Letter to the editor

Dear editor,

On Nov. 5, the residents of Humboldt will be given an opportunity to vote on a half-cent sales tax. The money raised from this will be used to improve the streets. Every resident that has driven on Humboldt’s streets knows that this is a very needed project.

Companies, businesses, organizations, committees and individuals have given their time and money to revitalize and beautify our town. It is now time to expand this work by improving our streets.

Our streets are like interlacing ribbons around the city square. It is now our chance to replace these old, worn out ribbons with nice, new smooth ribbons. The city administrator, mayor, council members and employees have spent many hours in developing a plan to improve every street at the most economical cost. This plan can only be accomplished if the citizens of Humboldt are in favor of the half-cent sales tax.

This is your opportunity to be a part of revitalizing and beautifying Humboldt. This project will require more people than any of the work done so far. Each and everyone of you can now become an important part of what is going on in our great city.

Let’s give a pat on the back to everyone that has been working for years to improve Humboldt, and let’s now do our part to stand alongside of them by voting “YES” for the half-cent sales tax. I appreciate each of you for standing up and doing your part toward improving the streets of Humboldt. Cheers to each one of you, we will soon have new and smooth streets in front of every home. 

Please get out and vote “YES” for the half-cent sales tax.

Douglas Leonard,

Humboldt, Kan.

Jayhawks host Wildcats; ride 11-year losing streak against K-State

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The scenes that took place last Saturday in two football stadiums separated by a 100-mile stretch of Interstate 70 were quite similar: The clock ticking to zero, the players streaming off the sideline, the fans pouring from the stands to celebrate with them.

No. 22 Kansas State (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) had just upset then-No. 5 Oklahoma, dealing the Big 12’s best hope of playing in the College Football Playoff a staggering blow. Kansas (3-5, 1-4) had just beat Texas Tech on a game-ending field goal.

The rousing weekend for bitter rivals creates a compelling backdrop for the latest edition of the Sunflower Showdown, with both programs flying high heading into their meeting Saturday in Lawrence.

“Both teams are coming off good wins. They had a great game last week,” Jayhawks quarterback Carter Stanley said. “It’s always a big game when it’s a rivalry, but kind of what’s leading up to it this week makes it a bigger game.”

Not just for people from the Sunflower State, either.

Wildcats coach Chris Klieman grew up in Iowa and coached across the Midwest, but his only stint in Kansas — coincidentally — came as a graduate assistant for the Jayhawks in 1997. But that year coupled with what he’s heard from others impressed upon him the importance of the game.

“I know it’s a big game, obviously, with the Governor’s Cup, the trophy game and all those things, and I think those things are neat,” Klieman said. “They’re part of college football, the rivalries.

“I think those things are great,” he added, “but once again we can’t get caught up in all that. We have to get caught up with making sure that we come up with great game plans this week and that the guys understand the details of the plan, don’t get ahead of ourselves and make sure we have a great week.”

Jayhawks coach Les Miles likewise has little in-person experience in the rivalry and, like Klieman, is in his first year with his new team. He was born in Ohio, played at Michigan and has coached all over the country. But he was in the old Big Eight for a bit at Colorado, and he faced the Jayhawks and Wildcats when he was at Oklahoma State.

“I’ve been fortunate to be around several really quality rivalries. The OU-Oklahoma State rivalry I thought was spectacular. Obviously the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry that I witnessed very close, and the Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Redskins back then was very significant,” Miles said. “And I think the Kansas-Kansas State rivalry has a similar thump to it.”

 

LOPSIDED RIVALRY

Kansas State has beaten the Jayhawks the past 11 meetings, matching the longest streak in the series held by the Wildcats form 1993-2003. They’re also seeking their sixth straight win in Lawrence, which would be a school record for the series.

 

WHAT A RUSH

The game features some of the Big 12’s best running backs. Jayhawks star Pooka Williams has run for 704 yards despite missing the opener due to a suspension, while transfers James Gilbert and Jordon Brown have given Kansas State a bruising ground game that pummeled Oklahoma last week.

