The Iola Register, Dec. 16, 2022

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ACC focuses on early childhood education

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

Allen Community College is taking steps to grow its early childhood education program.

At the behest of Beth Toland, who has been in charge of the program since 2009, trustees voted Tuesday to add a program advocate for early childhood education starting in the spring.

The new position will assist in marketing early childhood education programs, continuing and supporting industry partnerships, and assisting students in applying at Allen.

The program is tailored for students for careers in work-

ing with young children.

Toland said she visited extensively with new college president Bruce Moses short-

A Christmas home away from home

na said.

By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register

Having a day care means getting to celebrate Christmas with children, years after your own are grown.

Donna Ross of Moran has been watching area children for more than 40 years. Each year at Christmastime, the children enjoy a big party. They exchange names and each brings a gift to give to another. Donna also gives

ly after Moses was hired at Allen. It was there, Toland said, that Moses challenged her to find ways to grow the

program, particularly in the northern tiers of Allen’s service area, such as around Topeka.

What Toland found was potential growth for providers dealing with the Hispanic population.

“In a time where we do not have enough support staff in K-12 or enough teachers in child care, we know a significant portion of our workforce is being shut out of jobs because they cannot access training and education needed to advance in the field,” Toland told ACC trustees. “Allen can open those doors for employees and new child care

Keystone Pipeline has history of spills, fines

By ALLISON KITE Kansas Reflector

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Federal regulators have issued warnings repeatedly over the life of the Keystone pipeline that operators aren’t doing enough to prevent corrosion and don’t follow proper construction procedures.

But despite a history of warnings and large spills, the Keystone pipeline failed

again last week, dumping 14,000 barrels — or 588,000 gallons — of oil in northern Kansas. It’s the largest spill since the pipeline began operations about a decade ago. After more than 20 spills, the crude oil pipeline’s Canadian owner, TC Energy, has paid just over $300,000 fines. That’s 0.2% of the more than $111 million in property damage it has caused. That

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES

each a gift. They play games, do arts and crafts projects, and enjoy refreshments. Parents also join in on the fun.

“We are a little family here. For the kids that come here, these are like their brothers and sisters,” Don-

“During COVID, when they couldn’t be together, they missed each other so much.”

Donna is licensed to watch 10 children. Three attend school during the day, and three more leave at noon. That means she has just four in the afternoons, which is a quieter time.

“It keeps you young,” she said of watching the chil-

Doing wonderful things with strings

Donna Ross, center, celebrates Christmas with her day-care kids. Front row, Harper Gabbert, Charlotte Lawson, Hudsyn Gabbert, Jewell Chapman; back, Caleb Lawson, Jaren Curl, Jerrica Curl, Hadlee Gabbert, Ross, Judson Curl, Raelyn Cook. COURTESY PHOTO

Beth Toland speaks about the early childhood education program at Allen Community College. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Once upon a Santa Santa Claus came to town on Wednesday to read stories with the Library Littles at the Iola Public Library. Several youngsters also sang Christmas tunes for Jolly Old Saint Nick. REGISTER/ RICHARD LUKEN

Iola Middle and High School orchestra students performed a concert on Wednesday evening at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center under the direction of Elizabeth Cunningham. At left, Elizabeth Maier offers a violin solo with “Allegro.” At right, high school orchestra students join forces with the middle school’s intermediate orchestra for “Scarborough Fair” and other numbers. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

State braces for spike in trifecta of illnesses during holiday season

COVID, flu and RSV patients fill hospitals

By RACHEL MIPRO Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — Health officials urge Kansans to get booster shots before the holidays, warning of a “trifecta” of illnesses spreading this year, including flu, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and COVID-19, and a limited number of hospital beds available to treat these illnesses.

Only 10.2% of Kansans have received a bivalent booster shot, according to data provided by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The number of Kansans who completed a vaccination series is sitting at 57.2%.

None of the counties in Kansas has a vaccination rate of more than 70%. Johnson County has the highest vaccination rate, at 68.6%, and the lowest is in Doniphan County, which is at 33.3% vaccination, according to KDHE data.

Steven Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System, said the numbers weren’t good during a Wednesday morning update on viral illnesses. He said Kansans should begin taking precautions, such as social distancing, masking and updating their booster shots.

“Something wicked this way comes, it feels like, when we just keep thinking about these different viral processes — be it flu, RSV and COVID,” Stites said.

The system treated 56 COVID-19 patients Wednesday, with four COVID-19 patients in

the ICU and one patient on a ventilator. Statewide, since Dec. 7, there have been 10 new COVID-related deaths and 4,153 new COVID-19 cases. From Nov. 30 to Dec. 7, there were 4,256 new COVID-19 cases reported, along with 13 new deaths.

Kansas has recorded 9,702 COVID-19 related deaths, with older demographics the most at risk. The median age for Kansans who died of COVID-19 is 77, according to the KDHE fatality summary.

Health officials said they were concerned about the declining number of adults older

than 65 who received the bivalent booster. In a Dec. 9 update on the Kansas COVID-19 situation, Jessica Kalender-Rich, a generic medicine specialist within the University of Kansas System, said older people were at higher risk of serious illness.

“We are definitely seeing more patients that are older get sicker,” Kalender-Rich said. “And whether that’s duration out from the vaccine or how their immune systems really respond as they change, as we age, either way, we’re seeing certainly a higher risk for those older adults.”

While COVID-19 is more contagious than the flu, many people are predicted to be affected by the flu this season.

Both COVID-19 and the flu can cause fatigue, fevers, coughs and shortness of breath. People most vulnerable to flu complications are young children, people with pre-existing health conditions, pregnant people and those older than 65.

“We are seeing a lot of sick kids each day — the respiratory illness sea-

son started earlier than usual and is hitting our region hard,” said Jennifer Watts, chief emergency management medical officer with Children’s Mercy Kansas City, in a Dec. 9 news release. “Like many pediatric hospitals, Children’s Mercy has been at or near capacity and we have not yet reached the peak of flu cases this winter.”

During Wednesday’s KU Health briefing,

Obituary

Lois Sanders

Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control for the system, said there has been a recent decline in RSV cases and hospitalizations, but influenza cases are still high.

“Overall, still a more significant number of hospitalizations for influenza itself than we have seen previously probably in most of our careers,” Hawkinson said.

Lois Jean Sanders, 77, of Iola, died Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, at Wesley Medical Center, Wichita.

Lois was born on Sept. 2, 1945, in Forest City, Iowa, to Maynard L. Eames and Emma A. (Jensen) Eames.

Lois married Darrell Turner on April 8, 1982. Darrell passed in 2002. Lois and Kenneth Sanders were married Nov. 25, 2006.

Lois is survived by her husband, Kenneth; daughter, Elaine (Landon) Kleeb, Centennial, Colo.; son, Darin (Lindsey) Turner, Tyler, Texas; and several grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives and friends.

A visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16 in The Venue at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service, 1883 U.S. 54, Iola. A funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home. Interment will follow in Highland Cemetery, Iola.

Memorials are suggested to Phoenix Hospice, and may be left with the funeral home.

