Dear Editor, The Higginsville Advance has now had the retirement of another great asset to the paper, Doug Booker. Doug has been a fine communicator and he has always been open to listen to anyone who has stories they would like to see covered in our local paper. With the recent possibility of our community losing the newspaper, I am glad that threat has been eliminated for the time being, but the loss of Mr. Booker will not be avoided, unfortunately. Thanks, Doug, for all your hard work and providing us with years of reliable news. I’m sorry to see you go, but happy retirement! Dennis Stewart Dear Editor, On February 12 at a White House event with President Trump, Lee Zeldin, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, announced the repeal of EPA’s 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and the repeal of all federal GHG emission standards for many vehicles. This is the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States.

Anyone who has been alive as long as I have has seen the obvious negative effects of climate change caused by the world’s increased dependency on the use of hydrocarbons for energy. This includes a great increase in negative weather events, devastating fires in western U.S. and other places in the world and a rise in ocean levels from the melting of the polar ice caps, which results in greater damage during hurricanes and typhoons. The loss of polar ice adds to the problem of global warming from the greenhouse effect with the release of more carbon dioxide into the air, which before had been safely trapped. Our atmosphere is now very slowly evolving into one similar to Venus and no life possible.

Probably everyone alive today will go to their graves without suffering the future lethal impact of these governmental deregulations, but our distant descendants will not be so lucky. Someday we will reach a point when the consequences of our government’s neglect might be irreversible and that could be in my lifetime.

Marjorie Ritter

Mr. Padley, Thank you for taking the time to provide an in-depth response to The Evolution of LCC-1 High School Soccer article. I appreciate all of your questions and am happy to report that the answers to every one of your questions have already been provided to the school district. Having said all of that, I’m happy to cover some of the details here.

It is very common to start Soccer off with a co-ed team for the first couple of years, or more, if necessary and that can change over time. Starting one program can be challenging enough as you know, and by default, two programs at the same time creates more of a challenge, so we start small.

A draft roster of students and grade numbers has been provided to the school. It contained 12 students with 9 of them being 2026 Freshmen that specifically stated they want to play High School Soccer. That’s sustainability for a minimum of four years. The other 3 are in higher grades, but not Seniors. Keeping in mind, this is the number we have so far without it being approved. We would not need 30 players as indicated in your response. We are not required to play both a Varsity and Junior Varsity schedule. We can choose one or the other.

I also generated a schedule and submitted it to the school. I have 9 schools that have confirmed, they have openings for us to play their “JV” or “C” teams for the Fall of 2026. This draft schedule has also been provided to the school district.

Yes, I have fully accounted for the costs associated with starting this program. I drafted a budget for annual costs in a collaborative effort with High School Soccer coaches with similar student enrollment. This has also been submitted to the school district and addresses all of the concerns from your response. I am also happy to provide the information for my MSHSAA contact upon request. For where Soccer would practice and play…there are plenty of options. This plan has already been submitted to the school district as well, but there is more than one option if needed. Field maintenance would be minimal based on those locations.

As far as an assumption that I would serve as the sole coach, I would concur with your statement sir, that is an assumption. It’s also an assumption that nobody else would want to coach. I have volunteered to head coach or assistant coach, whatever best serves the needs of the school and the community. Once Soccer is approved, it creates opportunity for current staff members who may be looking to do more. It also creates opportunities for new teachers to come in that have a background in Soccer.My current plan is to stay at the youth level and prepare youth for High School competition. Our 8th grade group had a victory over a Club Team in Lee’s Summit last week, so great progress has been made.

As far as the data you provided: The number of Class 1 Soccer schools that offer Soccer, Football, and Cross Country, I would like to share some numbers… LCC-1 2025/26 Total Enrollment: 291 (100%)LCC-1 Fall Sports (combined) Rosters: 143 (49%) LCC-1 Remainder: 148 (51%) To Field Soccer: 16 (11%) More than half of the student body is leftover. And we already know that 12 want to play. Eight of the 12 will be 2026 Freshmen boys. When we progress to girls Soccer in the Spring in a few years, that will be even easier, with Girls Track being the only sport we offer. I’ve reviewed historical enrollment fluctuation. Any drop in enrollment would not be significant enough to impact sports unless we lose another 50+ students.

In reference to Lone Jack/ Kingsville Football co-op concerns, we could lose 50 kids for total enrollment (maybe more) and still field both Football, Soccer and Cross Country. I think it’s important to mention we have about 90 more students than Lone Jack as well. We may see a bump in enrollment, Home School participation, and employment when Soccer is approved.

I understand and take your point about fiscal responsibility. I agree 1000%. But as a reminder, a budget has been provided, coupled with Non-Profit Organization support and potential Booster support should really take care of the cost.

It was an honor to serve in the World’s Finest Navy and I greatly appreciate your words! I thank you for your family’s dedicated service to our country! Have a blessed day!

Please reach out anytime and I’ll be happy to answer any more questions you have. Sincerely, Steven G Bartosik