legislative power grab

Library: May be shuttered in January over ‘offensive’ books

have to pack up hun dreds of books and equipment and move to another town, as there’s no other space in St. Marys that would be able to accommodate the library’s operations.

St. Marys resident Hannah Stockman, a stay-at-home mom look ing after 13 kids, said the move would be dev astating for her and oth ers like her.

“At this point, it’s the only space left that we have for the public,” Stockman said. “We don’t have any pool or any other amenities through the community center. So people come here for many, many dif ferent reasons.”

Stockman said the li brary is one of the few places where her whole family can go togeth er. Her children have become excited about reading and have been entertained by sever al of the library’s pro grams, as they were giv en coloring pages and other things. Stockman loves learning and put together an education program for herself us ing the library’s materi als.

“Some of them are learning how to read and some of them don’t really want to read, but they come here and they get excited. I can’t pro vide that for them any other way,” Stockman said. “It just feels good to be here.”

Discussion of the library removal start ed this summer after a local parent was upset by the contents of “Me lissa,” a book about a

U.S. 54: Rebuild looms

Continued from A1

geological survey indi cated the randomness of subgrade failures along the entire stretch of the highway.

“How do you deter mine what half to fix,” Councilman Mark Pe ters replied. “We need to do it all at once to get it done.”

“It’s not like from point A to point G is the worst,” Mayor Steve French added.

“It may look bad as far as core drillings, but it has held up for the last 50 years,” Slaugh responded. “Only a cer tain part of the project doesn’t hold up. I see this as just another red flag without having something that shows a little more detail, how we’re going to pay for this, and what kind of impact it will have on similar projects.”

The city can afford the anticipated $500,000 annual bond payments with its sales taxes, particularly since Iola no longer shares half of its sales tax reve nues with Allen County Regional Hospital.

“Maybe we should go to the hospital to ask them to help pay for our repairs,” Slaugh quipped, drawing a round of laughter from the other Council mem bers.

Councilman Nich Lohman noted Iola will soon be out from under the $600,000 annual pay ments that funded the city’s water plant, al though Rehder pointed out street and alley and water projects must be kept separate.

Even though the city will no longer have wa ter plant payments af ter 2025, “we have plans for that money as well,” Rehder said. “We need to maintain what’s al ready there.”

Councilman Josiah D’Albini asked about utilizing KDOT funds to help pay for the proj ect.

The city applied once, but was denied, Rehder noted, and plans to apply again.

There remain sever al steps before any kind of project begins, in cluding public engage ment, Rehder said.

Because Monday’s vote was for a charter ordinance, it required a two-thirds majority with French allowed to vote as well.

The measure did so, passing 7-1, with Slaugh casting the only dissenting vote. Coun

SLAUGH also cast the sole nay vote on an ordi nance allowing business owners to utilize metal storage containers on their properties, pro vided they have enough space on their land and are not located immedi ately next to residential areas.

At their Oct. 24 meet ing, Code Enforcement Officer Gregg Hutton told Council members the city still possessed authority to reject re quests for such contain ers to ensure business owners don’t take un fair advantage and stack multiple containers to gether.

That was not enough to convince Slaugh to support the ordinance.

“I feel like sometimes our desire to make things work for certain businesses in the com

munity, we little by lit tle relax our standards,’ he said. “These ship ping containers do not look appropriate. That’s why I’m opposed. There ought to be permanent structures and not ship ping containers.”

“Would you feel the same way about a shed?” French asked.

“A shed looks more like a house with a roof,” Slaugh replied.

“So it’s simply aes thetics,” the mayor re sponded.

“I’m not sure the value of each home is simply aesthetics,” Slaugh said. “When I see those ship ping containers, they do not have a regular curb appeal.”

Had they rejected the ordinance, the city would have had to do away with two shipping containers it uses, one near the city warehouse; the other at Highland Cemetery.

transgender child writ ten by Alex Gino, and wanted it removed from the library. The book was formerly published by the title “George.”

Judith Cremer, the li brary director, said the book was added to the library after it made the William Allen White Award 20172018 Master List for grades 3-5, and has only been checked out four times.

Cremer said par ents have the option of filtering which books their chil dren check out, and can speak to staff about limiting their children’s access to certain books. She stressed that she and her staff aren’t trying to fight the council and aren’t interested in divisive matters. She’s been at the library for al most 20 years, and just wants to serve the community.

“We just are doing what public librar ies do,” Cremer said.

“We don’t really judge information, we are a reflection of the world and things that are in the world. We have in formation that has been published and mediated and checked for facts. So it’s a safe place that peo ple can go to get access to that information. It’s not like we are handing out or advocating it in any way. It’s just there.”

CREMER asked the parent to fill out the standard form for chal lenging material, but the form wasn’t returned until the end of August, after a city council meet ing in which council members asked that LGBTQ books be re moved from the library, along with any books that dealt with racial is sues or sexual issues.

During the August meeting, St. Marys City Commissioner Matthew Childs asked that a “morals clause” be add ed to the library’s lease during an August city commission.

The clause would’ve stipulated that the li brary not “supply, dis tribute, loan, encourage, or coerce acceptance of or approval of explicit sexual or racially or so cially divisive material, or events (such as ‘drag queen story hours’) that support the LGBTQ+ or critical theory ideology or practice.”

“The discussion on the language that was used in that lease, it was very broad. It didn’t really meet the rule of law and it was problem atic in a lot of ways,” Cremer said.

Cremer said she dis cussed the clause stip ulation with regional library consultants and spoke with lawyers. She thought the issue had been dropped after they talked things over with council members.

Instead, commission ers began discussing creating their own city library, one without “di visive material,” in a council meeting earlier this month.

The lease renewal will be discussed at Tuesday’s commission meeting, with a deci sion expected then.

Stockman has been reaching out to every group she can think of to rally people in support of the library, talking to other librar ies around the state, as well as PFLAG and Loud Light — nonprof its that advocate for the LGBTQ community. She said many people in the community were scared to speak out in support of the library because of a large religious pres ence in St. Marys, so she was looking to external sources of support.

One petition, start ed by Gerry Marstall, has more than 1,000 signatures in support of the library. Marstall listed all the services the library provides, including free reading programs, free summer lunches, and free Wi-Fi.

“If the library were forced to close or relo cate to another town it would be catastrophic to all citizens in the St. Marys area,” Marstall said in the petition de scription.

Even though I didn’t win, running for this seat has been a positive experience, and I hope that hearing that will convince others in the future to run for office!

I want to thank everyone who volunteered, donated to my campaign, talked to a friend about me or an other candidate, or who put up a sign. I really ap preciate your support.

-Alana

cilwoman Joelle Shallah was absent.

Iola City Councilman Josiah D’Albini speaks during Monday’s meeting. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

The Pottawatomie Wabaunsee Regional Library’s lease may not be renewed by the St. Marys’ City Com mission. KANSAS REFLECTOR/RACHEL MIPRO

Appeals court ruling keeps student debt plan on hold

By JIM SALTER The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) —

President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive student loan debt for millions of borrowers was hand ed another legal loss Monday when a feder al appeals court panel agreed to a preliminary injunction halting the program while an ap peal plays out.

The ruling by the three-judge panel from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis came days after a federal judge in Texas blocked the program, saying it usurped Con gress’ power to make laws. The Texas case was appealed and the administration is likely to appeal the 8th Circuit ruling as well.

The plan would can cel $10,000 in student loan debt for those mak ing less than $125,000

or households with less than $250,000 in income.

Pell Grant recipients, who typically demon strate more financial need, would get an ad ditional $10,000 in debt forgiven. The cancella tion applies to federal student loans used to at tend undergraduate and graduate school, along with Parent Plus loans.

The Congressional Budget Office has said the program will cost about $400 billion over the next three decades.

A federal judge on Oct. 20 allowed the pro gram to proceed, but the 8th Circuit the next day temporarily put it on hold while it considered an effort by the states of Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas and South Carolina to block the loan forgive ness plan.

The new ruling from the panel made up of three Republican ap

pointees — one was ap pointed by President George W. Bush and two by President Donald Trump — extends the hold until the issue is resolved in court.

Part of the states’ argument centered around the financial harm the debt cancel lation would cause the Missouri Higher Educa tion Loan Authority.