Condolences may be left at www.feuerbornfuneral.com.

time to deal with this’: Ogallala Aquifer options discussed

By ALLISON KITE Kansas Reflector

COLBY — Kansas should scrap its de facto policy of draining the Ogallala Aquifer, a state board decided Wednesday.

Instead, the board said, the Kansas government should take steps to stop the decline of the aquifer, which supplies water to one-sixth of the world’s grain supply, and save it for future generations.

“It has taken decades for this to be said formally in writing by an official state body,” said Connie Owen, director of the Kansas Water Office. “… This is nothing less than historic.”

Saving the water source that supports Western Kansas’ economy and communities may seem like an obvious stance to take, but for about 70 years, the state’s policies and management decisions have reflected the idea that eventually, the Ogallala would dry up, said Earl Lewis, Kansas’ chief engineer.

The Kansas Water Authority, which is made up of agricultural and industrial water users and utilities, wants to chart a new course. It voted almost unanimously Wednesday to recommend that the state scrap the policy of “planned depletion.”

“It’s time to deal with this while we still have some choices,” said John Bailey, a member of the Kansas Water Authority from Pittsburg. “If we don’t, we’re going to find ourselves in a very bad situation.”

The Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world’s largest underground sources of fresh water, stretches across parts of eight states from South Dakota to Texas. After World War II farmers started pumping water from it to irrigate crops in arid western Kansas, establishing the region as a booming farming

economy. For decades, the water was used with little thought of ensuring enough remained for future generations.

But now, the water is running out. Some parts of the aquifer have half the water they had before irrigation on the aquifer began. Parts of western Kansas have an estimated 10 years of water left. There’s little surface water since streams that reliably flowed through the area in 1961 all but disappeared, according to the Kansas Geological Survey.

Draining the aquifer would fundamentally change life in western Kansas. Farm properties would lose their value if there’s no water to grow a crop. Families could lose their livelihoods and communities could disappear.

But while it’s widely accepted that the Ogallala is essential to western Kansas, Kansas Water Authority chairwoman Dawn Buehler said many farmers have been waiting on the government to tell them it’s time to do something.

“We’ve heard that over and over from people — that, ‘Well, you know, we’re not at a dangerous zone yet because they’ll let us know when it’s time,’ ” Buehler said.

She continued: “I think the importance of today was saying, ‘It’s

time.’ ”

A vote to change course

The Kansas Water Authority, which meets roughly every two months in different locations around the state, voted Wednesday to place language in the body’s annual report to the governor and legislature saying the “policy of planned depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer is no longer in the best interest of the state of Kansas.”

The report will also recommend the state create a formal process to establish goals and actions to “halt the decline

of the Ogallala Aquifer while promoting flexible and innovative management within a timeframe that achieves agricultural productivity, thriving economies and vibrant communities — now and for future generations of Kansans.”

It had wide support among the authority members.

“My opinion of this is that it should have been done 15 years ago or 20,” said Lynn Goossen, a farmer from Colby who serves on the Kansas Water Authority and the board of the groundwater management district in northwest Kansas.

Goossen said there are parts of Kansas where the aquifer still has abundant water left but that people are “sticking their heads in the sand” rather than saving it.

Some water users have pursued a longshot idea to draw water from the Missouri River via an aqueduct to southwest Kansas. They trucked 6,000 gallons of water from northeast Kansas across the state as a “proof of concept.”

The goal to “halt” the decline of the aquifer gave pause to one member of the authority who asked that the statement instead say officials should “address” the decline of the aquifer.

Randy Hayzlett, a farmer and rancher from Lakin who serves on the authority, was the lone vote against the language, though the subsequent vote to send the full annual report to policymakers was unanimous.

Hayzlett said he couldn’t support establishing the goal with-

out details about what it would mean to “halt” the decline of the aquifer.

“That’s a pretty strong word, and it’s going to affect a lot of people,” he said.

Hayzlett said he wanted to do everything possible to remedy the decline of the Ogallala but didn’t want to throw a word out there without a plan to achieve it.

“Is it going to halt declining the aquifer? Is it going to halt the economy of western Kansas?” he said. “Just what’s it going to put a cap on and then how are we going to get there?”

Lewis said Kansas has talked about the issue of the Ogallala Aquifer for 50 years. If authority members wait for a plan, he said, they’ll get bogged down in the details.

“What you’re doing is really setting a course,” Lewis said. “You’re saying, ‘I want to go in that direction. … I don’t know how I’m going to get there and it’s going to take a lot of us working together to get there.’

With

a “trifecta” of illnesses circulating in Kansas, health officials advise taking safety precautions and getting updated booster shots. GETTY IMAGES VIA KANSAS REFLECTOR

‘It’s

Dawn Buehler, chairwoman of the Kansas Water Authority, presides over a meeting Wednesday in Colby. The authority voted to adopt language saying Kansas should not deplete the Ogallala Aquifer. KANSAS REFLECTOR/ALLISON KITE

War in Ukraine hinges on who gets more rockets and shells first

By MARC CHAMPION Bloomberg News/TNS

The potential addition of Patriot missile defense batteries to Ukraine’s arsenal comes as Kyiv and Moscow both face a critical question with the war in its 10th month: Can they secure enough missiles and artillery through winter to prevail?

A combination of cold, but still wet weather and Russian consolidation along defensive lines has slowed advances by either side on Ukraine’s battlefields, but not the war’s intensity. The conflict continues to churn through limited reserves of troops and munitions at a frightening pace.

The big worry now for Russia this winter is to avoid ceding more territory to Ukrainian counter-offensives, according to three people close to the Kremlin and the Russian defense ministry. They cited concerns that the supply of ammunition and weapons has been too slow to ensure Russia’s forces hold their ground.

Which side runs low first could decide whether Ukraine or Russia emerges in the spring with the strategic initiative to potentially end

the war on its terms.

The two sides have at times fired in excess of 24,000 artillery shells per day, according to a November report by the Royal United Services Institute, a UK think tank, as well as dozens of scarce long-range missiles, attack drones and air-defense munitions. The high fire rates for artillery represent “a much larger consumption than NATO militaries would be able to sustain,” said Nick Reynolds, who co-authored the report.

“Ukraine needs constant artillery support with guns and shells,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told allies in a vid-

eo-linked appeal for more supplies at a Group of Seven leaders meeting on Monday. “We need more rocket artillery and more longrange missiles.”

The war has had two distinct theaters since at least mid-October, when Russia began a systematic campaign to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with a mix of longer range missiles and attack drones. On Tuesday, U.S. officials said America is poised to send Patriot air and missile defense batteries to Ukraine, pending final approval from President Joe Biden.

An announcement on that could come soon — though with its Sovi-

Ross: Daycare celebrates holiday

Continued from A1

dren.

“They are the funniest little people.”

About 10 years ago, she tried to count how many children she has watched. She surpassed 100 before giving up.

Often, children come to her day care as infants and stay until middle school age, around 12. That means there isn’t a lot of turnover, but after 40 years, she’s taken care of quite a few youngsters in the area.

She still keeps in touch with some of them.

“My first day-care kid is now 45 and a teacher in western Kansas,” she said, exhibiting the same kind of pride as talking about her own children.

AND SPEAKING of her own children, Donna remembers how spe-

cial Christmas was for them, as well.

