If they're in a closed year, you can't delete them. The only thing you can do is print them so that you don't keep getting the warning about unprinted checks.

Go to the Reports & Forms menu > Forms > Checks. Double click on your check format. When the Preview And Print Checks window opens, select the cash account that contains the unprinted items and enter a dummy starting check number. I usually hit the Refresh Lists button so I know what it's going to print. You probably don't want to actually print these items, so go to the Print Setup tab and select Microsoft Print To PDF, or something similar, for your printer before clicking the Print/E-mail button.

This worked great!  As a followup:  A couple of the check payments had a dollar amount.  So I still have to make a journal entry to correct this when I balance the checkbook.  Thanks for the help and quick response Stephen!