 

DEARMON’S 

DIFFERENCE

Miles made an in-season change in offensive coordinators, firing Les Koenning and promoting Brent Dearmon, and the difference has been night and day — especially for the Jayhawks’ quarterback. Once looking lost, Stanley has now thrown for 1,900 yards with 19 touchdowns and five picks.

 

SPEAKING OF PASSING

Stanley could have his hands full against the Wildcats, who have allowed just four passing TDs through the first seven games. That mark, which factors in their job against Heisman Trophy contender Jalen Hurts last week, is tied with Ohio State, Kentucky and Penn State for fewest nationally.

 

TURNOVER TROUBLE

Kansas State has committed just three offensive turnovers through its first seven games. The ability of quarterback Skylar Thompson and his running backs to hold onto the ball has been a big reason why the Wildcats have dominated time of possession this season.

 

WRIST SLAPS

The Big 12 issued public reprimands to both schools this week — along with TCU — for the way they handled last week’s “field-storming incidents.” Kansas State also was fined $25,000 for the jubilant celebration that broke out at Bill Snyder Family Stadium following the biggest home win in years.

Royals choose Matheny as new manager

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Mike Matheny walked through the doors of Kauffman Stadium a year ago to take a job as a special adviser with the Kansas City Royals, an out-of-the-spotlight position that allowed him to take stock of his career and his shortcomings.

He had been fired by the Cardinals earlier in the summer, ending a six-year tenure highlighted by a World Series trip and lowlighted by a three-year swoon that cost him his job.

“When I left,” Matheny recalled, “I went home to my wife and my five amazing kids and I said, ‘I don’t know how to explain it but this is where I’m meant to be.”

Turns out he’ll be calling the K his office for a while.

Ned Yost decided to retire near the end of the season, and the Royals finally made official what many expected: They were handing the job to Matheny, who had spent the year working side-by-side with people throughout the organization, from the farm clubs to the scouting staff.

“He has interacted with leadership of all levels. He’s spent time in our rookie league, with the medical staff, evaluating people for the draft,” general manager Dayton Moore said Thursday. “As Mike interacted with all those people, to a man, they were amazed by his leadership.”

That’s one of many things he spent the past year working on.

Matheny also worked on his people skills. He embraced analytics. He even hired a media consultant to learn how to better deal with the press.

All of those were criticisms that ultimately led to his ouster in St. Louis.

The 49-year-old Matheny went 591-474 with the Cardinals and was the first manager to reach the postseason his first four seasons. The Cardinals reached the World Series in 2013, losing to the Red Sox, but Matheny was fired in July 2018 as the team skidded toward a third consecutive season without a postseason trip.

‘”I needed two days. I don’t know why two days,” he said, when asked how long he needed to decompress after his firing. “I loved playing the game, but what I truly found I love to do was coach and manage.”

He will have his hands full managing the Royals.

They are coming off another 100-loss season and are in the midst of a massive retooling effort following their back-to-back World Series appearances in 2014-15. It was a run that culminated with their first championship since 1985 and energized an entire city.

But that team’s foundation reached free agency shortly after beating the New York Mets for the title, forcing the small-market organization to dismantle and rebuild. Wins have been hard to come by, even as the team showed progress with a wave of young position players reaching the majors.

The fact that Matheny spent the past season evaluating the progress of those players, along with a batch of talented pitchers still in the minors, gave him a leg up in the competition for the job.

“They aspire to play for Mike,” Moore said, “and that’s ultimately what sold us on him.”

Matheny was a Gold Glove-winning catcher who succeeded Tony La Russa as Cardinals manager after St. Louis won the 2011 World Series. But after some immediate success endeared him to plenty of Cardinals fans, Matheny was just 216-201 in his final two-plus seasons, culminating in the club’s first in-season managerial change since Joe Torre was replaced by Mike Jorgensen in 1995.