“There were nights I’d have to stay up all night, waiting for my kids to go to sleep because they were so excited for Santa to come,” she recalled. “I don’t think they ever understood why Mommy was exhausted, but I wanted to keep that magic going for as long as I could.”

Daughter Brandie McQueen and her husband, Nick, live in Lindsborg, where she is a physician recruiter for Salina Regional Health Center.

Son Chris Barker and his wife, Amy, live in Manhattan with their four children Mason, Emma, Kate and Lucy. He is a youth pastor at Faith Manhattan.

Donna remembers one particular Christmas about 40 years ago, when Cabbage Patch dolls were popular

and her daughter was around the age of 5.

“She wanted a Cabbage Patch doll and you couldn’t get them anywhere,” Donna said. “She was so serious. She was being good. She thought Santa would bring her one.”

Worried that Santa wouldn’t be able to find one of the dolls, Donna set about making one. She stayed up late every night to work on it.

Then she got a call from George Isaac, owner of Moran’s Western Auto store.

“You’re not going to believe this,” he told Donna. “A Cabbage Patch doll came in on the truck. It’s yours if you want it.”

“I would have paid a million dollars for it,” Donna laughed. “That’s one of my favorite memories, how that worked out.”

et-era stocks of munitions depleted, Ukraine will need more than Patriots.

The U.S. Army has said it will increase production of 155mm artillery shells to 20,000 per month, from 14,000, by the spring, and to 40,000 per month by 2025. The estimated Ukrainian usage is already around 100,000 shells per month. For Russia, RUSI estimates its forces have been firing an average of 20,000 artillery shells

4,000.

Tank shells are another concern for Ukraine, as production lines for Soviet-model vehicles are scarce. Zelenskyy made an urgent plea for “modern” tanks in his address, a demand driven in part by the fact that NATO standard tanks would come with a ready pipeline of ammunition.

Meanwhile in Moscow, there are worries its military is spending too many hard-to-replenish resources to little effect, and with no clear strategy to win the war. That’s even as its forces make incremental gains around the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, and its arms factories work around the clock.

President Vladimir Putin this month canceled his annual marathon press conference, in what several officials working in or close to the Kremlin described as evidence he recognizes the lack of gains to report.

If Ukraine’s allies continue or increase

to Zelenskyy’s administration, it will be very difficult for Russian forces to avoid further withdrawals, according to a retired senior officer and defense analyst, who asked not to be identified. Criticism of the Russian war effort is punishable by jail.

Outside estimates of the state of Russia’s artillery stocks vary widely. In a lecture at RUSI late Wednesday, the UK’s Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said Russia faced a “critical shortage of artillery munitions,” having planned for only a 30 day war.

“This means that their ability to conduct successful offensive ground operations is rapidly diminishing.”Yet just days earlier, the head of Estonia’s defense intelligence center estimated Russia still had about 10 million artillery shells in stock and was producing more at a rate of about 3.4 million per year. That, he warned, would allow Russia to continue the war for at

This photograph, taken on Dec. 13, 2022, shows a destroyed ammunition depot belonging to the Russian army on the outskirts of Izyum, Kharkiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (SERGEY BOBOK/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES/TNS)

Pipeline: 14,000 barrels of oil spilled into creek and farmland

doesn’t include the damage from its latest spill, which has yet to be totaled.

“This has been a long-standing systemic problem,” Kenneth Clarkson, a spokesman for Pipeline Safety Trust, said in a statement. “The fines are just not meaningful to these extremely profitable operators.”

The Keystone pipeline carries crude oil from Canada to Texas and Illinois with one branch running across northeast Kansas and another south through central Kansas. The system drew controversy for years because of a proposed extension, called the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would have run through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska before tying into the existing system near the Kansas border.

In its history, the pipeline has spilled more than 26,000 barrels of oil, including last week’s spill, which is larger than all its others combined. It occurred near Washington, Kansas, not far from the Nebraska border. Oil sprayed onto farmland and flowed into Mill Creek, turning the water black.

Following the spill, TC Energy deployed crews to build a dam to prevent the oil from traveling downstream along Mill Creek. They’ve been working to vacuum the oil from the creek.

As of Monday evening, TC Energy said it had removed 2,598

barrels of oil and water from Mill Creek.

“Vacuum trucks and our crews are operating around the clock to drive this effort…oil has not breached the containment area,” TC Energy said in a statement.

TC Energy has been providing periodic updates in news releases since the spill announcing more and more staff have responded to the spill. It increased its crew to more than 250 on Sunday. Now, it says more than 300 personnel are on site, including third-party environmental specialists, who it will not identify.

“We do not have more to share on third-parties at this time,” it said when asked.

State and local emergency management personnel and the Environmental Protection Agency are also overseeing cleanup.

The spill has drawn attention to the pipeline

once again and sparked criticism from environmentalists and pipeline safety specialists.

Zack Pistora, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, said in an email that federal records “clearly (indicate) a problematic history of violations, penalties and corrective actions associated with the Keystone pipeline.”

“The fact that this spill is much greater than all the previous spills combined, that the frequency of large spills is increasing and that the root cause failure has yet to be identified ought to give the company and regulators serious consternation about this pipeline’s future,” Pistora said.

Pistora gave credit to federal regulators for providing oversight to the pipeline.

“But at some point, the prevalence of major spills, required corrective actions and the growing risk of pipe-

line failure becomes too great to continue putting public safety and the environment in jeopardy,” Pistora said.

When asked about its history and why failures keep occurring, TC Energy said in a statement that it makes “ongoing investments in pipeline monitoring systems, planned maintenance, pipeline integrity management and emergency preparedness.”

“Our focus is the safe operation of our system in an environmentally responsible manner,” the company said. “We take every incident very seriously. No incident is ever acceptable to us.”

A history of failures

The section of the Keystone pipeline running from Steele City, Nebraska, to Patoka, Illinois, began operations in the summer of 2010, but it didn’t install corrosion protection for more than two years,

federal documents show.

And what was installed was not properly designed.

In 2012, the pipeline’s operator conducted an inspection and found that four spots along the pipeline had experienced anywhere from 61% to 97% metal loss. One area had a wall thickness of less than 1/64 of an inch.

At the same time, the pipeline company failed to correct deficiencies in its corrosion control for years, including 56 deficiencies along the pipeline from Nebraska to Illinois and six between Nebraska and Oklahoma.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration levied a fine of $135,400. In warning letters early in the pipeline’s operation, PHMSA said Keystone failed to perform welding appropriately and failed to install the pipeline “in a manner that minimizes the possibility of damage to the pipe.”

In 2016, it failed to coat the pipeline to prevent atmospheric corrosion, which was a violation of its own procedures, federal documents show. Earlier this year, the federal government warned that shutdown devices along the Keystone pipeline aren’t properly labeled and an employee couldn’t identify the device during an inspection.

Some of the federal government’s warnings have later manifested in

spills.

Corrosion caused the Keystone pipeline to spill 442 barrels of crude oil at a facility in Beaumont, Texas, in 2020. TC Energy reported to the federal government that it had been focused on mitigating corrosion along the main pipeline, not the delivery facility in Beaumont.

