The Iola Register, Feb. 28, 2022

Monday, February 28, 2022

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Traffickers seek the vulnerable Nuclear threat shadows talks

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

While most consider human trafficking an issue in far away lands, evidence suggests — and has for some time — that Kansans must be vigilant in fighting it as well, notes Jennifer Montgomery.

Montgomery is the chairman of the Human Trafficking Advisory Board, which works in the Kansas attorney general’s office.

She was invited to speak about a number of issues related to trafficking Thursday to Iola Rotarians. Attorney General Derek Schmidt was on hand to introduce Montgomery to the audience.

Montgomery, who has worked for the state since 2013, noted human trafficking case reports have remained steady since the state enacted laws to combat both labor and sex trafficking in 2013.

The number of trafficking victims served by agencies across the state have ranged between 400 and 500 a year since 2015.

Jennifer Montgomery is the chairman of the Human Trafficking Advisory Board, which works in the Kansas attorney general’s office. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN Trafficking — recruiting, Part of the reason is the state’s central location, at harboring and/or transthe intersection of Interstate porting people for the sole purpose of exploitation — is 70 and Interstate 35.

“We know it’s happening akin to modern day slavery, in our state,” Montgomery she said.

Montgomery spoke on the said. “This isn’t just in New profiles of both the victims York or California.”

Likewise, trafficking can and the traffickers.

“Traffickers seek those be in rural areas.

Victims of sex traffick- with vulnerabilities,” she ing tend be middle school- said, such as those with a hisage, and even younger, she tory of sexual abuse, those warned.

See TRAFFICKING | Page A2

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for talks today amid high hopes but low expectations for any diplomatic breakthrough, after Moscow unleashed the biggest land war in Europe since World War II but met unexpectedly stiff resistance.

As outgunned but determined Ukrainian forces slowed the Russian advance and sanctions crippled the Russian economy, the military confirmed that its nuclear forces were on high alert, following President Vladimir Putin’s order. While that raised the unimaginable specter of nuclear conflict, it was unclear what practical effect it had.

A tense calm reigned today in Kyiv, explosions and gunfire were heard in embattled cities in eastern Ukraine, and terrified Ukrainian families huddled overnight in shelters, basements, subways, or

corridors.

“I sit and pray for these negotiations to end successfully, so that they reach an agreement to end the slaughter, and so there is no more war,” said Alexandra Mikhailova, weeping as she clutched her cat in a makeshift shelter in the strategic southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

Around her, parents sought to console children and keep them warm.

Exact death tolls are unclear, but the U.N. human rights chief said 102 civilians have been killed and hundreds wounded in five days of fighting — warning that figure was likely a vast undercount — and Ukraine’s president said at least 16 children were among the dead.

More than 500,000 people have fled the country since the invasion, another U.N. official said today — among millions who have left their See UKRAINE | Page A2

Wrestlers finish season at state

PAGE B1

Law blocked on mail ballot applications KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has permanently blocked a Kansas law prohibiting out-of-state groups from mailing advance ballot applications to voters who request them, ordering the state to pay the attorney fees of two national nonprofit groups who sued contending it disenfranchises voters.

U.S. District Judge Kathrn Vratil on Friday declared those provisions in the law violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and permanently enjoined the state from enforcing them.

The stipulated order — which the state agreed not to appeal — partially resolves the lawsuit brought

by VoteAmerica and the Voter Participation Center. The court sided with the voting rights groups on claims related to freedom of speech, freedom of association and overbreadth of the law.

Vol. 124, No. 104 Iola, KS $1.00

Tight squeezes Thirteen cement truck drivers descended upon Monarch Cement in Humboldt Saturday for a truck rodeo. The event gauged their skills on maneuvering the behemoth trucks through a series of obstacles, including making their way through a line of tennis balls on cups with barely 2 inches of space on either side of the tires. The drivers also were gauged on their ability to stop directly over targets, or remain between 15 and 17 feet away from a barricade, used to simulate the necessary space needed if stopping at a railroad crossing. Drivers from Monarch’s Readymix subsidiary plants across Kansas and Missouri were a part of the competition, with two drivers going on to a national competition in Aurora, Colo., in the fall. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

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Monday, February 28, 2022

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Ukraine: Nations send military supplies

Obituary

Continued from A1

EJ Siefker EJ Siefker passed away Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022, in Chanute, at the age of 89 years. EJ (Elmer James) was the seventh of 10 children born to A.W. and Hilda (Tanke) Siefker. He was born on Dec. 20, 1932, in Deep River, Iowa.

EJ attended Brush College Coun- EJ Siefker try School in Deep River until 1947 when his family relocated to Burns. He finished eighth grade in Burns before leaving school to join in working on the family farm. EJ was baptized in Marion County Lake at age 14. In 1950, his family relocated to Moran.

EJ was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1956, serving his basic training at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.

On his two-week leave, he was joined in marriage to Barbara Ensminger. They were married Sept. 30, 1956, in the Moran Presbyterian Church. Four days after the wedding, he was deployed to Osaka, Japan, where he served as an Army Medic. After serving his country, EJ was honorably discharged and returned to Moran, where he and his wife were blessed to raise three daughters.

His farm operation grew to include farm ground in Manitoba, Canada. EJ’s ranch near Moran included buffalo and a Texas longhorn herd. He and Barb entertained many school field trips on their farm.

In 1976, EJ earned his GED followed by his real estate license. He and Barb’s two brothers began Farm and Oil Realty. They also invested in Moran, where they helped establish Citizens State Bank and Moran Manor Nursing Home.

