Local soldier shares Afghanistan vision
Steven
A rntt,
currently
serving
in
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
Afghanistan, recently sent
Univ ersity o f Oregon
this update to his parents,
Eugene. OR 97403
Gene and Sharon Arntt of
Heppner:
“ I am taking a
Lieutenant Colonel's job on
Kandahar. 1 will be the new
Civil Affairs officer for RC
South, which means 1 do
village medical operations,
C ER P
(C om m anders
Em ergency R ebuilding
Projects— the largest single
budget in the army in
Afghanistan), managing all
of the Titan Linguists across
RC South (something like
200 or so of these guys), in
addition I am responsible for
knowing the culture and
religious habits of our host
nation. 1 think it is going to
be a great job. It is a lot of
stuff all rolled together, a
little bit of pssops, a little
Civil
A ffairs,
some
c o n tractin g and some
medical m anagem ent. I
should not be bored. 1 go
from sharing a desk with six
people to having an entire
building that is mine on camp
Shir Zai. The new position
is pretty cool. I should be
able to get out and do
ev ery th in g 1 have been
screaming about doing dow n
here. IO (inform ation
o p e ra tio n s) cam paigns,
village school projects,
building new medical clinics,
roads, drilling wells and
8 Pages Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
making better farm ing
processes possible. I kept
getting told no on my
projects, so they gave me the
job of the guy who kept
saying no. how funny is that.
Looking forward to living on
KAF. sort of. I am used to
my life here in Tombstone
and will miss it some, but I
get to come out here every
so often.
“This is a great
photo of Nigel Booker and
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VOL. 125
NO. 40
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2006 Heppner Homecoming Court
Steven Arntt (right) and friend Nigel Booker, an officer in the
British military, celebrating Afghan Independence Day.
I. Nigel is a proper British
officer and never arises
before noon. We are here
cele b ra tin g
Afghan
Independence Day. Afghan
In d ependence Day is a
celebration of kicking the
British out of their country.
It's okay, they are getting
used to it.
“Nigel and I were the
only two to dress up like
Afghans. I was the only one
to learn to sing and dance
with them. This was the best
thing I ever did. I was
resistant at first, but it made
us a lot of points with the
locals and General Mujaiden
now calls me his Afghan
Brother. It also made it
possible for me to be
w orking on building a
school, a well, a clinic and a
road outside of Gareshk.
The local village elders were
on hand and they trust me
now. I am a one man IO
campaign.
“I came back from
KAF yesterday. The roads
are getting worse. The ANP
has given up any pretense of
policing anything. They just
set up check points and
demand money. Half the
time you cannot tell if they
are ANP or Taliban. They
look basically alike. I talked
to my A fghan buddy
yesterday; he was charged
$50 US to get through a
check point. To give you an
idea of how much money
that is the ANA soldiers
make $70 a month. The
general next door makes
$280. Yes, corruption is a
national past-time here. That
will not change during my
time here or for a long time
afterwards.”
Rep. Greg Walden to appear at Appreciation Dinner
Homecoming Court: (Hack Ron L-R): Jay and Haillie Keithley, Mark and Mahaley
Huddleston. Wayne and Queen Regi Seitz. Mark and Lyndi Patton. Cyde and Jay Coil; (Front
Ron L-R): Tim Hauer, Casey Mahen. king Aaron Allstott. Zack kurtz and Luke Kasile.
Junior Crown Bearers: Shania Osmin and Koby Daugherty. Photo by Sandy Matthews.
City of lone dedicates memorial rose garden
A
non-partisan
appreciation dinner is being
held to honor Rep. Greg
Walden at John's Place in
H eppner on Tuesday
ev en in g , Sept. 10. Rep.
Walden is making a swing
through Morrow County to
listen to his constituents and
to brief Morrow County
residents on such issues as
school funding and medical
care issues.
He is an advocate to
pressure C o n g ress to
continue payments to rural
counties hurt by cutbacks on
federal logging. Walden has
introduced a bill before
C o n g ress
that
could
generate up to $13 million a
year for the schools
program. Walden said that
post forest fire logging is a
key to funding but the bill has
been stalled in the Senate.
Walden has recently
been honored by residents of
Klamath Falls for his work
on water for irrigation in the
Klamath Basin theTulelake
Irrigation District. His most
recent visit to Oregon last
month
p resen ted
a
substantial check to Gilliam
County for the Children and
lone Mayor Mark Bruno and City Recorder Gayle Eynetich worked on creating a
Fam ilies
M entoring
memorial rose garden to be installed by the new lone public restrooms (inset) at lone
Program.
City Park
A dding
to the
lone City Park memorial stone placed next A ttendees then enjoyed ev en in g event will be
received two new eye to each w ith “In honor o f..." refreshments as they took O re g o n 's
L egislative
catchers- one a brand new inscribed on each. Roses tim e to view the new Representative Greg Smith,
restroom facility and the were purchased in memory additions to the park.
The
city
o th er a m em orial rose of family m em bers or
m aintenance crew will
garden. A d edication groups.
the
roses.
cerem ony for the rose
Forty-five people m aintain
Remaining
proceeds
from
garden was held Thursday. attended the d edication
Sept. 28 in lone.
ceremony and listened as the purchase of the roses will
Thirty-three roses Mayor Mark Bruno read a he used to pay for the roses'
were planted with a list o f the d ed icatio n s. upkeep.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
Rep. Greg Walden
from our district, who will be
acting master of ceremonies.
Rep. Smith is willing to say
a few words and answer
questions following Rep.
W alden's remarks to his
constituents.
Starting o ff the
Appreciation Dinner is a no
host wine tasting party by
Murrays. It will be held at
John's Place, beginning at
5:30 p.m., with a possibility
of a string ensemble during
the wine tasting.
•A full dinner by John
and Nancy Gochnaucr will
be presented at 6:30 p.m.,
for pre-sold tickets holders.
There are a limited number
o f tickets that can be
purchased at Murrays or at
Bueknum's. As of this date
over half of the tickets have
been sold. No sales at the
door. Price of the tickets w ill
be $17 dollars including
gratuity.
Greg Walden invites
you to come and pose
questions to him on any issue
so that he can accurately
represent those of us in his
district.
Walden
returns
home to Oregon most every
week from our n a tio n 's
capital to stay in close touch
with the residents of the 20
counties in eastern, central
and southern Oregon in
O re g o n 's
Second
Congressional District. Last
week. Walden completed his
283rd round-trip between
Oregon and Washington,
D.C. since first being
elected.
Congressman
Walden is currently serving
in
his
fourth
term
representing the people of
the Second Congressional
District of Oregon, which
includes 20 co u n ties in
central, southern, and
eastern Oregon. He serves
on the House Committee on
Energy and Commerce as
well as the Committee on
R esources. He was re
elected in 2004 with 72
percent of the vote in a four-
person race.