“This unanticipat ed financial downturn will prevent or delay Missouri from funding higher education at its public colleges and uni versities,” the 8th Cir cuit ruling stated.

NEBRASKA Attor ney General Doug Pe terson, a Republican, said in a statement that the ruling “recognizes that this attempt to for give over $400 billion in student loans threat ens serious harm to the economy that cannot be

undone. It is important to stop the Biden admin istration from such un lawful abuse of power.”

White House Press Secretary Karine JeanPierre said in a state ment that the adminis tration believes there is legal authority for the program and that “it is necessary to help bor rowers most in need as they recover from the pandemic.”

“The Administration will continue to fight these baseless lawsuits by Republican officials and special interests and will never stop fight ing to support working and middle class Amer icans,” the statement added.

Both federal cases centered around the Higher Education Re lief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, commonly known as the HEROES Act. It was en acted after the 9/11 ter

rorist attacks, allowing the secretary of educa tion to waive or modify terms of federal loans in times of war or na tional emergency.

Lawyers for the ad ministration contend the COVID-19 pandemic created a national emer gency and that student loan defaults have sky rocketed over the past 2 1/2 years.

But in the Texas rul ing on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman — an appointee of Trump based in Fort Worth — said the HE ROES ACT did not pro vide the authorization that the Biden adminis tration claimed it did.

Karine Jean-Pierre has said that so far, 26 million people had ap plied for debt relief, and 16 million people had already had their relief approved. After the Tex as ruling, the adminis tration stopped accept

ing applications.

“Courts have issued orders blocking our student debt relief pro gram,” the Education Department said on its federal student aid web site. “As a result, at this time, we are not accept ing applications. We are seeking to overturn those orders.”

The legal challenges have created confusion about whether borrow ers who expected to have debt canceled will have to resume making payments come Jan. 1, when a pause prompted by the COVID-19 pan demic is set to expire.

Economists worry that many people have yet to rebound financial ly from the pandemic, saying that if borrow ers who were expecting debt cancellation are asked to make payments instead, many could fall behind on the bills and default.

RRTC: Iola school board hears about tech center’s growth

Continued from A1

the second most popu lar, with 28 students en rolled

Welding continues to be the most in-demand program, with 36 stu dents.

The wind energy tech nology program has 14 enrolled this year, and nine students are tak ing construction trades classes.

Two health programs are drawing 14 students each, though not nec essarily the same 14. The RRTC offers a CNA course in addition to the anatomy and physiolo gy class.

Students come from the Iola district and sev eral others from around the area.

“A lot of students are staying all day long. There’s a lot going on,” Wicoff said.

She started taking at tendance this year as a way to increase account ability. When students arrive, they scan a QR code with their phone, which takes them to an attendance spreadsheet.

“It’s just like clocking in at work,” Wicoff said.

Wicoff, who previous ly worked as a science teacher at Iola High School, took over as CTE Coordinator this year after the departure of Melissa Stiffler. A new leader tends to put her own stamp on pro grams, and Wicoff out lined some of the chang es she has in mind.

She has moved fur niture in the lounge area, where booths with charging ports al low students to study and do homework. She wants to make it more handicapped accessible to meet ADA require ments.

She also plans to

translate RRTC docu ments to Spanish.

Wicoff had previous ly taught CPR, so she renewed her certifica tion so she could teach the class. It is a require ment of the auto tech program. A Perkins grant covered the cost of Wicoff’s instructor training, and she’s able to offer her services to the district at a much lower cost than other programs. She has cer tified 20 students so far.

Another goal is to introduce career and technical education pro grams to students at a younger age. Studies show the younger stu dents are introduced to such concepts, the bet ter the balance in stu dents as they enter high school.

“In computer science, if you start in elemen tary school, by the time you get to high school you’ll have an even distribution of girls and boys,” she told the board. “If you start in

middle school, it’s about a quarter girls and three-quarters boys. By high school, we’d be very lucky to have any girls in our computer science classes.”

To reach out to young er students, Wicoff has started teaching com puter coding at SAFE BASE, the district’s af terschool program, one day a week. She also teaches various STEM activities.

“It gives me an op portunity to go into the elementary school and have discussions about how everything they’re doing leads into a ca reer,” she said.

“It’s OK if they don’t have a clue yet about what they want to do. But it’s different if they don’t have a clue be cause they have never been exposed.”

COLLEGE-BOUND students need to take the ACT test.

For students who don’t plan to go to col

lege, it’s important to take a different kind of test, ACT WorkKeys. That test is an assess ment of workplace skills that helps em ployers with hiring and promotion. The test also helps students gauge which of their skills are best suited for certain types of jobs, and where they need to improve.

The test measures three areas: applied math, workplace docu ments and graphic lit eracy. Students can earn a nationally recognized certificate with four levels: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Less than 1% of workers will achieve platinum sta tus; 18% earn gold; 47% earn silver and 21% earn bronze.

All of the 14 local students who needed to pass the ACT WorkKeys test this year earned

at least bronze status, Wicoff said. Passing the test will allow students to claim embedded cred its in science, math and English; it’s also needed for credit recovery.

Two students, Piper Aronson and Korbin Cloud, were recognized at Monday’s meeting for reaching gold level.

“I know you both could go out into the real world, get a job and get started,” Wicoff told them as she handed each their framed certif icate.

Banking on chairs

Two local banks will purchase padded fold ing chairs for gymnasi ums at Iola Elementary and Iola High schools.

The idea began with Tom Strickler of Com munity National Bank, who asked the district how his bank could

support the new ele mentary school. He and Matt Baumwart, IHS assistant principal and athletic director, came up with a plan to buy 50 chairs for the IES gym nasium.

The chairs can be used for numerous ac tivities, such as when speakers are invited to school assemblies or when the school hosts athletic activities such as volleyball or basket ball games.

The chairs feature the Mustang logo and the bank logo.

The offer prompted Baumwart to ask Land mark Bank to consider something similar at the high school. The bank agreed to buy 50 chairs.

The board accept ed the offer from both banks, and expressed their thanks.

Lisa Wicoff, USD 257 career and technical education coordinator, speaks at Monday’s Board of Education meeting. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

Kansas legislators should abolish winter

It’s time to abolish Kansas winter.

There is everything wrong with these winters and noth ing good about them.

Growing up the son of a mining engineer who moved from project to project throughout the American West, I’ve had experience with winter in other places.

We lived for a time in a town called Wallace, Idaho. It was generally a miserable place and the town’s leading export was ignorance.

But winter was the high light of the year.

We had a ski area called Lookout Pass that got about 30 feet of snow, and you could ski from mid-Novem ber to mid-April.

There was even a bus that picked you up and took you to the ski hill for a couple of hours after school. Or, you could clear the snow off of a pond and skate. Folks had snowmobiles and even horse-drawn sleighs to pass the time.

And Wallace winter gave me my first introduction to the ways of local govern ment.

There was a well-estab lished red-light district in the middle of Wallace and brothels operated openly on a wink-and-nod basis.

The local police would reg ularly “raid” the houses, fine the prostitutes, test them for VD and then release them back to their jobs.

My dad thought that was kind of distasteful and took me with him to a City Coun cil meeting where he raised a complaint.

When he finished his comments, one of the coun cil members leaned back in

Dion Lefler

Wichita Eagle

his padded chair and said, “Mr. Lefler, are you aware that the fines from these establishments pay for all the snow removal from the streets? Do you want to pay higher taxes for that?”

Dad looked him square in the eye and said “You know, I don’t think I should have to pimp to get the snow off the streets.”

Let’s face it, Wichita win ters bite. If we had a moun tain and snow we could ski.

And if it were cold enough long enough, we could skate.

The city only plows a small fraction of the streets when it does snow, so we have to put up with icy ruts as the runoff thaws and re freezes for weeks at a time.

Maybe we could use some brothels after all.

The one thing Kansas pol iticians all agree on — and talk incessantly about — is the need to attract and re tain talent for the better ment of our economy.

Abolishing winter would be a good start.

I, and I suspect many oth er Kansans, got tricked into coming here.

Twenty-five years ago, I interviewed for a job at The Eagle, puffing cigars on the porch at Mort’s on a sunny October afternoon, blissful ly ignorant that October’s the only decent month Wich ita has.