While Matheny brings postseason experience — he managed 43 playoff games in St. Louis — his real value beginning next season will be developing the young talent on the roster.

Talented shortstop Adalberto Mondesi had shoulder surgery but should be back next season, and outfielder Jorge Soler set a club record with 48 homers last season. Third baseman Hunter Dozier added 26 in a breakthrough season while Whit Merrifield had another 200-hit season at second base.

With a young lineup largely set, the Royals will spend the next couple of seasons piecing together a starting rotation and bullpen. Brad Keller and Jakob Junis are the only certainties among starters and closer Ian Kennedy was the only reliable relief option last season.

Matheny’s hiring comes at a pivotal juncture off the field, too.

In late August, the Glass family announced they were selling the Royals to an ownership group led by local businessman John Sherman in a deal expected to be worth about $1 billion. Sherman and his local co-investors will become only the third owners since Ewing Kauffman founded the club in 1969.

Sherman is considered an astute businessman and respected civic leader, but he’s also a brilliant baseball mind. He was a season ticketholder of the Royals for years before purchasing an interest in the Cleveland Indians — an interest he will be selling before his purchase of the Royals is complete.

League owners are expected to vote on the sale at their meeting Nov. 21.

Klieman’s keys to success

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Sitting in a far corner of the football stadium’s parking lot was an old school bus, painted in Kansas State colors and with the words “Win the Dang Day” scrolled across the side.

It’s the catchphrase that Chris Klieman brought to the Wildcats when he was hired to replace the retired Hall of Fame coach Bill Snyder late last year. Klieman was a lukewarm selection for many fans, despite his championship-winning pedigree at North Dakota State, because he had no ties to the program and little experience working at college football’s highest level.

But after a resounding victory over then-No. 5 Oklahoma on Saturday, which pushed the Wildcats back into the AP Top 25 , good luck finding any critics of the new coach in the Flint Hills.

Win the dang day? The Wildcats sure did this weekend.

“I don’t know if it has really fully hit me yet,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who threw for 213 yards while running for four scores in the 48-41 victory. “It’s a special moment for me in my life, but I know for Kansas State and the history, it’ll go down as a game people will remember forever.”

The No. 22 Wildcats (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) have won big games before, topping Nebraska in a massive showdown in 2000 and upsetting Texas in 2006. But the ranking sitting beside the Sooners’ name is only part of what made Kansas State’s victory so memorable.

The biggest part was the coach standing on the sideline.

With a blue-collar, everyman persona that resonates with the school’s largely ag and tech fanbase, Klieman has slowly brought even the most reluctant fans onto his side. He spent hours before the season traveling to all corners of the state, even stopping by Kansas Speedway for a NASCAR race, and embraced not only the challenge of replacing Snyder but of building upon his foundation.

Eventually, fans began to accept him as more than just the lower-division coach whom Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor chose because of their friendship. Or what some viewed as Taylor’s backup choice when other, higher-profile possibilities chose job openings elsewhere.

Evidence of that buy-in could be seen in the parking lot of Bill Snyder Family Stadium, where that school bus with “Win the Dang Day” on it sat in the far corner as fans celebrated all around.

“It’s a great program win,” Klieman said, “but I’m most happy for the players. They earned it.”

Indeed, the fans aren’t the only ones to buy into Klieman’s messages of hard work, perseverance and family. There were a handful of transfers when he was first hired, but the veterans that stuck around and the transfers and freshmen that arrived have poured themselves into his vision.

In an era of wide-open offenses, the Wildcats bludgeon their opponents — they ran for 213 yards against the Sooners. They are fundamentally sound, hit hard on defense and are among the least-penalized teams in the conference, traits that allow them to overcome any difference in sheer athleticism.

Again, a blue-collar attitude that resonates in the college town of Manhattan.

“I had a healthy respect for Kansas State,” Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said. “I mean, you watch how they play and they’ve gotten better each week. We know what the environment is like coming in here, so you know if they make some plays there’s going to be some momentum in that stadium.

“We let a good team in it,” Riley added, “and they whipped us.”