Through the years, EJ was treasurer for the Moran Girl Scouts, served 11 years on the Marmaton Valley School Board, was a board member of the National Buffalo Association, Moran Ruritan member, Moran Day supporter, American Legion member, and loved spending time with his neighbors at the Walnut Grove Community Card Club. He attended Midpoint Baptist Church.

EJ traveled to all 50 states and to four continents.

In 1996, EJ and his wife bought a bed and breakfast in Tucson, Ariz. They spent 25 winters enjoying the sunshine, bird watching, and playing cards and board games. He never knew a stranger. He loved to visit, loved all things John Deere, loved going to auctions and collecting old tractors.

EJ never really retired and kept involved in his farm and ranch businesses.

EJ was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Roy, John and HR; sisters, Lorna Dolen, Helen Guthrie and Evelyn Walsh; his beloved grandson, Austin Lord; and his beloved granddaughter, Ashley Lord.

EJ is survived by his wife of 65 years, Barbara; daughters, Debra Tynon and husband, Pat, Moran, Jamie Stodgell and husband, Michael, Moran, and Susan Siefker and Eric Welty, Bartonville, Texas; grandson, Jake Tynon and wife, Ashley, Moran; granddaughter, Mackenzie Tynon, Auburn; three great-grandchildren; sisters, Inez Dimitrijevich, Wayne, W.Va., Irene Coltrane and husband, Ron, LaHarpe; and brother, Ed and wife, Mary, Temple, Texas.

A visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, in The Venue at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service, 1883 U.S. 54, Iola. A funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Thursday in the chapel at the funeral home. Burial with military honors will follow in the Moran Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Moran Cemetery, and may be left with the funeral home.

Condolences may be left at www.feuerbornfuneral.com.

Lenten breakfast returns United Methodist Churches will offer a Lenten breakfast at 7 a.m. Wednesday at the Calvary Life Center (formerly Calvary UMC) for coffee, juice and rolls.

The event offers fellowship, singing, and a Lenten meditation.

Space for social dis-

tancing is available and attendees are welcome to wear face masks.

“We hope this is a move back to some normalcy and a very familial and sacred tradition that has been missed since the onset of COVID,” Pastor Jocelyn Tupper, said.

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Still, a tiny sliver of hope emerged as the first face-to-face talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials since the war began. The delegations met at a long table with the blue-andyellow Ukrainian flag on one side and the Russian tricolor on the other.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said it would demand an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of Russian troops.

But while Ukraine sent its defense minister and other top officials, the Russian delegation was led by Putin’s adviser on culture — an unlikely envoy for ending the war and a sign of how Moscow views the talks.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Central Bank scrambled to shore up the tanking ruble and the U.S. and European countries upped weapons shipments to Ukraine.

While they hope to curb Putin’s aggression, the measures also risked

A Ukrainian Territorial Defense fighter examines a destroyed Russian infantry mobility vehicle GAZ Tigr after the fight in Kharkiv on Sunday. (SERGEY BOBOK/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES/TNS)

pushing an increasingly cornered Putin closer to the edge — and inflicted pain on ordinary Russians.

In Moscow, Russians lined up Monday to withdraw cash as Western sanctions threatened their livelihoods and savings. In Kyiv, Ukrainians lined up to buy food and water after two nights trapped inside by curfew.

It wasn’t immediately clear what Putin is seek-

Trafficking: Threat Continued from A1

those in unstable conditions or face poverty and often have substance abuse issues..

“Mistreated and marginalized groups,” she concluded.

And traffickers don’t fit the profile most assume.

The typical trafficker is between 19 and 45 years old, has barely a high school education, and almost universally has a history of drug or alcohol abuse as well as a criminal record.

Oh, and traffickers can make upwards of $500,000 a year, she noted.

“You must understand, traffickers are not always strangers,” she noted.

“These are likely individuals known to the victim in many cases. They make a lot of money perpetrating this crime on the backs of victims.”

Technology and social media play an increasing role in helping identify potential victims.

The buyers also fit certain stereotypes, she continued.

More than 70% of the buyers are white males, 60% have a full-time job and more

than half are married.

As many as 15-20% of American men pay for sex, Montgomery said.

“The bottom line is those who purchase sex are fueling the sex trafficking industry,” she said. “Most women in prostitution do not have a choice.”

Montgomery also touched on a number of myths.

Sex trafficking occurs when something of value is exchanged for sex, even if it isn’t money.

Human trafficking should not be confused with human smuggling. Trafficking does not require transportation.

Victims can be trafficked in their own communities; even in their own homes.

Labor trafficking victims are unpaid, or paid very little, must work excessively long, and often live with their employer, with multiple people living under the same roof.

THE ATTORNEY general’s office is eager to partner with Rotary because the organization is local, such as the Iola chapter, and international, she noted.

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Today

tal ballistic missiles, submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the fleet of nuclear-capable strategic bombers.

It was not immediately clear whether the Kremlin announcement means any nuclear-armed aircraft could already be in the air around Ukraine. But the move is a clear escalation.

While Russia and the United States typically have land- and submarine-based nuclear forces that are prepared for combat at all times, nuclear-capable bombers and other aircraft are not.

U.S. and British officials played down Putin’s nuclear threat as posturing. But for many, they stirred up memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis and concerns that the West could be drawn into a direct conflict with Russia.

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Postmaster: Send address changes to The Iola Register, P.O. Box 767, Iola, KS 66749.

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ing in the talks, or from the war itself.

Western officials believe Putin wants to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own, reviving Moscow’s Cold War-era influence.