I arrived for my new job in

January in the middle of an ice storm.

I’ve settled in now, but if I’d interviewed that Janu ary, I’d still be sipping piña coladas in Pasadena.

They say Kansas has four seasons and they’re right: ice rut season, tornado sea son, hotter than hell season and October.

Ice rut season is just be ginning and the only choice we have is to hunker down and take it.

Sure, you might say we can’t get rid of winter just by passing a law against it. Maybe not, but it wouldn’t be the dumbest thing the Kansas Legislature does all year.

Sometimes, politics is more about making a state ment than recognizing real ity — kind of like blaming the governor of a small state for global inflation, which our legislators have been do ing for months.

And Kansas’ draconi an marijuana laws never stopped anyone from light ing up a joint, no matter how much our lawmakers like to pretend otherwise.

The big problem is, if we did outlaw winter, Kansas politicians wouldn’t be able to start every speech they make on a freezing or snowy day with the line “Well, I guess it’s really global warming out there, ha ha ha ha.”

Maybe I am on the wrong track. Instead of abolishing winter, maybe we need a law fining politicians $100 every time they make that stupid joke.

That’d make more mon ey for snow removal than brothels.

A look back in t me. A look back in t me.

65 Years Ago November 1957

Classroom attendance in Iola’s public schools was cut 18 percent this morning as 283 students and three teach ers remained at home, fight ing the flu. *****

The city and county will share in maintaining a beau tiful courthouse lawn, accord ing to a contract approved this morning by the city commission and the county commission. The agreement provides that Iola will supply water for the lawns and flow erbeds free of charge. The county will landscape the area and maintain it. *****

ELSMORE — This will be

a memorable week for the First Methodist Church. On Thursday, the women of the congregation will hold their annual bazaar. On Sunday, their new church building will be dedicated. Clarence Baker, student pastor study ing at Baker University, will lead the dedication.

*****

Merle Bacon 32, Iola pilot, was fatally injured in an air plane accident near Chinan dega, Nicaragua. He operat ed the Bacon Aerial Spray Service here and went to Nic aragua about three months ago to work there during the winter. He was born at Els more and graduated from LaHarpe High School. He served with the Navy during

World War II. He is survived by his wife at their home at 322 S. Chestnut, two daugh ters, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Bacon of Elsmore, a brother, Loren, of Wichi ta and a sister, Mrs. Charles Fontaine, of Iola.

*****

Mayor Ben Ellis suggest ed Iola give local motorists a Christmas present by plac ing hoods over its parking meters. The city is about to make its last payment on the 324 meters, installed in 1955. The purchase price was $21,150. The city has used its share of meter income to pay the salary of a police officer and has accumulated $11,000 in a fund to be used to pur chase off-street parking.

Kansas’ ‘Potato King’ broke racial barriers to reach great success

By JIM LEIKER For the Kansas Reflector

The success of “Tiger King” has me wondering if executives at Netflix would be interested in a story called “Potato King.” While I pa tiently await their response — no word yet — I’ll try it out on readers of Kansas Reflec tor. It wouldn’t be surprising if Hollywood passed on a sto ry centered on Kansas, even less on one about a Black farmer who became one of the richest people in the Unit ed States.

Junius George Groves was 6 years old when the 13th Amendment abolished slav ery in 1865. We know little about his life in central Ken tucky before 1879, at which time he joined thousands of “Exodusters,” Black mi grants fleeing the South af ter Reconstruction, to make homes in Kansas. Groves worked for landowners west of Kansas City and in 1880 married Mathilda Stewart from Missouri. Besides rais ing several children, togeth er they rented farmland in Wyandotte County and grew white potatoes.

Many people today confuse Exodusters with the settlers who founded Nicodemus, an all-Black colony in Graham County. Nicodemus began earlier, in 1877, yet both orig inated from the same tradi tion: The assumptions that true freedom required land and Kansas with its free-state reputation offered more of both than did southern cot ton fields.

Most migrants found dis appointment in Kansas, and Junius and Mathilda prob ably did as well. Lynchings and segregation became the norm there within a short time. Still, they persisted.

Junius purchased land in the Kaw Valley eventually totaling more than 500 acres. In 1900, a Topeka newspaper declared him “the wealthiest Negro in Kansas, if not in the entire West,” reputedly the world’s largest grower of Irish potatoes. Shipping his product across the U.S. and into Mexico and Canada, the Union Pacific Railroad built a spur line to his prop erty in Edwardsville. Nearly 50 hired hands, Black and white, worked his fields, with Groves sometimes making trips to Quindaro to pick up day laborers.

Booker T. Washington, the famous “Wizard of Tuske gee,” saw in Groves exactly the kind of man he thought Black Americans should em ulate. Washington taught a self-help philosophy of using segregation to Black people’s advantage by keeping money and talent within the com munity. That approach came under attack by progressives such as W.E.B. Du Bois, who believed a more confron tational approach against white racism was needed.

Within that debate, Groves’ success served a purpose by promoting Washington’s ide al of the self-made man. He featured “the Potato King” in a 1904 journal article and again in his 1907 book “The Negro in Business.”

Junius and Mathilda sent some of their offspring to Kansas State Agricultural College — now Kansas State University — as well as es

tablished a Baptist church in Edwardsville, the Kaw Valley Potato Association, and the Kansas State Negro Business League. In typical Washing tonian fashion, when white people excluded him from their golf course, he built his own, especially for African Americans.

Following his death in 1925 at age 66, Groves was largely forgotten. However, efforts are underway to restore his memory. Groves has been inducted into the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center in Kansas City and, in 2021, into the Kansas Business Hall of Fame, the first Black man so recognized.

I shake my head in bewil derment at accusations that teaching Black History and race relations are meant to instill guilt in white children. As a white person myself of German-Russian ancestry, who has also taught African American Studies for the bet ter part of 30 years, I’ve never felt that an honest accounting of our nation’s sorry record on civil rights should dimin ish my own or my ancestors’ accomplishments. Your heri tage must be pretty brittle if it can’t withstand criticism.

But OK, if uplifting stories only are wanted, I’ll play. Ju nius Groves’ life should be celebrated as an example of entrepreneurial capitalism, a feat of upward mobility start ing with the ultimate poverty of not even owning oneself and ending as the owner of a thriving business with con nections spanning the conti nent.

Yet these successes were not his alone, or even those of Mathilda, who co-built their empire as his spouse and partner. Groves prospered with the support of a strong Black community, an agricul tural tradition that empha sized innovation, and a trans portation network subsidized by public funds. The fact that Native Americans before him had shown the way to raise potatoes along Kansas’s riv ers didn’t hurt either.

Barack Obama was badly misinterpreted when he said to business owners, “You didn’t build that,” meaning that they owed their success in part to the investments and knowledge of others. I don’t believe Groves would have taken offense at that sentiment. Somehow, I think he would have shrugged, as if to say, “Well, of course.”

About the author: Jim Leiker is professor of histo ry at Johnson County Com munity College in Overland Park.

Tire tracks through the snow and ice glisten as the sun sets near LaHarpe last February. REGISTER

FILE PHOTO

Junius Groves was a Kan sas potato farmer who was claimed to be “The wealthi est Negro in the West.” PHOTO/WIKIPEDIA

Falling for winter

Study: Automatic braking cuts crashes

DETROIT (AP) — Two new U.S. studies show that automatic emer gency braking can cut the number of rear-end automobile crashes in half, and reduce pickup truck crashes by more than 40%.

The studies released Tuesday, one by a gov ernment-auto industry partnership and the other by the insurance industry, each used crash data to make the calculations. Automatic emergency braking can stop vehicles if a crash is imminent, or slow them to reduce the se verity.

Some automakers are moving toward a vol untary commitment by 20 companies to make the braking technology standard equipment on 95% of their light-duty models during the cur

rent model year that ends next August.

A study by The Part nership for Analytics Research in Traffic Safe ty compared data on auto equipment with 12 million police-reported crashes from 13 states that was collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin istration, the partner ship said in a statement Tuesday. The group studied forward colli sion warning as well as emergency braking.

The group found front-to-rear crashes were cut 49% when the striking vehicle had forward collision alert plus automatic braking, when compared with ve hicles that didn’t have either system. Rear crashes with injuries were cut by 53%, the study found.