Most of Keystone’s spills have been attributed to mechanical or equipment failures.

A 2019 spill in Niagara, North Dakota, was attributed to a manufacturing problem that eventually led the joint to crack. As a result, 4,500 barrels of oil — close to 200,000 gallons — caused property damage totaling more than $39 million.

Another material failure caused by construction or installation led to a spill of almost 6,600 barrels in South Dakota in 2017, causing $44.8 million in damage.

It’s unclear the total damage caused by Keystone’s spill in Kansas, but farmers have lost pasture temporarily to the oil spill.

Kansas State Rep. Lisa Moser said on Facebook that five landowners were directly affected and nine more have staging areas on their properties. She said all 14 landowners are being paid as they are directly or indirectly being affected by the spill.

TC Energy said in a statement that its efforts at the spill site in Kansas “will continue until we have fully remediated the site.”

ACC: Advocate added to early childhood education program

providers.”

But with 180 students in the program already, Toland noted she is stretched thin when it comes to seeing those numbers grow.

“I don’t have the manpower to do this,” she said. “In order to grow this program, we have to have this person.”

The cost of hiring a new employee will be paid for through higher enrollment numbers, Toland predicted. Even better, because ECE programs are considered technical training, Allen will receive additional Perkins Grant funding.

The new staffer would be bilingual.

“When you look at the program student demographics, you can clearly see Allen excels

at educating working students in our early childhood education,” Toland continued. “We have a significant portion of our service area that would benefit from this opportunity.

“We have a disproportionate number of students, sitting out there in our system who need help,” she said. “They don’t understand where to get their high school transcripts. They don’t understand how to improve their citizenship. They look at this paperwork, and it’s cumbersome, so they just ignore it and go along with life.”

That’s where much of Toland’s success has come from, she added.

“I’ve worked with them on financial aid and figuring out the ins

and outs.”

Moses and Trustee Lonnie Larson echoed Toland’s wish for the new position.

“I’m 100% on board with this,” Moses said. “The work is well thought out and very strategic.”

Moses and Toland expect most of the students will be taught via online or through hybrid classes, with enrollment coming from northeast, south-central and western Kansas, all of which have a noted dearth of early childhood educators.

Larson noted the early childhood education program offers Allen a chance to make the community more aware ACC fills a need in the community through career and technical edu-

cation.

“Community colleges need to step up and show their role in CTE,” Larson said. “The perception of the public is they don’t see that with community colleges.”

TRUSTEES voted Tuesday to place head women’s basketball coach Leslie Crane on administrative leave. No reason was given for the order.

In other personnel actions, trustees accepted the retirement announcement of Roberta Nickell as director of finance and operations,

effective July 1. They also approved Tosca Harris’s request to move up her retirement from March to Jan. 1. Harris has served as dean for ACC’s Iola campus and interim vice president for academic affairs.

Trustees also accepted the resignation of assistant volleyball coach Sarah Baker, and hired Stephen Ebel as director of institutional effectiveness and research.

IN OTHER business, the board:

— Accepted Phil Jarred’s financial audit report for the 2021-22

school year, which found no irregularities.

— Approved bids from Sonic Equipment Co., Iola, and Bauman’s Furniture, Garnett, for new seats and carpeting for the ACC Theatre, at a cost totaling $58,500.

— Approved a bid from Overhead Door Co., Wichita, to replace doors near the maintenance area at a cost of about $22,700.

— Tweaked the college’s winter break policy to allow employees a day off after New Year’s Day when Jan. 1 falls on a weekend, such as the upcoming holiday.

TC Energy response staging area on Dec. 10, 2022, in Washington County, Kansas. (TC ENERGY CORPORATION)

The Iola Register

~ Journalism that makes a difference

Retiring Roy Blunt a good GOP role model

When Roy Blunt stood up to give his farewell address in the U.S. Senate, there was no anger, bluster or “he-saidwhat?” moments.

“Missouri is where the country comes together. The north meets the south, the east meets the west,” he said on the Senate floor. “Finding someone on the other side to work with generates the most lasting results. You don’t have to agree on everything to work together. You just have to work on one thing.”

His remarks were thoughtful, principled and gracious — words that aren’t often associated with politics these days. Perhaps the former history teacher, who went on to serve two terms in the U.S. Senate, knows that history won’t be written in 280-character salvos.

It was hard to separate one of Blunt’s final Senate acts from the words and deeds of two other Republicans. On the same day as Blunt’s speech, Herschel Walker lost his runoff election for the U.S. Senate in Georgia. The result brings a merciful end to a seemingly endless campaign that at one point devolved into a monologue on the attributes of werewolves and vampires. People of Georgia: Enjoy the silence.

Speaking of silence, there is very little of it from former President Donald Trump, a man whose inability to get over his election defeat in 2020 has him advocating for the suspension of the Constitution. Those who try to explain it away should consider Trump’s own words: “A Mas-

sive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”

Yes, big media and big tech dropped the ball on Hunter Biden coverage, but that doesn’t change the fact Republicans must consider someone other than Trump for president in 2024, both in terms of electability among swing voters and also due to fitness for office. A president is required to uphold the Constitution, not urge revisions to suit a personal preference.

What Republicans need is someone like... Roy Blunt.

Surely, the retiring senator doesn’t want anything to do with that. But Republicans would be wise to lean toward someone like Blunt who displays strong conservative convictions, an appreciation of free enterprise and a rule of law, advocacy for a strong defense and secure borders and a willingness to compromise on occasion. His recent vote in support of legislation cementing federal protection for same-sex marriage shows an ability to moderate previously held views as society changes, an admirable trait.

He also was strong on the face-to-face aspect of politics, appearing in these parts more than 50 times and advocating for such locally important issues as levee repair, air base funding and money for mental health.

While we don’t expect to see much more of Blunt, we would hope to see more like him.

— St. Joseph News-Press

The French exception

It was branded the most expensive way to boil water. Not so long ago, many dismissed nuclear power as pricey and doomed, at least in the West. Yet today nuclear energy is crucial once again. In the short run, Europe’s ability to get through the winter energy crunch depends in part on whether France’s aging fleet of nuclear reactors can be cranked up to operate nearer full capacity. And in the long run, investment and innovation in nuclear power appear to be part of the answer to both Vladimir Putin’s energy war and climate change: an almost carbon-free way to generate a steady and controllable flow of electricity to work alongside intermittent solar and wind generation.

sions, according to the International Energy Agency.

Gillibrand’s long march

Kirsten Gillibrand would not give up. The New York senator labored for a decade to reform how the military justice system works (and doesn’t work). And now she has prevailed. The thousands of annual cases of sexual assault and rape in the ranks will be handled like crimes among civilians, not brushed aside or even ignored by the brass.

The generals and the admirals, stuck in their traditions, wanted to keep military commanders in charge of the prosecutions of major crimes instead of handing it to independent legal professionals, as should have happened long ago. And with the Pentagon’s resistance came resistance from the Pentagon’s pals on Capitol Hill, notably Jack Reed, the West Pointer from Rhode Island chairing the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Even though Gillibrand had a bipartisan two-thirds of the Senate as cosponsors of her Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act, Reed was too powerful and always thwarted the reforms. But Gillibrand was the tougher of the two and this year she won across the

board.