The increasingly erratic Putin made a clear link between ever-tightening sanctions and his decision Sunday to raise Russia’s nuclear posture. He also pointed at “aggressive statements” by NATO, a reference to his longheld stance that the U.S.-led alliance is an existential threat to Russia.

The Defense Ministry today said extra personnel were deployed to Russian nuclear forces, and that the high alert status applies to all their components: the forces that oversee landbased intercontinen-

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Opinion The Iola Register

Monday, February 28, 2022

~ Journalism that makes a difference

Ukrainians ready to fight the new Hitler. His name is Putin Here’s how to understand what life is like now in Kyiv: Imagine yourself living normally, going to work, kids at school, and suddenly the air raid sirens go off and you are rushing into subway stations to avoid being bombed.

Sounds like a scene from a black-and-white war movie set in London under the Blitz, doesn’t it? But this is what I’m hearing by phone and WhatsApp from friends and contacts in Kyiv, whom I was interviewing and dining with just two weeks ago: a total sense of unreality as Russian missiles and planes attack a peaceful European city as if Hitler were bombing London in 1940.

Instead it is Vladimir Putin imitating Adolf Hitler in 2022.

‘Something that happens in movies’

“For most people here, it is the first time we’ve experienced war,” I was told Friday by phone by journalist and literary scholar Tetyana Ogarkova, with whom I sat drinking coffee in the center of Kyiv earlier this month.

Although Putin first invaded eastern Ukraine in 2014, along the border with Russia, and nearly 14,000 Ukrainians have died in the eight years of subsequent fighting, that war was far from the capital.

“We were all convinced that despite the warnings from President Biden, this was a kind of play and Putin would never get to action,” Ogarkova told me.

“We couldn’t imagine that this could happen in the 21st century in a European city.

Imagine our shock when it becomes real.”

Americans should share Ogarkova’s shock at seeing Ukrainian tanks rolling down her suburban streets in front of her child’s elementary school, as the vehicles raced to escape the Russian bombing of a nearby military base. “This is something that happens in films,” she marveled. “You can’t believe it.”

Trudy Rubin Philadelphia Inquirer

Yet, she was awoken at 5 a.m. by the terrifying sound of incoming missiles. When she saw scenes on TV of civilians getting hit by rockets, she crammed her family into the car and managed to get them and her parents to the family summer home in a nearby village. Other escapees have not been so lucky, as the highways have become so jammed that cars are stuck for hours, and supplies of gasoline have run out.

My Kyiv translator (whose name I am not using for her safety) now takes her elderly mother to the metro underground several times a day because her building has no shelter. Families with crying children are sleeping there with little food or water.

The new Hitler

The main thing for Americans to grasp is that the Ukrainian people are victims of a war criminal, who believes he can change Europe’s borders by violence.

He argues that Russia has a historic right to repossess Ukraine. If he succeeds in Ukraine, there’s no telling what he will try next.

“What we hear from Putin,” says Ogarkova, “is like a man with delirium, who is mentally ill, perhaps because of COVID and isolation.

“This is extremely dangerous not only for Ukraine but for Europe, and the U.S., and the whole world.”

Indeed, Putin’s delusions include the belief that the Ukrainian army will surrender to Russia (he has called on it to do so). But so far that army is fighting back fiercely — even though it is woefully out gunned and has very lit-

Germa sian in Sunda itself a

Hundreds of people seek shelter underground, on the platform, inside dark train cars, and even in the emergency exits, in metro subway station as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24. (MARCUS YAM/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS) tle capacity to counter Russian planes and missiles. And the Russian leader seems to have misjudged the level of resistance his army will meet from civilian volunteers.

That includes volunteers like Yegor Sobolev, a former member of parliament turned tech businessman and a member of a volunteer territorial defense force unit whose Saturday training session I visited a couple of weeks ago, in a woods just outside Kyiv. At the time, the group included a collection of veterans, businessmen, and tech specialists who had signed up in case they were needed to defend their neighborhoods; they were training with wooden rifles. A barbecue was served after the training.

How times have changed in just two weeks. Now, Sobolev could only answer me by text because he was on patrol with his unit, looking for invading Russian troops. He told me: “We have been issued machine guns and grenade launchers now.” The 250 or so volunteers at the training had almost all shown up, he added, “and hundreds of new people.”

“We are very motivated and confident. We must stop this new Hitler and we will.”

A city in shock

Of course that won’t be easy, and may take much longer than anyone would like to imagine. At this writing, 10,000 Russian troops are being prepared to enter Kyiv, with the goal of deposing the legitimate government and imposing a pro-Russian puppet leader.

While popular resistance may be fierce, Putin reportedly has a long list of politicians, journalists, and activists who are supposed to be arrested — or killed — and his forces won’t hesitate to fire on mass demonstrations.

The fight will be bloody, and the odds grim for the resistance.

Yet the shock that has hit Kyiv’s citizens should also be a wake-up call for Americans, warned Kyiv TV talkshow host Yevgeny Kiselyov, with whom I was sharing a dinner of chicken Kiev in the Ukrainian capital just two weeks ago.

“The West should stop treating Putin as a civilized politician and a person with

The struggle is only beginning

Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine is bringing both civilian suffering and profound geopolitical repercussions

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the largest ground offensive in Europe since the second world war, has unleashed not one but two struggles. The first is the military conflict for the freedom of Ukraine. The second is the broader geopolitical contest. Neither is going as the Russian president hoped when he launched his shameful and unprovoked attack.

But both are in their earliest days.