Vehicles with forward collision warning sys tems only reduced rearend crashes by 16%, and cut rear crashes with in juries by 19%.

Automatic emergen cy braking works well in all conditions, even when roadway, weather or lighting conditions were not ideal, the study showed.

The group also looked at lane departure warning systems, and lane-keeping systems, which keep vehicles in their lanes. They re duced crashes from au tos leaving the roadway by 8% and road-depar ture crashes that cause injuries by 7%.

“These emerging technologies can sub stantially reduce the number of crashes and improve safety out comes,” said Tim Czapp,

senior manager for safety at European au tomaker Stellantis, the industry co-chair of the partnership’s board.

In the other study, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that automatic emergen cy braking reduces rear crash rates for pickups by 43% and rear-end in jury crashes by 42%. Yet pickups are less likely to have automatic braking than cars or SUVs de spite posing more dan ger to other road users, the IIHS found.

“Pickups account for 1 out of 5 passenger vehicles on U.S. roads, and their large size can make them dangerous to people in smaller ve hicles or on foot,” the in stitute’s Vice President of Research Jessica Cicchino said in a state ment.

Monday night’s snow dusted the autumnal displays in front of the homes of Bob and Brandi Leavitt, left, and Tony and Barb Leavitt on East Irwin Street. REGISTER/ SUSAN LYNN

Weers signs to Allen

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

LE ROY — Southern Cof fey County senior volley ball player Josie Weers has signed to play volleyball at Allen Community College next fall.

Weers was a four-year starter with the Titans and finished her high school career with a total of 1,275 kills offensively. She was also named a unanimous AllLeague First Team selection her sophomore, junior and senior years.

“Josie is a great all-around player,” said Southern Coffey head coach Jeff True. “She passes well, is a strong hitter, has great hands, is capable of setting the ball if need be

and she is passionate about volleyball. She also has great energy on the court, strong legs, can block and plays the net well. Josie is a smart play er who sees the floor well.”

The Titan was also named a KVA All-State Second Team honoree her sophomore and junior years.

In Weer’s senior season, she led her team by averaging 4.9 kills per set and totaled a team-high 397 kills while also knocking 80 total aces and one ace serve per set.

“Allen is getting a great local player with a lot of up side to her game,” said True.

“Best of all, Josie is an amaz ing young lady with a great work ethic, positive attitude and just a wonderful person.”

Slain Virginia football players ‘were all good kids’

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Three Universi ty of Virginia football play ers killed in an on-campus shooting were remembered Monday by their head coach as “incredible young men with huge aspirations and extremely bright fu tures.”

Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Per ry were juniors returning to campus from a class trip to see a play Sunday night when authorities say they were killed by a fellow stu dent.

The young men were members of the Virginia football team, journeying through periods of tran sition in their careers — whether it was bouncing back from a season-ending injury, changing positions on the team or transferring in from another school.

“They touched us, in spired us and worked in credibly hard,” head foot ball coach Tony Elliott said in a statement.

Their absence was al ready being felt on campus, prompting American stud ies professor Jack Ham ilton to tweet that he was “just stunned and devas tated and completely at a loss.”

Hamilton had Chandler and Davis as students.

“In my experience, star athletes often tend to hang out with other athletes (understandable, given the time commitment),” Ham ilton wrote. “But (Davis) seemed to go out of his way to make friends with non-athletes.”

As the tragedy reverber ated throughout the cam pus, the head football coach was seen sitting alone at a

table outside the univer sity’s football offices, his head in his hands.

“They were all good kids,” Elliott said before getting into an SUV with several other coaches.

A couple hours later, teammate Aaron Faumui spoke briefly through tears.

“I don’t even know what to say right now,” said the college senior who plays defensive tackle. “I just want to say they were three young great men.”

The grief was felt widely, penetrating football pro grams across the country — in part because college athletes can move around more with the easing of transfer restrictions. Play ers from Wisconsin to Utah and Washington state mourned because they had played at Virginia.

“Can’t put into words the physical and mental pain that comes with losing not just teammates, but broth ers,” tweeted Wayne Taula papa, a running back who

transferred from Virginia to the University of Wash ington. “You were never just football players, but rather examples of great and honorable young men.”

The shooting happened just after 10:15 p.m. Sunday as a charter bus full of stu dents returned from see ing a play in Washington, D.C.. University President Jim Ryan said authorities did not have a “full under standing” of the motive or circumstances surround ing the shooting.

Police on Monday cap tured a university student, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 22, whom they say is suspected of shooting the three football players and wounding two others.

Jones had once played on the football team, but had not been a member of the team for at least a year, po lice said.

On Monday morning, Lavel Davis Sr. posted a message on Facebook:

Marmaton Valley, Crest tangle on courts

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

Marmaton Valley Ju nior High and Crest Middle School — separated by about 20 miles of country road — took to the basketball court Monday evening at Crest. The hometown Crest

emerged victorious in both the boys and girls A team contests.

Crest’s girls defeated Mar maton Valley’s A team, 2620, while the Lancer boys prevailed, 48-28.

In the girls game, Crest ended the contest with a 13-3 run to erase a 17-13 deficit.

Summer Valentine scored 11 points to lead Crest fol

lowed by Hanna Schmidt’s 10. Jaycee Schmidt and Gra cyn Ellington scored four and one, respectively.

Addisyn Drake scored eight points to lead the Wild cats, followed by Taylen Blevins with four, Andie Carr and Mahala Burris with three each and Emma Louk with two.

CREST took a 14-10 lead after one quarter and a 20-14 cushion into halftime before stretching its margin to 3725 after three periods.

Lane Yocham paced the victors with 14 points, fol lowed by Max Disbrow with 12 and Kole Walter with 10. Koiy Walter chipped in with nine. Daylan Nichols scored two and Will Disbrow one.

Dagan Barney scored eight and Thomas Allee six to lead Marmaton Val ley. Kris McVey and Kaden McVey notched five points apiece. Cooper Scharff and Ethan Lawson scored two each.

Marmaton Valley pre

vailed, 28-18, in the B team contest, led by Kaden McVey’s 14. Lane Lord scored six, Brady Burton four and Brendon Newman and Rorrick Trester with two each.

Roy Gordon and Ty Co

berly both had four points to pace Crest’s B team. Ethan Flyingman, Grady Allen. Charlie Slyter, Jimmy Ayers and Trewit Luedke all had two points.

There was no B team game for the girls.

Southern Coffey county senior volleyball player Josie Weers signs to play at Allen Community College. PHOTO BY: JEFF TRUE

COLONY — Old rivalries have to start somewhere.

Cooper Scharff looks to pass the ball for Marmaton Valley

Junior High’s boys Monday. PHOTO BY HALIE LUKEN

Marmaton Valley Junior High’s Taylen Blevins (4) is guarded by Crest Middle School’s Jaycee Schmidt Monday. PHOTO BY HALIE LUKEN

Members of the University of Virginia community attend a candlelight vigil on the South Lawn for the victims of a shoot ing overnight at the university, on Monday in Charlottesville, Virginia. TNS

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Ex who ‘ghosted’ had her reasons

Adapted from an online discussion.

Dear Carolyn: “Jessie” and I dated during college and for two years after. She left to go home for a few weeks and left her cat with me. The story was that her mom was sick and that her dad was out of town long term, so she needed to go home. Well, one month turned into three, and she was not answering my texts or being upfront with me about what was going on, so I broke up with her.

I had to rehome her cat; it was a big pain, and I complained about the whole thing to all my friends, because she basically ghosted me and left me holding the cat I never wanted and had no time to take care of. She tried to call me a few times last year, but I was dealing with a lot, so I blew her off.

We recently met face to face, and she told me what happened. Her dad was caught with child pornography on his

Carolyn Hax

computer, and her mom attempted suicide, and she just could not talk about the whole mess at the time. Now I understand and we are dating again, and I am so happy to have her back in my life.

My friends are going to be a problem. They think of her as someone who not only blew me off but also abandoned her cat. Jessie is still not comfortable being open about her dad, who is in prison now, or her mom, who is still a little out of it. How do I go about integrating her into my friend group without putting her whole sad story on blast? — Didn’t Know

Didn’t Know: Holy hell. Poor Jessie. Tell your friends: “Please just trust me. I had the

wrong half of the story on Jessie. We are good now.”