The game wasn’t decided until a video review showed that an Oklahoma player had touched an onside kick that the Sooners recovered a single yard too early. But it took them making a frantic fourth-quarter charge just to get that close — at one point, the Wildcats had them in a 41-23 second-half hole.

Now, the Wildcats have a chance to make some noise in the league race.

They lost their first two games, to Oklahoma State and Baylor, leaving them with an uphill climb just to reach bowl eligibility. But they’ve bounced back by beating TCU and Oklahoma, still have games left against the three worst teams in the Big 12 standings in Texas Tech, Kansas and West Virginia, and have a couple of statement possibilities with Iowa State and Texas still on deck.

“I mean, truly it was a game that we needed to get the confidence going against a good football team,” Thompson said. “It kind of shows what we are capable of.”

Trophy in sight for Truex Jr.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Martin Truex Jr. struggled on short tracks for 15 years before he finally snapped his streak of futility and swept this season at Richmond. He’d been inching his way closer to victory lane, only to come up empty in frustrating finish after frustrating finish.

Martinsville Speedway wasn’t any kinder to Truex, who recalled “the first couple times I came here, we were terrible. I mean, awful.”

The trip to the shortest track on the NASCAR circuit last weekend was different. It was a vital playoff race. Truex was intent on collecting his first grandfather clock (Martinsville awards a clock instead of a traditional trophy, and he had gone so far as to choose a spot in his home for the prestigious item.

“In my living room, you’ll be able to see it as soon as you walk in the front door,” he said. “I’ve actually looked at that spot before and thought, ‘That grandfather clock would look good right there.’”

Truex earned his first clock Sunday by demolishing the competition in leading all but 36 of the 500 laps. The long-awaited victory also locked him into NASCAR’s final four with the chance to race for the Cup Series championship Nov. 17 for the third consecutive year. His move to Joe Gibbs Racing after Furniture Row Racing closed at the end of last season has been almost flawless.

Truex goes to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend as the only driver locked into the finale and leads the Cup series with seven victories.

Crew chief Cole Pearn can literally do nothing the next two weeks but work on the No. 19 Toyota that Truex will race in the final at Homestead-Miami Speedway — a luxury the other seven title contenders don’t have as they claw their way toward the remaining three slots. But sitting back isn’t part of the plan.

Although Truex raced with Furniture Row for the title in four of the last five seasons — he won in 2017 and was runner-up to Joey Logano last year — he’d never before won in the third round of the playoffs to earn an automatic berth in the title race. Now that he’s locked in, he and Pearn want more.

“We’ve never been in this position before — every time we’ve made the final four we’ve pointed our way in,” Truex said, referring the points standings. “We’ve never won in this round, so it’s new territory. It’s good territory to be in, but, honestly, we can’t change who we are. You race every week the same, just there’s more on the line as you go down the road here. … we’re going to go try to win the next two. Just like here, we’ve never won the next two tracks, and we want to, so here we go.”

Up first is Texas on Sunday, where Truex is 0 for 28. JGR teammate Denny Hamlin won at Texas in the spring, while Kevin Harvick dominated last fall before his victory was disqualified because of an illegal part on his car. The tension in spots two through eight is thick, with Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Logano above the cutline for the final three positions at Homestead.

Harvick’s playoffs have been mediocre and he is coming off two consecutive poor weeks of racing, Busch has looked nothing like he did while winning the regular-season title and Chase Elliott’s mechanical problems at Martinsville have put NASCAR’s most popular driver in a must-win situation over the next two weeks.

Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson, both racing on borrowed time after surprise victories in the second round of the playoffs, are longshots but many believe if Larson qualifies for Homestead he could steal the title because the Florida track is one of his best.

All of this leaves Truex, the only one with an actual ticket to the title race, somewhat under the radar.

His long journeyman career took him from B-level ride to B-level ride until he landed outside of Denver with mid-pack Furniture Row. But he and Pearn became a magical combination and turned the tiny team first into a contender and then into a champion.