Under the measures just tucked into the defense authorization bill, all the judicial powers will be removed from commanders in major crimes, including murder and kidnapping. No longer will officers oversee prosecutions and jury selection in courts martial will be randomized.

The details will determine exactly which offenses will be transferred from the old boy’s club, often without any legal training, to professional prosecutors. A strict chain of command is necessary in wartime as well as in a peacetime military dependent on following orders. But Lady Justice is blind for a reason, not to favor one side over the other in a legal dispute, including a criminal matter. Who you are and who you know shouldn’t be a factor when serious allegations are at issue.

It shouldn’t have taken so very long for Gillibrand to achieve what was obvious at the outset. But senator by senator, she argued her just cause for years. Until this year, when even Reed had to finally agree that this is the better way.

— New York Daily News

As a result, countries around the world are once again embracing nuclear power, which today accounts for 25% of electricity generation in the European Union, and 10% around the world. Money is flooding into research and startups, although excitement this week over the results of a nuclear-fusion experiment at America’s National Ignition Facility has got far ahead of itself — years’ or decades’ more work will be needed to discover whether the concept is viable. Despite the industry’s record of cost overruns, Britain and France are keen to build large new conventional plants and Germany has postponed closing its reactors this year. India’s state-controlled power firm, NTPC, is planning lots of new nuclear capacity, according to Bloomberg. Nuclear generation will have to double by 2050 if the world is to reach net-zero emis-

As countries choose whether to bet on nuclear power, they ought to look at France, the West’s leader. After the first oil shock in 1973, it built enough reactors to supply about 70% of its power. Yet its experience has been hard. Maintenance problems mean that the fleet has been operating below its theoretical capacity this year, contributing to a Europe-wide spike in power prices. The main company, EDF, has accumulated a staggering $350 billion of liabilities, is expected to make $19 billion of pre-tax losses this year and is about to be fully nationalized. And the supply of new reactors has stalled. Of the six built since 1999 that are of the latest French design — five abroad and one at home — only the two built in China are generating electricity.

FRANCE HOLDS lessons for nuclear planners elsewhere. One is the case for continuous investment and innovation. At first France built too many reactors too quickly and then not enough. Many now need maintenance all at once. The lull in orders led to a loss of skills and expertise, as employees retired or left. Costs ballooned and innovation flagged. To fix its plants today, EDF is flying in welders from America and Canada. Only now has France opted for a well-spaced program of three pairs of reactors to be built no more than four years apart.

Another lesson lies in how France’s planners rammed through their ambitious nuclear program without securing broad public support. The nuclear industry

became a state within a state, with an elite corps of engineers who were not given to self-doubt or subject to enough scrutiny. That lack of support eventually led to inconsistent policy as, under pressure from the greens, the socialists reversed the expansion. For an industry charged with creating giant assets that last for at least 50 years, such volatility can be crippling.

A final lesson is about diversification. France’s obsession with nuclear power led it to downplay renewables. Today solar and wind drive 9% of its power supply, compared with 25% in Britain. In most countries this logic of diversification works in the other direction. By boosting nuclear-power generation, alongside the growth in renewables that is already under way, they could achieve a more balanced, low-carbon energy mix. Integrating national energy markets with those of neighboring countries — something France has been wary of — can help increase resilience, too.

Chain reaction

The loss of Western competence helps explain a loss of market share. Of the 31 reactors that started construction since 2017, 27 used Chinese or Russian designs. Now, amid an energy crunch, opinion on nuclear power is shifting. In France fully two-thirds of people now think there is a nuclear future. French elites have had an emotional, almost ideological attachment to nuclear energy, but nuclear and renewables are not enemies, as some in Paris seem to believe. The world needs both.

— The Economist, London

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

70 Years Ago December 1952

The state plan for building new armories in towns with national guard units was described to the Iola City Commission by Maj. Dale Page, administrative assistant of the Kansas National Guard. He believes that a new home should be provided for the headquarters battery of the 195th F.

A. Group stationed here. Lt. Dewey Peck is commander of the unit. The armory would have exterior dimensions of 114 by 103 feet. It would be brick with a low silhouette and modernistic design. Major Page said the state will approve any feasible site, providing that it is not in an area which was flooded in 1951. The city must provide the land.

*****

Seventy-three representatives from 10 different towns, including seven from Iola, attended the annual Cottonwood-Neosho Flood Control Association at Chanute yesterday afternoon. Officers for the coming year were elected: from Iola, Tony Immel was elected secretary-treasurer and Angelo Scott was elected a director.

As the world turns back to nuclear power, it should heed the lessons from France

Wolf Creek generating station outside of Burlington, Kan., has been online since 1985. The plant generates electricity for an approximate 800,000 homes. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WOLF CREEK NUCLEAR OPERATING CORP.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has fought tirelessly for military justice reforms. ABACA PRESS/TNS

Iola Boy Scout activities ahead

Ave.

Parents and youngsters from kindergarten through sixth grade are

invited to attend. In addition, the Scouts will be in downtown Iola from 6:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday to sing Christmas carols for the community. They’ll also have tubs of uncooked popcorn for sale.

Families pick up pieces from storms

KEITHVILLE, La.

(AP) — A storm system that spawned dozens of reported tornadoes from Texas to the Florida Panhandle was all but done with the South on Thursday after killing at least three people and uprooting families across Louisiana, where some homes were blown into pieces.

Elsewhere, heavy snow and high winds meant more blizzards in the northern Midwest from the Dakotas through Michigan, and more ice and snow causing trouble in places from the Appalachians through New England.

The National Weather Service can take days to confirm whether destructive winds were in fact tornadoes, but the impact was clear in places like Caddo Parish, Louisiana, where a man went out for groceries and returned to discover his mobile home was gone, and with it, his wife and son.

“You go to search a house and the house isn’t even there, so where do you search?”

Gov. John Bel Edwards said as he toured the mile-long path of destruction in Keithville, south of Shreveport.

The body of 8-yearold Nikolus Little was found in the woods. The body of his mother, Yoshiko A. Smith, 30, was discovered later, under storm debris. “He just went to go shopping for his family, came home and the house was gone,” Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Sgt. Casey Jones said.

Presley Stevens and her daughter survived the Keithville storm in a bedroom closet, holding the door shut as powerful winds tore their mobile home apart.

“It was like a loud whooshing sound,” Stevens told KTBS-TV. “I heard all our stuff flying and smacking into stuff and our windows busting out.”

An outpouring of support was evident in Union Parish, near the Arkansas line, where a gymnasium was busy with volunteers and survivors going

through stacks of donated clothing. Farmerville Mayor John Crow said an apartment complex where 50 families lived was badly damaged, a neighboring trailer park with about 10 homes was wiped out, and about 30 homes were damaged along nearby Lake D’Arbonne.

Apparel shows Mustang Pride

Officials revise tool to track obesity

By JONEL ALECIA The Associated Press

U.S. health officials have revised a tool to track the rising cases of severe obesity among children who were previously off the charts.

Updated growth charts released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now extend to a body mass index of 60 — up from previous charts that stopped at a BMI of 37, with additional categories to track obesity in kids ages 2 to 19.