Dear Carolyn: I recently retired to a place near where one of my former girlfriends is also living. At one time, we were very serious as a couple, talking about marriage and even children, but our careers took us to different places: to opposite coasts and even further than that for a while. We are now both single, she a widow and me never married, and naturally it’s very tempting to rekindle.

But there is some nagging hurt in the many years between us, and talking over our split, we have slightly different memories of who put in more effort and things like that. Even her wedding is a point of contention between us. I remember bravely showing up to watch the love of my life marry another guy and being happy for her even though she moved on pretty quickly. She remembers me as a

sour presence that day. Still, there is no denying the spark between us remains strong. Is there a way to start over without bringing the past along for the ride? — Rekindling an Old Romance

Rekindling an Old Romance: Sure. You both have to want to. Have you done any reading on the unreliability of memory, especially with eyewitness testimony? We are biased, we are impressionable, and we are tempted by past narratives to tie things together in palatable or familiar or accessible ways and, especially, to make ourselves look better.

The way someone asks us a question can change our answer, and our changed answer can change the way we remember something. So if you base your now on how you remember then, you are building on sand. Do you like each other? Then date each other. You are who you are now.

Follow-up colonoscopy necessary after a result of eight polyps

DEAR DR. ROACH:

I am a 73-year-old male. This year, I had a colonoscopy. They found some small polyps and one larger polyp. All polyps tested negative for cancer. I have had two previous colonoscopies in the past 10 years. Polyps were found in each one. My gastroenterologist said I should have another colonoscopy in one year. There has been no colon cancer in my family.

As you age, is it safe to continue with a colonoscopy?

I don’t feel safe having a colonoscopy every year.

At what age should seniors stop having a colonoscopy? My previ-

ous gastroenterologist told me to have one in five years. I do a stool test yearly, given by my primary doctor. — F.Q.

ANSWER: I read your reports, which showed a total of nine polyps, all “sessile” (flat, which is higher risk for development into cancer than those with a stalk), the largest being 8 mm.

The pathology report confirmed these as tubular adenomas, none of which had the wor-

risome finding of highgrade dysplasia.

The official guidelines of the American College of Gastroenterology would recommend a follow-up colonoscopy in three years.

I definitely agree with that in people who are otherwise healthy. Colon cancer does definitely run in families, but at least 80% of colon cancer occurs in people with no known family history, meaning

you can’t be complacent even if there isn’t any history in your family.

There is no absolute age cut-off for screening colonoscopies: Age 75 might be reasonable in someone who really doesn’t want to have another and whose previous results have all been normal, but I would be very unlikely to recommend a screening exam in a person older than 85.

People who have se-

rious medical conditions outside the intestinal tract get less benefit from screening. Age 73 is not so old that I would recommend against screening in otherwise healthy people, and given that you have had eight polyps, I would definitely recommend a three-year follow-up.

I don’t know why the gastroenterologist said one year, based on the reports you sent me.

Dr. Keith Roach

Rodriguez, Harris take Rookies of the Year

NEW YORK (AP) —

Seattle’s Julio Rodrí guez and Atlanta’s Mi chael Harris II, a pair of 21-year-old center fielders, are baseball’s Rookies of the Year. Ro driguez hit .284 with 28 homers, 75 RBIs and 25 stolen bases in helping the Mariners reach the postseason for the first time since 2001. He won the AL honor by receiv ing 29 of 30 first-place votes and one second for 148 points from a BBWAA panel. Har ris batted .297 with 19 homers, 64 RBIs and 20 steals. He was voted the NL award, getting 22 firsts and eight seconds for 134 points from a dif ferent BBWAA panel.

Seattle’s Julio Rodrí guez and Atlanta’s Mi chael Harris II had a lot in common — perhaps too much.

The 21-year-old cen ter fielders were run away winners in Rookie of the Year voting on Monday after seasons of power and speed that led to lucrative longterm contracts but ulti mately concluded with early postseason elimi nations.

They both made jumps from Double-A straight to the majors.

“I feel like the whole season was unrealis tic,” Harris said. “I was

just going day to day and I guess living the dream. But now that the season’s over, I guess I can actually look back and think about how crazy of a year it was and how fast it went.”

Rodríguez hit .284 with 28 homers, 75 RBIs and 25 stolen bases in helping the Mariners reach the postseason for the first time since 2001. He won the Amer ican League honor by receiving 29 of 30 firstplace votes and one sec ond for 148 points from a Baseball Writers’ As sociation of America panel.

“I went through some shaky times at the be ginning of the year, but I was able to stick to myself, trust myself,” Rodríguez said.

Rodríguez made the Mariners’ opening-day roster and hit .205 in April, then rebounded to earn a spot in the AllStar Home Run Derby, where he hit 81 long balls and lost to Juan Soto in the final.

“All the doubts I had throughout the year,” Rodríguez said, “I know it’s going to serve me well along my career.”

Harris batted .297 with 19 homers, 64 RBIs and 20 steals after mak ing his debut on May 28. He was voted the

National League award, getting 22 firsts and eight seconds for 134 points from a different BBWAA panel.

“He definitely had a great season. We defi nitely had similar num bers, too,” Rodríguez said. “He’s an exciting player, young talent. And he’s not afraid. I love his game.”

Rodríguez and Har ris both had their first big league multihomer games each other on Sept. 11, with Rodríguez hitting a tying drive in the ninth in a game Se attle won when Eugenio

Suárez went deep off Kenley Jansen later in the inning.

“That was a series I won’t forget,” Harris said. “I look forward to playing against him many times in the fu ture.”

Seattle advanced past Toronto in the new wild-card round, then was s wept by eventu al champion Houston in the Division Series.

Defending champion Atlanta lost a four-game Division Series to Phil adelphia.

Baltimore catcher Adley Rutschman was

second in the AL with 68 points, getting the other first-place vote, 18 seconds and nine thirds.

Cleveland left fielder Steven Kwan was third with 10 seconds and 14 thirds for 44 points. Kansas City infielder Bobby Witt Jr. had sev en points, and Houston shortstop Jeremy Peña finished fifth with two points.

Voting was conducted before the postseason; Peña was voted MVP of the AL Championship Series and World Series.

Atlanta pitcher Spen

cer Strider was second with the other eight first-place votes on the NL side and 21 seconds for 103 points. Cardinals utilityman Brendan Donovan was third with 22 third-place votes and 22 points.

Rodríguez, the only rookie at this year’s AllStar Game, became the fifth Seattle player to win the honor after first baseman Alvin Davis in 1984, right-handed reliever Kazuhiro Sasa ki in 2000, right fielder Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 (when he also was voted MVP) and center fielder Kyle Lewis in 2020.

Harris, who hadn’t played above High-A before this year, is the ninth Braves player to win the award, joining shortstop Alvin Dark in 1948 and outfielder Sam Jethroe in 1950 during the Boston Braves era and then catcher/in fielder Earl Williams in 1971, third baseman Bob Horner in 1978, out fielder/first baseman David Justice in 1990, shortstop Rafael Furcal in 2000, reliever Craig Kimbrel in 2011 and out fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2018.

Teammates finished 1-2 in the NL voting for the fourth time and first

Virginia: Slain players gave football their all

“Lord please help me.”

LAVEL DAVIS JR.

Davis was a 6-foot7 wide receiver from Dorchester, South Car olina. He finished the 2020 season ranked No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference for average yards per reception, among many other ac colades.

An undisclosed in jury sidelined Davis for the 2021 season but he returned this year, starting six of the first seven games. In the season opener against the Universi ty of Richmond, Davis caught four passes for 89 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown. He was on a watch list for 2022 Comeback Player of the Year.

Herman Moore, who developed a friendship with Davis as an alum ni-mentor, said Davis was hoping to finish his college career on a high note after bounc ing back from his inju

ry.

Davis had aspira tions for the NFL. But he was also think ing about life beyond sports, perhaps in business. The future, however, was yet to be decided.

“He wanted to be recognized as the best receiver in the nation,” Moore said. “And he felt he had all the tools and the athleticism to get it done.”

DEVIN CHANDLER

Chandler was a wide receiver from Hunt ersville, North Caroli na. He recently trans ferred from Wisconsin. His accomplishments for the Badgers includ ed a 59-yard kickoff re turn and 18-yard rush in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl against Wake Forest in 2020.