Furniture Row folded after last season’s finale and Truex and Pearn went in-house to Gibbs, the team aligned with Furniture Row. The transition has been so seamless it hardly gets any attention at all, which has allowed the No. 19 team to build a quiet confidence and determination to grab another championship.

Pearn said the Martinsville win does free more time to prepare for Homestead, but the next two races also have trophies available.

“If you have an opportunity to win, you want to go do it and do it for everybody on our team and our partners, so yeah, we’re still going to try hard the next two weeks,” he said.

Trick or treat!

Munchkinland Preschool & Daycare gets ready to celebrate a cold Halloween by dressing up and visiting nursing homes this morning.

 

Parker McKarnin, aka Col. Sanders, turned his sister, Tylen, into a chicken. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

Rendon leads Nats to first World Series title

meback for the Washington Nationals.

The team that was 12 games under .500 before the end of May is now the World Series champion.

The Nationals beat the Houston Astros 6-2 on Wednesday night, when they were down 2-0 after six innings. It was Washington’s fifth comeback win in a potential elimination game this postseason — four was already a major league record for a single postseason.

They had to win the NL wild card game, then went the full five games in the NL Division Series to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers on the road in extra innings to advance. Washington swept St. Louis in the NL Championship Series.

 

BIG HOMERS

Anthony Rendon homered in the last three games when the Nationals were facing elimination, becoming the first player ever to homer in three consecutive elimination games.

Howie Kendrick put Washington ahead to stay with his two-run homer in the seventh inning of Game 7, two batters after Rendon went deep.

Kendrick is the first player with multiple go-ahead homers in the seventh inning or later of winner-take-all games in a single postseason. His grand slam in the 10th inning won Game 5 of the NLDS against the Dodgers.

 

CAPITAL CHEERS

The Nationals got a toast from the Stanley Cup champions, who are also from the nation’s capital.

Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, who won the 2018 Stanley Cup title, popped champagne at home when the Nationals recorded the final out to wrap up the World Series more than 1,400 miles away in Texas.

The Nationals are certain to get a huge celebration back home for their first World Series title, like the Capitals got after winning their first Stanley Cup.

 

SOME NOTABLE NUMBERS

— Juan Soto, who turned 21 during this World Series, finished the postseason with 18 hits. That matched the most by a player younger than 22 — Miguel Cabrera was a 20-year-old rookie with the Marlins in 2003 when they won the World Series.

Soto had nine hits in the World Series.

— Washington finished the postseason by winning eight consecutive road games. That matched the 1996 Yankees for the longest streak in a single postseason.

— Astros second baseman Jose Altuve had a third-inning single, his 25th hit this postseason. That matched the second-most in MLB history, one shy of Pablo Sandoval’s total with the San Francisco Giants in 2014.

— Houston shortstop Carlos Correa’s RBI double in the fifth inning was his 33rd career RBI in the postseason, the most by a player younger than 26. The only shortstop with more RBIs overall is Derek Jeter with 61.

 

HEADED TO THE HALL

There are several items from the World Series headed to Cooperstown.

An exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame highlighting the most recent World Series champion will include a hoodie from manager Dave Martinez, the jersey World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg wore when winning Game 6, the ball Howie Kendrick hit for the go-ahead home run in Game 7 and the cap three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer wore when starting the finale.

 

PLAY LOUD AND RESPECTFUL

Astros manager AJ Hinch is all for letting the young kids play — and play loud. He also wants them to respect the game.

Alex Bregman, the Astros third baseman who is one of the young stars MLB has highlighted in its ad campaigns trying to reach younger fans, carried his bat past first base after hitting a home run in the first inning of Game 6 of the World Series.

“I think we should always encourage players to show personality and be as open with the fans and drive the sport,” Hinch said before Game 7 on Wednesday. “So many good stories in these clubhouses, so many good people and players to celebrate, to a point, then it crosses a line where it was probably unnecessary to go that far.”