In recent decades, severe obesity among children in America has nearly quadrupled, experts said.

“We noticed a decade ago that we were kind of outstripping our growth charts,” said Dr. Tom Inge, who directs the weight loss surgery program at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

The CDC charts are the most widely used tool in the U.S. to track growth and development in kids.

Parents are used to discussing the progress of their children’s growth from the time they are babies, noted the CDC’s Dr. Alyson Goodman. The new charts will be “extremely helpful” in guiding better conversations between parents and health care providers, she said.

“You use these charts as a visual aid,” Goodman said. The old charts had

been used since 2000.

They were based on data from U.S. surveys conducted from 1963 to 1994, when far fewer children were obese, let alone severely obese, said Cynthia Ogden, a CDC epidemiologist. Today, about 4.5 million children — about 6% — fall into that category

Growth charts show patterns of development by age, expressed in BMI, a calculation of height and weight, and also in curves called percentiles. Unlike adults, children are not classified as obese or severely obese based on a strict BMI cutoff, Inge noted.

Instead, kids are described as obese based on percentiles — where they fall compared to other kids their age.

A child is considered obese if they reach the 95th percentile on the growth charts, and severely obese at 120% of that mark — or with a BMI of 35 or higher, according to the CDC.

For instance, a 17-yearold boy who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 250 pounds would have a BMI of 38 and be described as severely obese.

The old charts didn’t include children like Bryan Alcala of Aurora, Illinois, who first sought help in 2019 as a high school freshman who was 5 feet, 5 inches and weighed about 300 pounds.

“That was when it kind of got out of control,” recalled Alcala.

Children like Alcala, with BMIs of 45, 50 or higher, topped out on the CDC charts, making it difficult to assess their status or properly plot their progress, often delaying treatment, Inge said.

“It’s like driving a car at night with no headlights and no dashboard,” Inge said. “You don’t know where they are with regard to their peers.”

However, one expert who questions the use of BMI to assess adults, said doctors need to be careful using the new charts with kids. They should focus on behaviors that drive weight gain, taking care not to stigmatize kids and families, said Dr. Tracy Richmond, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Iola Elementary School second-graders in Jackie McIntyre’s class were given a special gift Tuesday in the form of “Mustang Pride” shirts purchased by McIntyre’s parents, Iolans Jack and Beverly Franklin. The shirts were designed by Iola High School students in Emily Sigg’s Stang Designs program. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Allen County area top sports moments of 2022

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

The holiday season is here and 2022 will soon be in the books. There were a number of top sports moments, athletes, teams and highlight-filled games to keep the Allen County area entertained throughout the year.

Here’s our take of some of the best moments, athletes and games from 2022.

Allen men’s basketball

The Red Devils enjoyed quite the season by qualifying for NJCAA Division II National Tournament in Danville, Ill.

Allen advanced to the national tournament after taking down Johnson County in the Region VI championship game, 74-72. The regional title was the Devils’ first since 1989.

Iola’s Brett Willis sets school’s 100m record

Mustang senior Brett Willis capitalized on his appearance at the Kansas State Track and Field Championships last spring.

Willis secured second place in the Class 4A 100-meter sprint with a time of 10.74 seconds. It was a neck-andneck race. Willis finished only .06 seconds behind Chanute’s Rawley Chard and was .11 seconds ahead of Bishop Miege’s Jaylen Burch.

The time set a new record in the event for Iola High School.

Willis then went on to finish in fourth place in the 200-meter dash in 23.73 seconds to cap an impressive high school career.

Willis signed to run track at Emporia State University

Chiefs getting healthy before Houston

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)

— The Chiefs could set a franchise record Sunday in Houston with their 19th consecutive game of at least 300 yards of offense, and in the past eight of them, Patrick Mahomes and Co. have topped the 400-yard mark. All without two of their top wide receivers.

That could change soon: The Chiefs hope Kadarius Toney, who practiced last week after a hamstring injury but was unavailable against the Broncos, will get back on the field for the first time in nearly a month. And they could have fellow wide receiver Mecole Hardman back in short order after an abdominal injury landed him on injured reserve.

“Getting Mecole and KT back will just add another dimension. They can do jet sweeps and stuff like that, but adding their speed, teams have to honor that,” Mahomes said Wednesday. “If you add speed to any offense that those two guys have, it really opens up everybody else, because you have to account for those two guys on every play.”

Toney, who is most likely to play against the Texans, only appeared in two games after his trade from the Giants to Kansas City when he got hurt against the Chargers. But signs were pointing to the 2021 first-round pick being an impact player, especially after hauling in four catches for 57 yards and a score the prior week against the Jaguars.

His ability to run jet sweeps, which Tyreek Hill ran so successfully for years, added another element to the offense.

“He had a little bit of a

ramp-up last week, which was good,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “Came out of that feeling pretty good. We’ll see how he does this week and make a decision down the road here. Take it day by day, see how he does.”

It’s unclear how soon Hardman will be able to help what is already the league’s second-highest scoring offense.

He was likewise in the midst of a productive stretch, scoring touchdowns in three straight

dash with a time of 24.07 seconds. Janae took fourth place in the triple jump and eighth place in the long jump.

The siblings are still on the younger side of the high school roster. Jaedon is a sophomore and Janae a junior.

Iola baseball earns state bid

The Iola High baseball team made it a year to remember when they rushed to the 4A state baseball tournament after sweeping their competition at the regionals tournament. The Mustangs finished with a 16-5 overall record and lost to Ottawa at state, 5-3.

Last year’s playoff victories for Iola came against

Baldwin, 13-1, as well as to Rock Creek, 5-0. Mustang

Jarrett Herrmann led his team at the plate where he hit to the tune of a .704 batting average and knocked in 19 hits, 20 runs and two home runs. Korbin Cloud was the man on the mound who finished the season with a teambest 0.47 ERA in 15 innings.

Crest baseball finishes fourth at state tournament

Last season was a special one for the Crest baseball team when they reached the Class 2A-1A state tournament and placed in fourth overall after falling to Valley Falls, 16-6.

The Lancers will be back again this upcoming spring with much of the talent they had last season including senior pitcher Trevor Church, Stetson Setter, Jack White and Holden Barker. Crest head coach Roland Weir was also named the Co-Class 2-1A coach of the year for his team’s accomplishments.

Setter mashed a .527 batting average and Church held a 0.74 ERA.

Iola cross country sends three to state meet

The Iola High cross country team consisted of a core nucleus of runners this fall.

Jesse Taylor, Kaster Trabuc and Cole Moyer each reached the state meet after finishing fourth as a team at the regional meet in Chanute taking eighth, ninth and 10th place, respectively.

The Mustangs were also aided by senior Travis Wanker who ran the best race of his high school career at the league meet in Osawatomie, finishing with a time of

France, Argentina match up in World Cup finale

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — World Cup history is beckoning for France, star player Kylian Mbappé and coach Didier Deschamps.

When France walks on the field Sunday for the tournament final against Argentina and Lionel Messi, soccer lore is waiting to be written for the team.

Les Bleus could be the first winner of back-to-back titles for 60 years since Brazil did it 1958 and 1962.