“Once a badger, al ways a badger,” Jim Leonhard, the Univer sity of Wisconsin’s interim head football coach, tweeted Monday.

“He had a lasting im pact on his teammates,

even after he left UW, which is a testament to the type of person he was,” Leonhard wrote. “His personality was infectious and he was a joy to be around. Our team is hurting for him and his family.”

Hamilton, the Amer ican studies professor, said on Twitter that Chandler had been in one of his large lecture classes.

“He nevertheless made a point to come to my office hours repeat edly, often just to ask questions about how things worked around UVA,” Hamilton wrote.

The professor lat er helped Chandler to declare his major in American studies

“He was an unbe lievably nice person, always a huge smile, really gregarious and funny,” Hamilton wrote. “One of those people who’s just im possible not to like.”

D’SEAN PERRY

Perry was a line backer from Miami,

Florida. In September, Perry told the Daily Progress that he was called to the Cavaliers’ football offices. Line backers coach Clint Sintim said he needed Perry to move from linebacker to defensive end.

Perry told the news paper it was “no prob lem at all. It was a smooth transition.”

“Honestly, I feel like I can do both (lineback er and defensive end),” Perry said. “And I pre pared myself well to work in space and pass rush during the offsea son. … So, both posi tions I’m very comfort able with and I’m just trying to help the team win.”

Perry appeared in seven games this year

and made seven tack les.

Michael Haggard, an attorney for Per ry’s parents, issued a statement thanking the South Florida and the Charlottesville communities for “the outpouring of support during this impossibly tragic time,” according to NBC News.

“Right now, Happy and Sean will not speak publicly about the inci dent as their grief is only beginning, and out of respect for the University of Virginia community which has been terrorized by an other mass shooting in the United States,” the statement said.

MIKE HOLLINS

Mike Hollins, a run ning back on the foot

ball team who was also shot, was in stable condition Monday, his mother Brenda Hollins told The Associated Press.

“Mike is a fighter — and he’s showing it,” she said after flying to Virginia from Loui siana. “We have great doctors who have been working with him. And most importantly, we have God’s grace and God’s hands on him.”

Like most college football players, Hol lins has aspirations to play professionally, his mother said. But he has other dreams and goals, which include being an educator.

“We’re praying for the other families,” she said.

Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez (44) scores the seventh run in the fourth inning as Tampa Bay Rays catcher Mike Zunino (10) looks on at Tropi cana Field in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, April 26. TNS

Jeff Saturday hiring shakes NFL world

By ARNIE STAPLETON The Associated Press

Sixteen years after a mic’d up Peyton Man ning castigated his star center “Quit calling the (bleeping) plays!,” Jeff Saturday called all the right shots in his successful NFL head coaching debut on the Las Vegas Strip.

That included re inserting Matt Ryan as the Colts’ starting quarterback and ele vating assistant QBs coach Parks Frazier to offensive play-caller after his shocking hire as Indy’s interim head coach following Jim Irsay’s firing of Frank Reich last week.

The Colts rallied past the Raiders 25-20 two weeks after Sat urday, then an ESPN analyst, tweeted that the “Raiders look hor rible.”

Of course, two weeks ago nobody, includ ing Saturday, could have imagined he’d be making his NFL head coaching debut last weekend.

His sole coaching ex perience had come as head coach of Hebron Christian Academy, a college preparato ry school in Georgia, from 2017-2020.

Cutting to the head of the coaching line without any college or pro coaching expe rience put Saturday in the crosshairs of criticism and dismay across the league.

Two of his harshest critics were former Cleveland Browns of fensive lineman Joe

Thomas and Hall of Fame coach Bill Cow her.

Thomas called Sat urday’s hiring a dis grace to the league and its coaches, questioned why Saturday would accept the job at all and ripped Irsay for saying he was glad Sat urday lacked NFL head coaching experience because he wouldn’t bring the usual bag gage to the position when it comes to cru cial in-game decisions.

“When you hire your drinking buddy to be the head coach of an NFL football team, it is one of the most disre spectful things I have ever seen in my entire life to the commitment, the lifestyle and the ex perience that it takes to be an NFL coach,” Thomas, a 10-time Pro Bowler, said Friday on “Good Morning Foot

ball.”

Thomas said being an NFL head coach isn’t “just something you can show up for.”

“So the disrespect NFL coaches have to feel when they saw that this hire was made is higher than almost anything I can possibly remember in the NFL,” Thomas continued. “And then to defend the decision by saying, ‘I’m happy he doesn’t have experience?’”

That was just several steps too far for Thom as.

Cowher didn’t hold back, either.

“It’s a disgrace to the coaching profession,” snarled Cowher on the CBS studio show Sunday where he also called out Saturday for spurning previous overtures from the Colts to serve as an as sistant coach because

he was working in TV.

Cowher complained that Irsay bypassed members of Reich’s staff who had been there all season, some of whom even have head NFL coaching ex perience, and deserved the opportunity over Saturday.

Cowher also blasted Saturday’s suggestion at his introductory news conference that he’d be building his re sume over the next two months to see if this whole coaching thing was something he’d like to keep doing.

“For an owner to hire a coach who has never been an assis tant at the college or pro level and oversee ing a lot of qualified candidates to build a resume, it’s a disgrace to the coaching profes sion,” Cowher argued. “In regards to how this

Ex-MLB player Puig guilty in gambling case

LOS ANGELES

(AP) — Former Major League Baseball out fielder Yasiel Puig will plead guilty to lying to federal agents in vestigating an illegal gambling operation, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.

Court documents unsealed Monday say Yasiel Puig Valdés, 31, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of making false state ments and after plead ing guilty, he could face up to five years in federal prison. He also agreed to pay a fine of at least $55,000.

Puig batted .277 with 132 home runs and 415 RBIs while appearing in seven major league seasons, the first six with the Dodgers where he earned an All-Star selection in 2014.

He played for the Cin cinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians in

2019 before becoming a free agent. He then played in the Mexican League and last year he signed a one-year, $1 million contact with South Korea’s Kiwoom Heroes.

In an August plea agreement, Puig ac knowledged that over only a few months in 2019 he wracked up more than $280,000 in losses while wager ing on tennis, football and basketball games through a third party who worked for an ille gal gambling operation run by Wayne Nix, a former minor league baseball player.

Puig placed at least 900 bets through Nix-controlled betting websites and through a man who worked for Nix, authorities said.

In his plea agree ment, Puig ac knowledged lying in January to federal in vestigators who were

MLB: Top rookies

Continued from B1

since Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman was second to Kimbrel.

Rodríguez is excited about a planned off season parade in his hometown in the Do minican Republic. He became the fourth Do minican-born player to win the AL honor after Alfredo Griffin shared with John Castino in 1979, and Angel Berroa won in 2003 and Neftali

Felíz in 2010.

Rodríguez and the Mariners agreed in Au gust to a $209.3 million, 12-year contract start ing next season that would be worth $469.6 million over 17 years if he wins two MVP awards.

Harris and Braves reached a $72 million, eight-year deal starting in 2023 that could be worth $102 million over 10 seasons.

looking into the busi ness, denying he had placed bets through the operation.

Nix pleaded guilty in April to conspira cy to operate an ille gal sports gambling business and filing a false tax return. Pros ecutors said Nix’s op eration ran for two decades and included both current and for mer professional ath letes as clients or em ployees.

MLB would not in vestigate unless Puig attempts to sign with a big league organiza tion.

Federal prosecutors also announced Mon day that another for

mer MLB player, Erik Kristian Hiljus, 49, of Los Angeles, had agreed to plead guilty to two counts of sub scribing to false tax returns. They said he was an agent for Nix’s operation.

Hiljus was drafted by the New York Mets in 1991 but made his major league debut in 1999 with the Detroit Tigers. He also played for the Oakland Ath letics in 2001 and 2002. He pitched 124 innings in four seasons, going 8-3 with a 4.72 career ERA.

Hiljus could face up to six years in federal prison at sentencing.

played out, what hap pened in Indianapolis is a travesty.”

Saturday then went out and delivered an other shocker: a win in his head coaching debut, and when Irsay presented him with a game ball afterward, Saturday turned it into a bonding moment with his players, who proba bly should have been wearing nametags to go with their surnames stitched across their backs.