When Soto homered later in that game, the Nationals slugger who turned 21 during this Fall Classic mimicked Bregman with a similar action.

“When it gets to the competition on the field, I fear a little bit of it goes too far,” Hinch said. “And I’m actually OK with Soto thinking that it was funny. I think that’s part of these personalities that you have to individualize within our sport if you want to celebrate the youthfulness that comes with it.”

First baseman Ryan Zimmerman has been in the majors for 15 seasons, all as the only player to be part of the Nationals for each season they have played. He believes the most important thing is that baseball is in good hands with the young talent.

Former Ranger, All-Star charged with child injury

KELLER, Texas (AP) — Former All-Star slugger Josh Hamilton has been charged with injury to a child after his 14-year-old daughter told his ex-wife that he had struck her.

Hamilton, 38, surrendered Wednesday to the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, Texas, and was released on $35,000 bond. If convicted, he could be sentenced to two to 10 years in prison.

According to an affidavit by a Keller Police Department detective, Hamilton’s daughter told police that he went on a rampage Sept. 30. She says she made a comment to Hamilton that upset him, so he threw a full bottle overhand at her, hitting her in the chest, then cursed and shouted at her. He pulled away the chair on which she rested her feet and threw it, breaking the chair. It didn’t hit her, but he then grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her from the chair on which she sat. She fell to the floor, and he lifted her up, threw her over his shoulder and carried her to her bedroom.

The girl said at this point she was telling Hamilton, “I’m sorry.” Upon reaching her bedroom door, he tossed the teen onto her bed, pressed her face onto the mattress and began hitting her legs with an open hand and closed fist.

She said that after he finished striking her, he told her, “I hope you go in front of the f—ing judge and tell him what a terrible dad I am so I don’t have to see you anymore and you don’t have to come to my house again.”

As he left the room, he told her to gather her things for school. When she replied that she had already put them in the car, he responded, “Well, aren’t you just the perfect child.”

The Dallas Morning News reports that Hamilton’s ex-wife Katie Hamilton, the mother of the children, had sought a protective order for the girl against Hamilton earlier this month.

Hamilton has an unlisted telephone number and couldn’t be reached for comment. It was unclear if he has an attorney.

Hamilton played for the Texas Rangers, Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Angels. This summer, he was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame.

“The Texas Rangers take the issue of family violence very seriously. We are aware of the situation involving Josh Hamilton. Since this is an ongoing legal matter, we have no further comment,” the Rangers said in a statement.

After Hamilton was the first overall pick out of high school in the 1999 amateur draft by Tampa Bay, his career was nearly destroyed by cocaine and alcohol addiction. He returned to baseball with Cincinnati and made his big-league debut in 2007, when he hit 19 homers in 90 games before being traded to the Rangers. He was part of their only two World Series teams (2010 and 2011) and was an All-Star five seasons in a row.

An awe-inspiring display in the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium in 2008 was a highlight of his career, when the first-time All-Star led the American League with 130 RBIs while hitting .304 with 32 homers in his first full season. He hit four homers in the 2010 AL Championship Series and had a four-homer game at Baltimore in 2012.

Hamilton left the Rangers in free agency, signing a $125 million, five-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels before the 2013 season. He was recovering from shoulder surgery when the Angels traded him back to Texas in 2015 after his two injury-plagued seasons with Los Angeles. He played 50 games for Texas in 2015, but never again after surgery on his left knee at least three times after that.

 

 

Hazel Laver

Hazel L. Laver, 98, of Parsons and formerly of Humboldt, died Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019, at Elm Haven Nursing Home in Parsons.

Graveside services will be at 11 a.m., Saturday at LaHarpe Cemetery. Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Forbes-Hoffman Funeral Home in Parsons.

Memorials are suggested to the Holden D. Woodward Education Fun and may be left at or mailed to Forbes-Hoffman Funeral Home, 405 Main, P.O. Box 374, Parsons, KS 67357.

Complete obituary details will be announced by Forbes-Hoffman Funeral Home of Parsons.