The slow initial Russian advance and extraordinary scenes as artists pick up guns, bankers prepare Molotov cocktails and unarmed people confront tanks are testament to Ukrainians’ passionate determination. But they are out-gunned and outnumbered by a callous adversary that has already claimed the lives of children and other civilians and is pouring in more troops. The risks of a bloody, brutal war spreading beyond the borders are real.

On Sunday, as President Volodymyr Zelinskyy agreed to a delegation meeting Russia for talks without preconditions, Mr. Putin put his coun-

try’s nuclear deterrent forces on high alert — underscoring his lack of interest in de-escalation, concerns about his state of mind and the fact that his failure could bring more suffering too. Russia’s nuclear status precluded western countries committing troops to back non-NATO member Ukraine. But that did not stop Mr. Putin raising it as a threat anyway.

His aggression has so far brought about a strengthening of the NATO presence he reviles and seems to be reinvigorating the alliance, as former Soviet states, and others in the region, watch Ukraine fearfully. It has drawn U.S. attention back from China, tying it more closely to Europe and vice-versa. Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, called this “a turning point in the history of our continent” in his landmark speech on Sunday. Germany is not only shipping weapons to Ukraine, in a U-turn, but vowing a massive hike in defense spending, to more than 2% of GDP. It has agreed to cut off the access of some Russian banks to the SWIFT payment

system, with Hungary too signing on; Czech president Miloš Zeman, once vocally pro-Putin, had already executed a remarkable volteface. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, has pledged to paralyze the assets of Russia’s central bank — potentially far more damaging. Like the sweeping controls on technology exports announced by the U.S. on Thursday, it could bring misery to Russians for a war that their president chose for them.

Even if fighting can be contained, stark economic consequences could soon translate into political instability.

Nations across the Middle East and Africa fear soaring wheat prices. China, despite pursuing a Sino-Russian relationship with “no limits,” abstained rather than vetoed the UN security council resolution decrying the war. It wants to reshape, not destroy, the international order, but sees benefits in distraction for a U.S. increasingly hostile to Beijing and in growing multi-polarity. New Delhi will not endanger its long

relationship with Moscow, especially given the latter’s closeness to both Beijing and Islamabad. Mr. Putin has also built up the relationship with Turkey, Brazil and others.

HIS REAL WIN would come if high energy prices batter the U.S. as well as Europe, damaging social and political cohesion, distracting the administration and winning another term for Donald Trump — shifting the country away from NATO and Europe. We may see a broader fracturing of the globalized economy, and increasing insularity: already, the pandemic and China’s rise are making politicians around the world contemplate increasing self-reliance and reduced dependence on long supply chains.

The struggles Mr. Putin has let loose are unfolding at an intense pace, yet will probably take years to settle. They are tests of both capabilities and resolve. Today, Ukraine is suffering. Tomorrow, repercussions could be felt around the globe.

— The (London) Guardian

whom you can sit and negotiate,” said Kiselyov, a onetime star host on Russian TV, who left for Kyiv when Putin shut down independent media in Moscow. All Putin’s talk about negotiations, Kiselyov said, was merely a smokescreen to buy time for military preparations.

Kiselyov contends, as do several Kyiv political activists with whom I spoke, that the only way to push Putin back is to help Ukraine’s military defend its own country: Send more antiaircraft weapons; encourage a coalition of the willing to help Ukraine militarily; and apply all crippling economic sanctions now, including cutting off Moscow from the SWIFT international banking system, which would show that the West was serious.

To summarize the message I got from my Kyiv contacts: The city is in shock, but it has an army and a people eager to fight back, if only we assist them, immediately.

We need to help the Ukrainians defend their country’s freedom from a dangerous war criminal — a delusional leader who threatens us all.

A look back in t me.

70 Years Ago March 1950

The Allen County Selective Service Board has called 25 men to take pre-induction physical exams on March 5. It is the largest group to be summoned in the past 18 months. ***** Leslie L. Norton today is opening a new business, the Iola Credit Bureau, with headquarters at 12½ S. Washington where he has been conducting his insurance business. His wife, the former Lucille Swanson of Savonburg, will be associated with the business.

Holding a degree in business administration from Northwestern University, Norton formerly was superintendent of agencies for the Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Co. of St. Paul.

That climate did not agree with their son’s health and they moved here last fall. ***** Angelo Scott, Register editor, accepted an appointment by the Department of the Navy to serve on the Kansas State Selection Committee to select candidates for the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps entering Kansas University next September.

A4

Monday, February 28, 2022

The Iola Register

iolaregister.com

Europe uniting against Putin

By ELI STOKOLS and TRACY WILKINSON Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brazen and unprovoked assault on Ukraine is fast turning his fears of a more resolute Europe, and potentially expanded NATO alliance, into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

NATO has come together behind stiff economic sanctions against Moscow. Finland and Sweden, after decades of neutrality, have signaled a new interest in joining the alliance while more autocratic members of the defense pact have excoriated Moscow.

And in an effort to shore up Ukraine’s defenses, the European Union for the first time will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday.

In short order, Europe’s leading powers have shifted into a position of heightened defensiveness toward Russia.

“We have to realize that we are now faced with a new normal for our security,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday in an interview on CNN, noting the beefed-up NATO troops’ presence in its eastern countries and weapons deliveries to Ukraine. “This is just the beginning of the adaptation that we need to do as a response to a much more aggressive Russia.”

On Sunday in Berlin, Germany’s new Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a rousing speech to parliament declaring that the country would spend more than 2% of its GDP on defense — Putin having accomplished what former President Donald Trump sought for four years, and President Barack Obama before him. Scholz also announced a special 100 billion euro fund to upgrade the country’s army, a fundamental shift by Europe’s most powerful nation after a long stretch of limited military spending in the decade following the European debt crisis.