“Everybody’s getting a game ball,” Saturday bellowed. “And my favorite thing about football: Victory Mon day. We’ll see you all Wednesday.”

Back in Indianap olis, Saturday was basking in the congrat ulations he’d been re ceiving after taking so many barbs for taking the job.

“I felt conviction about the opportunity,” Saturday said. “I knew I was going to take it for those reasons and I have no qualms about what anybody says about their opinion. Great. If they disagree with it, still love them. Not really worried about it. I’ve got other things I’ve got to take care of.”

Back in Las Vegas, Raiders coach Josh Mc Daniels, who famously backed out of the Colts gig a few years ago, leading to Reich’s hire, fell to 2-7 with the loss, his sixth by one score.

On Monday, Raid ers owner Mark Davis said he’s standing by his beleaguered first-

year coach who’s now gone 7-24 in his last 31 games, including 5-17 in Denver in 2009-10.

“I think there’s a process that we’re go ing through, certainly slower and more pain ful than anyone wants it to be,” McDaniels said.

Broncos coach Na thaniel Hackett knows the feeling.

He’s 3-6 with five one-score losses and the other came at Las Vegas in September, a 32-23 defeat that was a two-point game just before the 2-minute warning.

The Raiders go for the season sweep Sun day in Denver, where Hackett’s pairing with Russell Wilson has been even more of a fiasco than McDaniels’ union with Derek Carr.

Hackett, who also re ceived a vote of confi dence halfway through his first season, smiled when asked if he felt he’d be coaching for his job Sunday.

“I learned a long time ago, you’re coach ing for your job every day,” Hackett replied. “I mean, every single day you come in that building and you com pete and you fight to be the best version of yourself and try to get the best out of ev erybody around you. That’s just how this is.”

Whether you’re a first-time head coach, one who’s grateful for a second chance or an other who’s catching the third degree.

PATIENT TESTIMONIAL:

My doctor had suggested I go to the Iola Pharmacy to try CBD oil for my knee pain. After the first week or so, I was able to go on walks again. It hasn’t completely cured my knee pain, but it does help relieve the pain. And, after being on it for a couple months now, I don’t want to go without!

-Iola Pharmacy Customer

Indianapolis Colts head coach Jeff Saturday gives instructions during the first half of an NFL game against the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 13 in Las Vegas. HEIDI FANG/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL/TNS

Trump readies for another White House bid

PALM BEACH, Fla.

(AP) — Former President Donald Trump is preparing to launch his third campaign for the White House on Tuesday, looking to move on from disappointing midterm defeats and defy history amid signs that his grip on the Republican Party is waning.

Trump had hoped to use the GOP’s expected gains in last week’s elections as a springboard to vault himself to his party’s nomination. Instead, he finds himself being blamed for backing a series of losing candidates after Republicans failed to take control of the Senate. While the party was on the cusp of retaking control of the House on Tuesday, it could end up with its narrowest majority in decades.

“Hopefully, tomorrow will turn out to be one of the most important days in the history of our Country!” Trump wrote on his social media network on Monday. An announcement was expected at 9 p.m. EST Tuesday from his club in Palm Beach.

Another campaign is a remarkable turn for any former president, much less one who made history as the first to be impeached twice and whose term ended with his supporters violently storming the U.S. Capitol in a deadly bid to halt the peaceful transition of power on Jan. 6, 2021. Just one president in U.S. history has been elected to two nonconsecutive terms: Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892.

Trump is also facing a series of intensifying criminal investigations, including a Justice Department probe into the hundreds of documents with classified markings that were discovered in boxes and drawers at his Mar-a-Lago club.

Aides and allies had

urged Trump to wait until after the midterms were over — and then until after a Dec. 6 Senate runoff election in Georgia — to announce his plans. But Trump, eager to return to the spotlight, is also hoping to stave off a long list of potential challengers, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who cruised to reelection last week and is now being urged by many in his party to run for president a well.

Trump has already begun to lash out at DeSantis publicly and on Tuesday, the Florida governor shot back, dismissing the criticism as “noise.”

“At the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night,” DeSantis told reporters.

Trump has tried to blame Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell for the GOP’s performance — and McConnell allies have criticized Rick Scott, the Florida senator who heads the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee.

However, Trump has received the brunt of criticism for elevating candidates in states like Pennsylvania and Arizona who were unappealing to general election voters because they embraced his lies about the 2020 election or held hard-line views on issues like abortion that were out of step with

the mainstream.

While Trump has the backing of the No. 3 House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik, others were already moving on.

Asked whether she would endorse Trump in 2024, Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming told reporters Monday: “I don’t think that’s the right question. I think the question is, who is the current leader of the Republican Party?”

Her answer to that question: “Ron DeSantis.”

Sen. Mitt Romney, RUtah, a longtime Trump critic, compared Trump to a pitcher who keeps losing after GOP disappointments in 2018, 2020 and now 2022.

“He’s been on the mound and lost three straight games. If we want to start winning, we need someone else on the mound. And we’ve got a very strong bench that can come out,” Romney said. “I know, there’s some fans that love him. Just like, you know, an aging pitcher, they’re always fans that want to keep them there forever. But if you keep losing games, try to put some new players on the field.”

Others expressed concern that Trump’s announcement would be a distraction from the Georgia race and urged potential candidates to focus there.

“What’s really important for anybody who wants to be a 2024 candidate is to help us right now in 2022 to finish the cycle by winning the state of Georgia,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

“We obviously had higher expectation in the Senate, which didn’t pan out. I think there are a lot of different things that contribute to that,” Thune added.

“But I do think that, you know, folks who were unduly focused on the

2020 election, that’s not a winning strategy with independent voices.”

Even the former president’s right-flank allies in the House Freedom Caucus kept their distance ahead of Trump’s announcement.

“I am focused on what’s happening here,” said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., the Freedom Caucus chairman, as lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill on Monday. “I’m just not paying attention to any of those things, so I don’t want to comment on that.”

Meanwhile, in Utah, 86 Republican lawmakers on Monday sent out a news release urging DeSantis to run, reflecting dissatisfaction with having Trump as their party’s standard-bearer. The state’s Mormon majority has long been skeptical of Trump’s isolationism and foul language.

GOING ON VACATION?

Yesterday’s Cryptoquote:

“Make your mess your message,” Momma liked to say. And I did. — Robin Roberts

ZITS by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

BEETLE BAILEY by Mort Walker HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by Chris Browne FUNKY WINKERBEAN by Tom Batiuk

BLONDIE by Young and Drake MARVIN by Tom Armstrong HI AND LOIS by Chance Browne

Donald Trump

REGULATIONS; AND PRESCRIBING CERTAIN PENALTIES.

Be it Ordained by the Gov erning Body of the City of La Harpe.

Section 1. Purpose. The pur pose of this Ordinance is to provide for a progressive water supply conservation program, including the declaration of a water supply watch, warning or emergency and the implementa tion of voluntary and mandatory water conservation measures throughout the city in the event such a watch, warning or emer gency is declared by the govern ing body of the City.

Section 2. Definitions.

(a) “Water”, as used in this or dinance, shall mean water avail able to the City of LaHarpe for treatment by virtue of the City’s water rights, water supply, water supply contracts or any treated water introduced by the City into its water distribution system, in cluding water offered for sale at any coin-operated site.

(b) “Customer,” as used in this Ordinance, shall mean the customer of record using water for any purpose from the City’s water distribution system and for which either a regular charge is made or, in the case of coin sales, a cash charge is made at the site of delivery.

(c)”Waste of water,” as used in this Ordinance, includes, but is not limited to:

(1) permitting water to escape down a, street, roadway or other surface intended for vehicle driv ing purposes, and / or any gutter, ditch, or other surface drain; or (2) failure to repair a controlla ble leak of water due to defective plumbing.

(d)The following classes of uses of water are established for the purposes of this Ordinance:

(1) Class 1: Water used for outdoor watering; either public or private, for gardens, lawns, trees, shrubs, plants, parks, golf courses, playing fields, swim ming pools or other recreational areas; or the washing of motor vehicles, boats, trailers, or the exterior of any building or struc ture.

