Besides being outstanding athletes by virtue of winning the state baseball championship, the Iola High School Mustangs are also model citizens.
These boys are gentlemen, said Mark Percy, head coach. Wherever they went, Percy said he could count on the boys to exhibit good manners.
For the most part, discipline was not an issue, Percy said, allowing him to concentrate his efforts on the game, and not as a parent, a frequent sub-role for todays teachers and coaches.
Contrast that good news to Tuesdays news that Roseanne Barrs eponymous new sitcom is being canceled due to her incendiary remarks.
This time, the hot-tempered actress launched a racist tweet against Valerie Jarrett, an adviser to former President Barack Obama. Today, Jarrett is a senior fellow at the University of Chicago Law School.
Barrs comment slandered Jarrett, an African-American born in Iran, as being a product of the muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes.
Barr later took down the online comment and apologized for what she said were Jarretts politics and looks.
OK, taking a deep breath here.
Accusing someone of being an Islamic terrorist is way more serious than saying they are liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, so to simply say, my bad, doesnt cut it.
Secondly, Barrs reference to Jarretts looks is, again, nothing more than blatant bias against blacks.
So what Barr assumes wipes the slate clean, only serves to give a clearer picture of her inherent biases against blacks and Muslims.
If this were an isolated incident, ABC may have given Barr a pass.
Unfortunately, Barr is on record for promoting far-right conspiracy theories including that the U.S. Government under Democratic presidencies promoted child sex trafficking, that the Robert S. Mueller probe involving Russian influence in the 2016 election is a contrived distraction from President Donald Trumps successes, and that Hillary Clinton was behind the Las Vegas massacre where 58 concert-goers were shot dead by Stephen Paddock.
Finally, the network drew a line at which Barr would inevitably cross.
The irony is not lost that its the stodgy British royalty that has welcomed a biracial American into its family fold. Meghan Markle, now the Duchess of Sussex, is expected to be a much-needed agent of change.