Describing Russia’s war on Ukraine as “a turning point in the history of our continent,” Scholz told lawmakers, “it is clear that we need to invest significantly more in the security of our country.”

Constanze Stelzenmüller, a Germany expert at Washington’s Brookings Institution, called the speech “Germany’s Nixon to China moment,” a reference to then President Richard Nixon’s pivot from anti-communist hawk to taking his historic trip to China.

Similarly, Scholz’s speech was all the more significant coming from a Social Democrat, one known for fiscal austerity who came of age at the end of the Cold War, a time when many believed democracies were ascendant and would remain so.

“Many Germans mistook the fall of the Berlin Wall as a validation of their method, and they have hung on to that belief well beyond the point that it started

being proven out of date otherwise by events,” Stelzenmüller said.

“This is the end of that illusion, and the beginning of a new era in German foreign policy, and that is really a historic moment.”

Since taking office in December, Scholz, who served as finance minister to former Chancellor Angela Merkel, had seemed reluctant to take a firm stance toward Putin, given how reliant Germany’s economy is on Russia. But war breaking out in Europe has in short order altered security calculations and stiffened its leaders’ spines.

Scholz’s speech came as the EU also announced it would bar Russian planes from EU airspace and expel Russian state-owned media outlets Russia Today and Sputnik from all 27 members of the European bloc.

“Just like President Putin has unified Ukraine against him and against Russia, President Putin has also unified the NATO alliance,” former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, who also served at NATO, told SiriusXM radio.

Part of what has helped toughen resolve among European leaders like Scholz, as well as France’s Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was their realization of how blatantly Putin lied about his intentions in

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz receives standing ovations after delivering a speech on the Russian invasion of Ukraine during a meeting of the German federal parliament, the Bundestag, on Sunday, Feb. 27 in Berlin, Germany. Battles across Ukraine are raging as Ukraine seeks to defend itself against a large-scale Russian military invasion. (HANNIBAL HANSCHKE/GETTY IMAGES/TNS) Ukraine. He claimed to their faces until the last minute — and even now as his troops have mounted an amphibious assault and are sweeping into the north of Ukraine — that he has no intention of invading the smaller neighbor.

“They were doing direct head of state diplomacy, and Putin lied to them,” said Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, a risk assessment firm in New York.

“Putin has behaved in a staggering, outrageous fashion to rip up what the Europeans thought were kind of inviolable norms,” he said. The shift among European leaders “shows that this is not about Ukraine, it’s a change in the global order that we have slipped into a new Cold War with Russia.”

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Sports Daily The Iola Register

B

Monday, February 28, 2022

Substate action begins A busy week lies ahead as postseason basketball begins for most area schools.

Iola High’s boys, who punched their ticket to the Class 4A Substate, will travel to Bishop Miege at 7 p.m.

Wednesday.

Fifteenth seed Iola (6-14) has won four of its last five, and will take on the defending 4A champion and perennial sports power Stags squad. Miege (16-4) is the second seed.

The Iola High girls did not qualify for their 4A tournament, and will instead wrap up the 2021-22 campaign tonight against Blue Valley Southwest, a Class 5A school. Blue Valley was inserted into the schedule after Iola’s original opponent — Coffeyville’s Field Kindley — declined to participate in the extra contest.

ELSEWHERE, Humboldt High’s boys (12-7) are the third seed in their Class 3A Substate bracket, and will host Prairie View (8-11), the sixth seed.

The winner advances to Thursday’s semifinal round hosted by Prairie View, against either Girard or Osawatomie.

The Lady Cubs (6-13) are the seventh seed in their bracket and visit No. 2 seed Frontenac (12-5) at 7 p.m.

Tuesday in first-round play.

The winner will play either Girard or Anderson County at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

YATES CENTER’S boys (12-6) are seeded third in their Class 2A bracket and will host sixth seed Jayhawk-Linn (8-10) at 7 p.m.

Tuesday, with the winner advancing to semifinal action Friday in Uniontown against either host UnionSee HOOPS | Page B4

Iola High’s TJ Taylor wrestles Saturday in the Class 4A State Championships against Cannon Carey of Augusta. Taylor’s high school career, including three state trips, ended this weekend. REGISTER/REESE BECKER

End of the line

SALINA — A pair of Iola High wrestling stalwarts saw their careers come to an end this weekend.

Seniors TJ Taylor and Trent Jones were joined by junior Wyatt Westervelt at the Class 4A Wrestling Tournament.

While none of the three earned state medals — Taylor and Westervelt bowed out one match short of placing in the top six — each finished the year with plenty to boast about.

Taylor, wrestling at 132 pounds, went 1-2 at state.

He was pinned in the opening round by eventual state champion Tucker Sell of Abilene at 4 minutes, 17 seconds, before knocking off Brody Lindenman of Winfield, 8-2.

Taylor, a three-time state qualifier and three-time Pioneer League champion, saw his career end with a 7-1 defeat at the hands of Cannon Carey of August.

Taylor ended the season with a 19-8 record.

Baylor rallies past KU WACO, Texas (AP) — Flo Thamba had 18 points, Jeremy Sochan had 17 and 10th-ranked Baylor overcame a big early deficit to beat No. 5 Kansas 80-70 on Saturday night, avenging an embarrassing loss three weeks earlier and keeping the Jayhawks from clinching a share of their 20th Big 12 title.

The Bears (24-5, 12-4 Big 12) didn’t take the lead until the opening minute after halftime, and went ahead to stay at 65-63 on Thamba’s jumper with 4:07 left. That came after Ochai Agbaji, who had 27 points for Kan-

sas, made a tying 3-pointer.