The 23-year-old Mbappé would become the youngest player with two World Cup wins since Pelé accomplished that feat at age 21.

Deschamps would be the first man to coach two world champion teams since Vittorio Pozzo did it with Italy in 1934 and 1938.

“As for me, I’m not the most important person. It’s the French team,” said Deschamps, who is worthy of his own chapter in World Cup history.

He lifted the trophy in Paris as the team’s captain when France first won the World Cup in 1998. He won it as coach in 2018, and now he

is on the brink of getting a third.

“Obviously, I’m proud. I know, everyone knows, we have the chance to win another title,” Deschamps said Thursday after beating Morocco in the semifinals.

France is playing in a fourth final in a span of seven tournaments — including the 2006 final lost to Italy in a penalty shootout after Zinedine Zidane was sent off. It’s a dynastic era not seen since Brazil’s two decades at the top through 1970.

That team typified by Pelé’s brilliance won all three finals it reached starting in 1958, and also played in the decisive last match of the 1950 tournament, which was lost against Uruguay in Rio de Janeiro.

Morocco’s coach was quick to anoint France and Mbappé after they ended his team’s historic run as the first African team in a semifinal.

“Over the past 20 years you can say France is the top footballing country in the world,” said Walid Regragui, who is French-born and played most

where he is currently a member of the track team.

Marmaton Valley siblings Jaedon and Janae Granere

The Graneres impressed at the Class 1A state track meet in Wichita in May when Jaedon finished in third place in the boys 200-meter

Humboldt’s Cole Mathes (15) has the ball in a playoff victory at Osage City on Friday, Nov. 4. REGISTER/QUINN BURKITT

The Crest varsity girls cross country team poses with their medals following their league race. PHOTO BY MONICA WALTER

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney hops into the endzone for a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars Nov. 13, at Arrowhead Stadium. TNS

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#256 ANNOUNCES BOARD VACANCY

The Board of Education of USD 256, Marmaton Valley, announces a vacancy on the board for a resident living in the district. This position may be lled by board appointment. Applicants should notify the district o ce by written letter of interest no later than January 20, 2023. This o ce will be placed on the ballot for election in November of 2025. The appointee will serve the remainder of the term until December 31, 2025.

Immunological therapy more reasonable for case of lymphoma

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am an 86-year-old woman who was recently diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, stage 3A. It was discovered on a CAT scan when I went to the ER for diverticulitis. I have no symptoms. The doctor did a biopsy to confirm, and I had a PET scan as well. I feel good otherwise. I am only on blood pressure and cholesterol medications.

My oncologist recommends low-dose chemotherapy. At my age, what should I do? — L.H.

ANSWER: There are many types of lymphomas, which are a type of cancer of blood cells, but unlike leukemias, lymphomas are pre-

Dr. Keith Roach

To Your Good Health

dominantly in the lymph nodes. Follicular lymphoma is an “indolent” type of lymphoma, meaning it is slow-growing, but unfortunately often uncurable. People with no symptoms from follicular lymphoma and who are stage 1, 2 or 3A tend to have a long time before they have progression of the disease to the point of having symptoms. Depending on other characteristics, that time

ranges from an average of three to seven years. Choosing to hold off on treatment is definitely a reasonable option for someone like you.

However, your oncologist knows much more about your disease than I do, such as the extent of tumor in the abdomen, the molecular markers of the tumor and additional blood results. When an oncologist suggests treatment, I would listen carefully. One treatment that your oncologist might be considering is immunological therapy, such as rituximab. Unlike traditional chemotherapy, rituximab alone is pretty nontoxic and can delay

the progression of the disease. A large study suggested improvement in the quality of life with the rituximab. Usually, rituximab is given once a week for four doses, but some oncologists repeat the four doses every two months.

If I had a patient in your situation, I would say holding off on treatment would be reasonable, given your age and lack of symptoms, but a trial of the rituximab (if that is what the oncologist is contemplating) would also be a reasonable choice. If you had serious side effects to the treatment, I would recommend against further doses.

Look, I think because I’m so invested in (her character of Margot) that I didn’t really know where I was. I don’t feel I paid attention, to be really honest. I don’t know, if somebody left me there I’d be lost. I had no idea where they dropped me. I had no idea where I was filming specifically

You knowing, acting is ver y intense and I think ver y cerebral and ver y internal. So often you get your script that you’ve been preparing for months and then you show up and then you have these amazing directors that really push you, some not so much. But the one I love was Metin (Huseyin) and he really got out the best of my character, I feel. And I don’t know where I was, really I think they say, “OK, you turn left, you turn right, you go to this location.” (Laughs) Because to me, it’s the dialogue and the per formance that I’m really thinking about. I’m not really thinking about much else.

him?

I mean, Justin’s on his path, really We have such a lovely kind of – we don’t even have to talk or explain what we’re doing. We just respond of f each other so well. We’ve worked together since “Mulholland Drive.” That was a role I did with David Lynch And it’s so funny that there’s this familiarity and he was also pivotal in me getting the role and now we’re married in the jungle. It’s kind of an incredible sor t of almost like

How did you like filming scenes in the Mexican jungle for Season 2 of “The Mosquito Coast”?

You had some intense scenes with your TV husband, Justin Theroux.

PIXABAY.COM

Kids upend ‘relaxed, sophisticated’ holiday plans

Dear Carolyn: For many years my spouse and I celebrated most holidays with my parents, my brother, and his wife. These holidays were delightful. Excellent wine, adventurous menus, carefully curated playlists, long, lounging dinners with great conversations.

My brother and his wife, somewhat late in life, now have three kids. I love my niece and nephews, but they have significantly changed the holiday dynamic, and I miss having more relaxed, sophisticated holidays. I have tried to come up with compromises over the years, but all of them have been rejected.

I invited all the adults to adults-only holiday dinners after the kids’ bedtimes at my home, I suggested that my parents invite my and my brother’s households to their home on alternate holidays, I suggested that we set up a fun Thanksgiving-themed “camp” in my parents’ basement and hire a sitter to watch the kids downstairs while the adults enjoy the holiday upstairs. (I was willing to pay for tents and the sitter.)

This year I suggested having an adults-only Christmas celebration

Carolyn Hax Tell Me About It

on Christmas Eve. My parents weren’t interested because they needed to get ready for Christmas Day, and my brother said it was unreasonable to expect them to get a sitter for this event.

I’m at a loss. My parents are getting older, and I fear we will not have another peaceful holiday in their lifetimes. The kids are good kids and I don’t mind spending time with them, but I feel like all the holidays have been hijacked. Our only choices seem to be to stay home by ourselves or join a child-centered holiday. Is there another way to get my family to work with me on this?

— Longing for a Quiet Holiday

Longing for a Quiet Holiday: No, there isn’t.

Because you’ve tried, and because if either your parents or your brother wanted that, then they would have said yes to one of your suggestions and found a way to make it work.

Hear the “no.” Things change. Life changes. Holiday traditions that

define perfection are overtaken by events that shape new traditions.

These changes and overtakings can involve some really hard goodbyes.

