Chariot Scenes, An Unwanted Hoop Holiday and More on LTE’s

One of our favorite contributions to our pages are the articles crafted by Stephen Smith who teaches and coaches at White Cloud. Mr. Smith mentors the vaunted WC Quiz Bowl team as well as their chess team. If you’ve not taken the time to read his recaps of the competitions I urge you to do so.
Mr. Smith  delivers portrayals of Quiz Bowl contests so rich in verbiage that one would think the atmosphere at these  matches is akin to the chariot scene in Ben-Hur.
Well done Mr. S. And keep them coming. It is always fun to hear about the accomplishments of the talented WC students. Having personally competed in QB scrimmages on the Times Indicator team years ago, I found it to be a most humbling experience being thrashed by a bevy of bright young people who showed little mercy in thumping our adult team. 
And it is nice to see Coach Emeritus Tony McHattie is still part of the team. His dedication to a prolific registry of young scholars dating back a few decades is admirable and he has had a profound effect on his alumni.

The basketball tournaments are in full swing and for the first time in over 20 years I am not in the gym. On the disabled list until early May, activities have been curtailed considerably since my scooter doesn’t travel well and I’ve yet to make good friends with crutches. Thanks to Editor Mercer for picking up the slack and thanks to those who have contributed to our photos. Amanda Louck-Booth, Brent Foodle, and Matthew Zerfas have regularly sent us game images and we are grateful for their kind contributions.
And while the starters get the accolades for their prowess on the court there are bench players who may not get many minutes but are crucial in helping their teams prepare for games. We salute them for putting in the same amount of time and effort as those who spend the bulk of their time on the floor.

And one more thing. Due to the reaction on some recent posts we plan on discontinuing comments on our Letters to the Editor on local social-media (LSM) pages. Said commentary quickly becomes incendiary and we do not wish to add to the divisiveness these posts reveal. Going forward we will attempt to limit comments to those sent to us through our news site. We accept there are those who love a good LSM dust-up and revel in the opportunity to try and ‘win’ a squabble, but part of our mission is to encourage dialogue and these verbal altercations are not dialogue. They are simply the exchange of insults.

Thanks for reading.

​Ken DeLaat
Publisher

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