The Jayhawks (23-5, 123) had their four-game winning streak snapped and missed a chance to lay claim to another Big 12 title. They still have three games left, including a game postponed from Jan. 1.

Baylor, the defending national and Big 12 champions who lost 83-59 in Lawrence on Feb. 5, began the day tied with No. 9 Texas Tech for second place in the Big 12.

But the Red Raiders (22-7, 11-5), who swept their two games against Baylor and split with Kansas, lost 6966 at TCU earlier Saturday.

The Jayhawks play twice in See KU | Page B4

Iola High’s Wyatt Westervelt, left, wrestles Saturday against Wyatt Harris of Tonganoxie in the Class 4A State Championships in Salina. another threetime state qualifier and three-time league titleist, fell, 6-2, to Dayton Fraser JONES,

of Eudora in the opening round, and 5-2 to Talyn Pfizenmaier of Clay Center, 4-2, in consolation play.

Jones ends with a 26-6 re-

cord.

Westervelt, in his first-ever state action, fell via firstSee STATE | Page B4

Wildcat girls fall in heartbreaker

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

Marmaton Valley High’s Aly Ard chases down a loose ball Friday in the Class 1A-I Substate Tournament against Olpe. REGISTER/

RICHARD LUKEN

MORAN — Most long-time sports observers will admit there’s no such thing as curses.

Sure, there’s some bad luck from time to time, but more often than not, the team that executes better wins.

That said, they may want to do some checking to make sure the Marmaton Valley High School gymnasium wasn’t built on some ancient burial ground.

For the third straight season, Marmaton Valley’s girls saw their season end in gut-wrenching fashion at See WILDCATS | Page B4

B2

Monday, February 28, 2022

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IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF ALLEN COUNTY, KANSAS PROBATE DIVISION In the Matter of the Estate of Harvey Lloyd Peck, Deceased Case No. AL-2022-PR-000004 NOTICE OF HEARING AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS THE STATE OF KANSAS TO ALL PERSONS CONCERNED: You are notified that on February 8, 2022, a Petition was filed in this Court by Janice Garcia, as Executor named in the Will of Harvey Peck, deceased, dated August 12, 2013, requesting that the instrument attached thereto be admitted to probate and record as the Last Will and Testament of the decedent; Letters Testamentary under the Kansas Simplified Estates Act be issued to Executor to serve without bond.

You are further advised under the provisions of the Kansas Simplified Estates Act the Court need not supervise administration of the Estate, and no notice of any action of the Executor or other proceedings in the administration

will be given, except for notice of final settlement of decedent’s estate.

You are further advised if written objections to simplified administration are filed with the Court, the Court may order that supervised administration ensue.

You are required to file your written defenses to the Petition on or before March 8, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. in the District Court, in Iola, Allen County, Kansas, at which time and place the cause will be heard. Should you fail to file your written defenses, judgment and decree will be entered in due course upon the Petition.

All creditors are notified to exhibit their demands against the Estate within four months from the date of the first publication of this notice, as provided by law, and if their demands are not thus exhibited, they shall be forever barred.

Janice Garcia Petitioner COFFMAN & CAMPBELL, LLC 112 EAST 7TH – P. O. BOX 250 LYNDON, KANSAS 66451-0250 PH: 785-828-4431 (2) 14, 21, 28

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The Iola Register

Monday, February 28, 2022

B3

Sports leagues condemn Russia aggression GENEVA (AP) — Sports bodies across Europe moved Monday to further isolate and condemn Russia following its invasion of Ukraine by refusing to host or play against teams from the country.

Finland wants the Russian hockey team to be banned from the men’s world championships it will host in May, the Swiss soccer federation said its women’s team will not play Russia in July at the European Championship, and German soccer club Schalke said it had decided to end its longstanding partnership with Russian stateowned energy giant Gazprom.

However, the wave of opposition to Russian teams and athletes has not yet extended to a ban. Nor has the International Olympic Committee suspended Russia or Belarus, which has allowed its land to be used for troops and launching military strikes against Ukraine.

FIFA, the governing body of soccer, has so far declined to ban Russia from the World Cup. The Russian team, which FIFA said will have to compete as Football Union of Russia as punishment, had been scheduled to host Poland on March 24 in a World Cup qualifying playoff. But Poland and Russia’s next potential opponents, Sweden and the Czech Republic, have all said they would refuse to take the field.

“The Swedish Football Association is disappointed with FIFA’s decision but is determined to continue to work together with other federations to cancel Russia’s matches in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers,” the body said Monday, citing the “illegal and deeply unjust invasion of Ukraine.”

The World Cup is scheduled to begin on Nov. 21 in Qatar.

France’s players celebrate as they hold their World Cup trophy at the end of the Russia 2018 World Cup final football match between France and Croatia in Moscow on July 15, 2018. FIFA, the governing body of soccer, has so far declined to ban Russia from this year’s World Cup. (FRANCK FIFE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES/TNS) In European club soccer, Russian team Spartak Moscow is still scheduled to play next week in the Europa League against German club Leipzig. European governing body UEFA allowed Spartak to take its place in the round of 16 draw on Friday, one day after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion to start.

There is precedent for removing Russian teams from sports. In 1992, following United Nations sanctions, FIFA and UEFA expelled Yugoslavia from its competitions when war broke out in the Balkans.

Besides Schalke’s effort to drop Gazprom as a partner, UEFA is also expected to see if it can nullify its sponsorship deals with the company.

Gazprom sponsors both the Champions League and the European Championship.