They can also involve goodbyes with asymmetrical effects. You are suffering from the loss of the sophisticated adult holiday, but you can’t assume your parents want another “peaceful holiday in their lifetimes.” The inclusion of grandkids and all their chaos may be exactly what they want. And your brother and sister-in-law may have a third reaction entirely: They may see your point and even fantasize about anything leisurely and curated, but also regard that as just crazy talk because they! have! kids! and understand it’s going to be a decade at least before they start thinking that way again. It’s what they signed up for.

While we’re on the subject, allow me to praise these parents lavishly for, apparently, not getting offended that you’ve tried every conceivable scheme to boot their kids off Christmas.

I get what you’re after, I do. But parents often describe their attachment to their children as having their hearts walk-

ing around outside their bodies — so proposals to stash their hearts in the basement tend not to be so objectively received. They “work with” you already a lot more generously than you realize.

Another situational reality: Kids don’t stay small. Your relief is coming, just on its own schedule, not yours. Accepting that instead of fight-fight-fighting it sounds like the wisest adaptation of all.

Wednesday’s Cryptoquote: Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. — Albert Einstein

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

P Z N K S R U C F P A R M U

France: Argentina go head-to-head in World Cup final

Continued from B1

of his career there.

“If he won the World Cup again,” Regragui said admiringly of Mbappé, “he would be emulating Pelé.”

Both players made stunning World Cup debuts as teenagers, truly coming to life in the knockout rounds.

All six goals for a 17-year-old Pelé in 1958 in Sweden were scored after the group stage, including a semifinals hattrick to help eliminate France as he wore the No. 10 jersey that he has made iconic.

Mbappé announced his World Cup arrival

at age 19 scoring twice against Argentina and Messi in a 4-3 epic in the round of 16. Anything like a repeat of that game in Russia would be a dream final Sunday.

Mbappé has five goals so far in Qatar, tied as the leading scorer at the tournament with Messi.

The Frenchman scored four times in 2018.

It took Pelé until his fourth World Cup in 1970 to score his ninth career goal, though in fewer games than Mbappé.

The French No. 10 has a stage set Sunday to be a key player for a second straight final, which takes place two days before he turns 24.

Allen: Top sports

Continued from B1

19:36. Brennan Coffield and Alejandro Escalante rounded out Iola’s varsity runners this season.

Crest cross country girls take 3rd at state

The Crest cross country team carried a number of younger Lady Lancers who exceeded expectations this fall with their third-place team finish at state. They were led by Josie Walters’ third-place finish, Peyton Schmidt’s 14th-place finish and Aubrey Allen’s 24th place.

It should also be noted that Allen ran the state race with a splint wrapped around her arm. Walters is only a freshman and will look to earn an even quicker time next fall. Crest’s run up to the state competition included taking first at 1A regionals when three runners placed in the top 10.

Crest and Humboldt volleyball have record years

The Crest Lady Lancers volleyball team set a school record for the most number of regular season wins after finishing 27-7. The last time Crest had nearly as many wins was in 1988 when current sophomore Delaney Ramsey’s mother played on the team. Crest was led by the play of McKenna Hammond, Kayla Hermreck and Kamryn Luedke.

Humboldt’s volleyball season was highlighted by the Lady Cubs winning the Tri-Valley League and capturing a 30-6 overall record and an undefeated 7-0 mark in league play. The Lady Cubs were in good hands leadership-wise as Skylar Hottenstein,

Shelby Shaughnessy and Karley Wools each took home Tri-Valley All-League honors.

Iola football earns playoff berth

The Iola High football team won the game they needed to in order to earn a playoff game at Frontenac which concluded their season.

The Mustangs’ pair of wins were against Osawatomie in the season opener, 35-7, before beating Anderson County, 28-14.

The playoff berth was the sixth all time for the Iola football program and resulted in a 35-15 loss at Frontenac which saw the blue and gold fight until the end. Tre Wilson went for a 49-yard touchdown run and Ben Kerr found Korbin Cloud for a 23yard touchdown pass to highlight the Iola scoring in their final game of the year.

Crest and Humboldt football make playoffs

The Crest and Humboldt football teams were some tough teams to tackle this fall. Humboldt reached the quarterfinal round of the playoffs and earned a regional championship after beating Cherryvale and Osage City. The Lancers first knocked off Norwich at home in a shootout, 60-40, before they fell at Osborne to end their season, 34-18.

The Cubs eventually lost to Nemaha Central in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs after winning a regional championship at Osage City. Humboldt’s standouts included quarterback Trey Sommer, receiver Sam Hull and lineman Maddox Johnson while Crest was led by Holden Barker and Ethan Godderz.

What makes France and Deschamps even more impressive this time is adapting to a litany of injuries with new talent that never even

against Croatia, were lost to injuries before the tournament, and leftback Lucas Hernandez lasted just nine minutes in Qatar before suffering a season-ending knee injury.

After the 26-man squad was picked in November, starting center-back Presnel Kimpembe and forwards Karim Benzema and Christopher Nkunku were lost to injury.

Konaté was immense against Morocco and forward Randal Kolo Muani scored with his first touch as a substitute to seal the 2-0 win.

“Sure, they don’t have much international experience,” Deschamps said of his unlikely midfield pairing, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Youssouf Fofana. “But potentially they have everything.”

played in a World Cup qualifying game last year.

Midfielders Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante, starters in the 2018 final

games and five overall, when an abdominal injury landed the speedster on injured reserve.

That put Hardman out four weeks, and the Chiefs now have a 21day window in which they must active him or put him on IR for the remainder of the season.

Hardman has been posting to social media about his readiness to return, though Reid said it wasn’t necessarily the injury or shaking off any lingering rust that could be the biggest hurdle to getting back on the field.

“He lost a bunch of weight,” Reid said. “It was a matter of getting that back, but not with cheeseburgers — get back some good, hardy weight and strength, so he’s been working on

that. He’s been working like crazy. And he’s going to continue to do that here — do that this week. He’s out at practice and that will add to it.”

The Chiefs are 10-3 and tied with the Bills for the AFC’s best record, though Buffalo holds the head-to-head tiebreaker, and that means each of the remaining four games are crucial. And the Chiefs would struggle to find a better get-right opponent for the two wide receivers than the onewin Texans, whose pass defense is middle of the road.

To say the Chiefs have gotten by without Toney or Hardman is an understatement.

Mahomes has thrown for at least 300 yards in seven of his past eight

To replace them, Deschamps promoted a wave of players in their early 20s who have excelled and smoothed the transition to a next generation.

Center-back Ibrahima

The youngsters players have veteran teammates to help guide them, including Antoine Griezmann, the goal-scoring winger. reinvented as all-around midfielder. The 31-yearold Griezmann should

games, and tight end Travis Kelce has once again eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving this season — and 10,000 for his career — while wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster has not only returned from his concussion but also has become an impact player.

Smith-Schuster had nine catches for 74 yards and what proved to be the decisive TD in last week’s 34-28 win in Denver.

NOTES: Reid and Mahomes have connections to Mississippi State coach Mike Leach, who died this week. Reid had him speak to his teams on a couple of occasions while Mahomes played at Texas Tech under then-coach Kliff Kings-

Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe jumps to avoid Metz goalkeeper Marc-Aurele Caillard. CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/GETTY IMAGES/TNS

be a lock for selection to any team of the tournament.