(2) Class 2: Water used for any commercial, agricultural or industrial purposes: except water actually necessary to maintain the health and personal hygiene of bona fide employees of such businesses or interests while such employees are engaged in the performance of their duties at their place of employment.

(3) Class 3: Domestic usage, other than that which would be included in either classes 1 or 2.

(4) Class 4: Water necessary only to sustain human life and the lives of domestic livestock pets and maintain standards of hygiene and sanitation.

Section 3. Declarations. In the event that the Governing Body of the City or the City’s desig nated official determines that the City’s water supply may be in subject to a shortage in sup ply or the governing body of the City determines there is need for conservation of City’s water re sources for any reason, the City may begin the progressive three (3) stage water conservation pro gram by declaring a water watch as described in section 3(a) or, in times of need and / or duress, the

governing body of the City may choose to declare any section of the program described in section 3 in effect at any time:

(a) Stage 1: Declaration of Water Watch. Whenever the gov erning body of the City finds that conditions indicate that the probability of a drought or some other condition causing a major water supply shortage is rising, it shall be empowered to declare, by resolution, that a water watch exists and that it shall take steps to inform the public and ask for voluntary reductions in water use. Such a watch shall be deemed to continue until it is declared by resolution of the governing body to have ended. The resolutions declaring the existence and end of a water watch shall be effective upon their publication in the offi cial city newspaper.

(b). Stage 2: Declaration of Wa ter Warning. Whenever the gov erning body of the City finds that drought conditions or some other condition causing a major water supply shortage are present and supplies are starting to decline, it shall be empowered to declare by resolution that a water warning exists and that it will recommend restrictions on nonessential uses during the period of warning.

Such a warning shall be deemed to continue until it is declared by resolution of the governing body to have ended. The resolutions declaring the beginning and end ing of the water warning shall be effective upon their publication in the official city newspaper. Pur suant to the approval of the Chief Engineer, Kansas Department of Agriculture - Division of Water Resources, the recommended restrictions on nonessential uses may be extended to private wells within the City limits.

(c). Stage 3: Declaration of Water Emergency. Whenever the governing body of the City finds that an emergency exists by reason of a shortage of water supply needed for essential uses, it shall be empowered to declare by resolution that a water supply emergency exists and that it will impose mandatory restrictions on water use during the period of the emergency. Such an emergency shall be deemed to continue until it is declared by resolution of the governing body to have ended.

The resolutions declaring the ex istence and end of a water supply emergency shall be effective upon their publication in the official city newspaper. Pursuant to the approval of the Chief Engineer, Kansas Department of Agriculture - Division of Water Resources, the mandatory restrictions on water use may be extended to private wells within the City limits.

Section 4. Voluntary Conser vation Measures. Upon the dec laration of a water watch or water warning as provided in Sections 3(a) or 3(b), the mayor (or the city manager) is authorized to call on all water consumers to employ voluntary water conservation measures to limit or eliminate nonessential water uses includ

ing, but not limited to, limitations on the following uses:

(a) Class 1 uses of water.

(b) Waste of water.

Section 5. Mandatory Conser vation Measures. Upon the dec laration of a water supply emer gency as provided in Section 3(c), the mayor (or the city manager or authorized city official) is also authorized to implement certain mandatory water conservation measures, including, but not limit ed to, the following conservation measures:

(a) Suspension of new connec tions to the City’s water distribu tion system, except connections of fire hydrants and those made pursuant to agreements entered into by the City prior to the effec tive date of the declaration of the emergency;

(b) Restrictions on the uses of water in one or more classes of water use as described in section 2(d), wholly or in part;

(c) Restrictions on the sales of water at coin-operated facilities or sites;

(d) The imposition of water ra tioning based on any reasonable formula including, but not limited to, the percentage of normal use and per capita or per consumer restrictions; Complete or partial bans on the waste of water; and Any combination of the mea sures in sections 5(a-e) as the governing body of the City or authorized city official may deem appropriate and / or necessary.

Section 6. Emergency Water Rates. Upon the declaration of a water supply emergency as pro vided in Section 3(c), the govern ing body of the City shall have the power to adopt emergency water rates by ordinance designed to conserve water supplies. Such emergency rates may provide for, but are not limited to:

(a) Higher charges for increas ing usage per unit of use (increas ing block rates);

(b) Uniform charges for water usage per unit of use (uniform unit rate); or

(c) Extra charges in excess of a specified level of water use (ex cess demand surcharge).

Section 7. Regulations. During the effective period of any water supply emergency as provided for in Section 3(c), the mayor (or city manager or water superintendent or other authorized city official) is empowered to promulgate such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this ordinance, any water supply emergency resolution, or emer gency water rate ordinance. Such regulations shall be subject to the approval of the governing body at its next regular or special meeting.

Section 8. Violations Discon nections and Penalties.

(a) If the mayor, city manager, water superintendent, or other authorized city official or officials charged with implementation and enforcement of this ordinance or a water supply emergency resolu tion learn of any violation of any water use restrictions imposed pursuant to Sections 5 or 7 of this

ordinance, a written notice of the violation shall be affixed to the property where the violation oc curred and the customer of record and/ or any other person known to the City to be responsible for the violation and / or the correc tion of said violation shall be pro vided with either actual or mailed notice. Said notice shall describe the violation(s) and order that the noted violation(s) be corrected, cured or abated immediately or within such specified time as the City determines is reasonable for such correction, cure or abate ment under the circumstances. In the event the order is not cured within the time period given in the notice, the City may terminate water service to the customer sub ject to the following procedures:

(1) The City shall give the cus tomer notice by mail or actual notice that water service will be discontinued within a specified time due to the violation(s) and that the customer will have the opportunity to appeal the termi nation by requesting a hearing scheduled before the City govern ing body or a city official designat ed as a hearing officer by the City governing body;

(2) If such a hearing is request ed by the customer charged with the violation, the customer shall be given a full opportunity to be heard by the City governing body or the city official designated as a hearing officer by the City gov erning body before termination is ordered; and

The City governing body or the city official designated as a hear ing officer by the City governing body shall make findings of fact and order whether service should continue or be terminated.

(b) A fee of $50.00 shall be paid for the reconnection of any water service terminated pursuant to subsection (c) Violations of this ordinance shall be a municipal offense and may be prosecuted in Municipal Court. Any person so charged and found guilty in Municipal court of violating the provisions of this ordinance shall be guilty of a mu nicipal offense. Each calendar day in which a violation is observed shall constitute a separate of fense. The penalty for an initial vi olation shall be a mandatory fine of up to $100.00. In addition, such customer may be required by the Court to serve a definite term of confinement in the city or coun ty jail which shall be fixed by the Court and which shall not exceed 1 days. The penalty for a second or subsequent conviction shall be a mandatory fine of $200.00. In ad dition, such customer shall serve a definite term of confinement in the city or county jail which shall be fixed by the Court and which shall not exceed 1 days.

Section 9. Emergency Termi nation. Nothing in this ordinance shall limit the ability of any prop erly authorized city official from terminating the supply of water to any or all customers upon the determination of such city official that emergency termination of

water service is required to protect the health and safety of the public or for any oth er emergency as required or authorized by ordinance or as deemed necessity of the City by such city official or the governing body of the City.

Section 10. Severability. If any provision of this ordi nance is declared unconsti tutional, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the constitutionality of the remainder of the ordinance and its applicability to other persons and circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

Section 11. Effective Date. This ordinance shall become effective upon its publication in the official city newspaper and repeals the previously adopted Water Emergency/ Drought Ordinance number

Passed by the governing body this 9TH day of Novem ber, 2022.

Ella Mae Crowell (Mayor’s Signature)

ATTEST: Michelle Altis (City Clerk’s Signature)

SEAL (11) 16

KC hires bench coach

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals have hired Tam pa Bay Rays field co ordinator Paul Hoover to serve as the bench coach for Matt Quatra ro.

The move gives the new Kansas City man ager a familiar sound ing board on his initial staff.

Hoover and Quatraro have known each other for more than 20 years dating to their days as teammates with Tri ple-A Durham.

They spent the past four years together on the staff of Rays man ager Kevin Cash, help ing the club make the postseason each season and reach the World Se ries in 2020.

The 46-year-old Hoover began his coach ing career in 2012 as the manager of the Gulf Coast League Rays.