FIFA has attracted the most criticism among sports bodies for allowing Russia to continue competing, at least for now, in the World Cup qualifying playoffs. It has kept open the option of a ban.

Instead of banning the team, FIFA attempted to compromise by ordering Russia to play at neutral venues without

its flag and anthem and under the name of its federation — the Football Union of Russia.

That aligns with sanctions imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in December 2020 to punish Russia for state-backed doping and cover-ups of cheating, and applied at last year’s Tokyo Olympics and this year’s Winter Games in Beijing.

The Russian soccer team was already due to play under those conditions if they qualified for the World Cup because of the doping scandals.

FIFA’s decision to apply the conditions to a regional sports event — European qualification games — is the only element of punishment for the war.

If Russia were to play Poland as scheduled on March 24 and win, the team would then face either Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29.

Swedish soccer federation president KarlErik Nilsson, who is also the senior vice president at UEFA, said Sunday he expected a “sharper stance” from FIFA. Polish soccer federation president Cezary Kulesza said Sunday it

was “totally unacceptable” that FIFA had not immediately expelled Russia from World Cup qualifying and said Poland is “not interested in participating in this game of appearances.”

Another of Russia’s future opponents, Albania, also said Sunday it would not play against that country in any sports.

ZITS

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HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

by Mort Walker

by Chris Browne

CRYPTOQUOTES UGW APRU NY K BW F P H R

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J FWY U X P K P Z YKQ RPJXWUQ XR U GW AY K V G P GY R K P U G X K B U P M P RW . — OY AW R

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LY M NV X K Saturday’s Cryptoquote: No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.

— William Blake

B4

Monday, February 28, 2022

The Iola Register

iolaregister.com

KU: Cannot hold big early lead in loss Continued from B1

Net gain Allen Community College men’s basketball coach Andy Shaw holds the net aloft in celebration following a net cutting ceremony Friday. The ceremony was in honor of the Red Devils’ Kansas Jayhawk Conference-Division II championship, the school’s first since 1989. Allen (24-5 overall and 13-1 in conference play) hosts Labette tonight at 7 to open the Region VI playoffs. Meanwhile, the Red Devil women are at Highland at 5:30 p.m. today to take on the host Scotties. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

three days against TCU. The Bears took their first lead with a blistering opening minute of the second half, with Kendall Brown blocking a shot and then running the court for a slam dunk after a long bounce pass from James Akinjo that made 33-32.

There was then a technical foul assessed against Bill Self, with the Kansas coach irate that there wasn’t a foul called on a shot by Christian Braun. Self was near midcourt after the non-call, which came after the Jayhawks never went to the free

largest deficit, before a layup by Thamba ignited a 10-0 run. The Bears were within 28-25 after Sochan blocked a shot that was swatted to Flagler, who drove the court and switched the ball from his left to right hand in the air for a layup. Sochan had a two-handed slam before that.

BIG PICTURE

Kansas head coach Bill Self gives instructions during a basketball game earlier this season. On Saturday, the Jayhawks lost 80-72 to Baylor, but still remain in first place in the Big 12. GETTY IMAGES/DAVID PURDY/TNS

throw line before halftime. Akinjo made both free throws.

Hoops: Substate action hits high gear Continued from B1

town or Southeast.

The Wildcat girls are seeded seventh at 5-13 and will visit second seed Uniontown tonight at 7. The winner will play either Pleasanton or Southeast Thursday in semifinal play.

THE

schools

1A already

CLASS

have

opened their substate action, with Crest’s boys toppling Marmaton Valley Thursday evening, 44-41. The Lancers will take on host and top seed Olpe at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The winner will play either Burlingame or Madison at 5:30 Saturday for a state playoff berth.

The only other 1A

school still alive is Southern Coffey County High’s girls team, which defeated Chetopa, 4827, Friday evening. The Lady Titans will travel to top seed and tournament host at 6 p.m. Friday.

The winner will play either Hartford or Waverly at 7 p.m. Saturday for a state playoff berth.

As reported elsewhere, Marmaton Valley’s girls saw their season end with a 36-35 loss to Olpe Friday, the Crest girls were felled

by Madison Hamilton, 48-25, in their opener, and the Southern Coffey County boys dropped a 59-42 decision to Marais Des Cygnes Valley.

Braun had 17 points and 10 rebounds. David McCormack had 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Adam Flagler added 13 points for Baylor, while Akinjo had 12. Matthew Mayer had nine points and 12 rebounds.

Flo Thamba, the big man remaining for the Bears with Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua out two weeks after a season-ending left knee injury, had 12 of their first 17 points.

Baylor was down 28-15, matching its

Kansas: The Jayhawks still control their fate in whether they will be the Big 12 champion for the 20th time in the league’s 26 seasons.

They won an unprecedented 14 titles in a row from 2005-18, and then won again in 2020. ...

Remy Martin played for the first time after missing seven games because of a bone bruise on his right knee. The super senior transfer guard hadn’t played since Jan. 29 against Kentucky.

Baylor: The Bears are 10-1 vs. Top 10 teams over the last two years, the lone loss being at Kansas earlier this season. This is the third consecutive season, and fourth time in five years Baylor split the regular-season series with the Jayhawks.

Wildcats: Bizarre finish tinged with controversy for MV Continued from B1

home, this time a 36-35 defeat to visiting Olpe in the first round of the Class 1A-I Substate Tournament.

Olpe prevailed, despite leading for all of 5.5 seconds of the contest — the last 5.5 — in a wacky ending tinged with controversy.

The Wildcats led by six, 34-28, after Janae Granere converted a 3-point play with just over a minute left in the game.

But Olpe’s Ava Clark responded promptly with a 3-pointer — the only trey for either team — to slice the lead to 3431.

The Wildcats missed on a golden opportunity after breaking Olpe’s press on their subsequent possession. Granere, racing upcourt for a likely layup, was whistled for traveling as she put up the shot.

“It was the right call,” Wildcat head coach Becky Carlson admitted afterward. “She just got in too big of a hurry.”

That set the stage for the bewildering finish.

Grace Coughlin hit 1 of 2 free throws for Olpe on the Eagles’ next possession, and Granere followed by hitting 1 of 2 free throws to push the lead back to 35-32 with 23 seconds left.

Olpe’s Kadey Robert was fouled on a layup, and converted the subsequent free throw to tie the score at 35-35 with 12 seconds left.

The Eagles’ pressure defense short-circuited MV’s subsequent possession. The inbound pass to Granere was a bit too far out of reach, allowing the Eagles’ Jenna Smith to step in for the interception.

She lobbed it forward to Robert, who missed the layup, but was awarded two free throws after the Wildcats’ Pauline Thery was whistled for the foul with 5.5 seconds left.

Robert missed the first charity, but hit the second, putting Olpe on top for the first time all night.

The Eagles kept up their pressure defense as Marmaton Valley inbounded the ball, leading to the pivotal call.

An Olpe defender collided with the Wildcats’ Aly Ard as she attempted to pass the ball upcourt with 1.1 seconds left.

The officials whistled a foul call, sending the home crowd in a raucous cheer.

But those hoots turned into stunned gasps of exasperation once they realized the foul was on Ard, and not the Olpe defender.

So instead of shooting free throws to tie or take the lead, the Wildcats lost possession.

Granere deflected Olpe’s inbound bass in an attempt for the steal, but it instead landed in the arms of Robert as time expired.

Carlson, who celebrated her 500th win as head coach earlier this season, was stunned.

“I’ve never seen that,” she said.

Both teams had a bevy

of missed opportunities that would have cinched the game much earlier.

The Wildcats struggled mightily from the free throw line, hitting only 11 of 21 charities.

Olpe was off the mark as well, hitting 13 of 27 attempts.

And the Eagles were off the mark on several inside shots in the second half that could have given them the lead.

To be fair, the crushing defense both teams utilized played a key role.

The Wildcats were downright oppressive in the early going. Granere scored eight and Ard four as the Wildcats zipped out to a 12-4 lead.

Payton Scharff ’s free throw midway through the second quarter pushed the margin to 21-12, but a few untimely turnovers and missed free throws opened the door for Olpe to come back.

The Eagles ended the half on a 9-2 run to slice the gap to 23-21 at the break.

State: Season ends for area wrestlers Continued from B1

round pin to Jared Ferguson, in the 195-pound bracket opener.

He responded by edging Brady Weker of Scott Community, 8-7.

Westervelt’s state competition concluded in his next match, an 11-1 loss to Wyatt Harris of Tonganoxie.

Westervelt ended the year with a 23-13 record.

HUMBOLDT’S wres-

tling season ended at the Class 3-2-1A meet in Hays, with a trio of wrestlers competing at the state competition.

Andrew Watts, at 285 pounds, opened the competition by pinning Marysville’s Garrison Craig at 1:39, before falling in the quarterfinal round to eventual state runner-up Jacob Carver of Rossville with a second-period pin. Watts’ season then ended with

Leah Stout

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a loss to Justin Miller of Oskaloosa in the consolation round. He finished with a 26-6 mark.

The two wrestlers who defeated Watts had a combined record of 6611 on the year.

Dakota Slocum, 182 pounds, also went 1-2 over the weekend. He fell to Mason Gottschalk of Ellis with a first-period pin in the opener before rebounding to pin Jacob Keunzi of Sabe-

tha at the 4:29 mark.

Conner Dinkel of Hill City pinned Slocum in the second consolation round to end the Cub junior’s season at 14-11.

Humboldt freshman Cole Mathes, 152 pounds, ended with a 2411 record. He lost in the first round to Jonathan Renyer of Sabetha with a 14-6 decision, and then was pinned by Luke Fischer of Larned in the consolation round.

Neither team did much in the third quarter. Coughlin had a pair of field goals, but went 0-for-5 from the line to account for Olpe’s offense. Marmaton Valley, meanwhile, had buckets from Tayven Sutton and Granere to nurse a 2725 lead into the fourth quarter.

Granere led the way with 21 points, while Ard had six — all in the first quarter.

Coughlin led Olpe with 10. Smith followed with eight.

Carlson credited her team’s effort, despite the excruciating finish.

“They played their hearts out,” she said.

“That may have been the best we’ve played all year.”

Carlson also offered praise to Ard and Kend-

all Scharff, the two lone seniors on the 11-8 MV squad.

“They’ve been great leaders all season,” she said. “There’s a lot to be said about leadership.”

With the win, Olpe (813) advances to take on top-seeded St. Paul (162) Friday.

Olpe (10-11-4-11—36) FG/3pt FT F TP Coughlin 3 4 3 10 Smith 3 2 4 8 Robert 1 5 3 7 Clark 1/1 0 3 5 Scheve 0 2 4 2 Broyles 2 0 4 4 Totals 10/1 13 21 36 Marmaton Valley (14-9-4-8—35) FG FT F TP Thery 0 2 2 2 P. Scharff 1 2 5 4 Lawson 0 0 1 0 Sutton 1 0 3 2 Ard 3 0 4 6 K. Scharff 0 0 3 0 Granere 7 7 3 21 Totals 12 11 21 35

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