TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The O fficial N ew spaper
o f the City o f Heppner and the County o f Morrow
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
U .S .P S . 240-420
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
Published weekly and entered as periodical matter al the Post Office at Heppner,
Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Periodical postage paid at Heppner, Oregon.
Office at 188 W Willow Street Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax (541) 676-9211
E-mail editor^ rapidserve net or david(Srapidserve net. Web site www heppner
net Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-limes, PO. Box
337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $27 in Morrow C ounty ; $21 senior
rate (in Morrow County only, 62 years or older); $33 elsewhere; $27 student
subscriptions
David Sykes.................................................................................................... Publisher
Autumn Morgan ............................................................................................... Editor
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Exchange students appreciates life
in Morrow County
To the Editor:
Hello, my name is
Camilo Acosta, I’m an ex
change student from Colom
bia, I live in Heppner but I
study in lone. I came five
months ago, and my time
to depart is getting closer
by each word 1 write in this
letter, and the only thing I
can do for this community
is a letter in the newspaper
sharing my appreciation to
the all the people for all the
good moments.
I would like to start
w ith Heppner, my living
place, the first to open their
arms to me, giving me warm
clothes in winter when I was
freezing and other things. I
greatly appreciate the St Pat
rick Catholic Church, espe
cially Father Condon, for all
their spiritual guidance dur
ing this time. To M urray’s
Pharmacy, Fam ily Foods
and the Bank o f Eastern
Oregon for their services.
To Lois Hunt and to Diann
and Dave Nagel for all their
affection and teachings. To
all the exchange students,
my first friends, with them
I share my first happy mo
ments in the United States,
I will never forget them and
I hope to see you again.
To Linda Corbin, our area
representative, I really ap
preciate all your counseling
and accompaniment. Last
in Heppner, but not least; I
am very grateful to my Host
Family: The Maricks, John,
Kathy and my little Abbie,
they becam e my second
fam ily, now they have a
space in my heart that is go
ing to stay in there forever,
they shared their life with
me, also are included Bora,
Hee-Young and the Fosters
(Katie, Chuck and Olivia),
they are my whole American
family, I hope we can be al
ways a family, no matter the
distances, in our hearts.
N ow , lo n e , th a t
small, but cozy, charming
and wonderful town where
I made a lot o f friends and
have a little o f amazing and
unforgettable experiences, I
had not enjoyed school that
much until I came here. I’d
Divorces
The Circuit Court at
the Morrow County Court
house in Heppner has re
leased the following infor
mation:
Divorces filed June
6-James Robert Jepsen and
Gina Marie Jepsen.
like to express gratitude to
all o f the staff in the lone
School, M rs. B row ning,
Kay Aldritt, Kelly, Adena,
Mrs. M cCabe, to all the
teachers: Mr. Raible, Mr.
Schaber, Mr. Holland, Mrs.
H eidem an, M iss Wagen-
blast, Mr. Rudolf, Maureen
M cElligott, and all those
who I’m forgetting now, I
will never forget all your
guidance, teachings, helps
not only with my language,
but also with my knowledge
and life plan. Next there
are my school friends; 1
didn't believe that in this
short amount of time I could
make those amazing friends
as I did in lone, since my
first day o f school, most
o f them opened their arms
to me, making me feel like
I’m am in a big family, and
offer me their friendship
always: Beth, Mary, Sarah,
Brianna, Tyree, Eric, Mikey,
my friends in the ju n io r
class: Tiana, Luke, Matt,
Alex (you should be junior)
and Tori, I passed so many
excellent moments with all
o f them, I will always re
member the movie nights,
the laughs, the lunches and
all the thing that I didn’t
m ention, all o f you also
have a part o f my heart and
I hope I can come back soon
to visit you... and I am sorry
if I forgot someone in there,
it wasn’t my intention; I’m
grateful even for the fourth
and fifth graders, they gave
me some headaches but I
had good times with them.
Finally, I would like
to say that all my objec
tives and my purposes that I
brought to United States are
reached, not only my lan
guage ones, but also those
like making new friends, a
new family and knowing
wonderful people, sharing
my culture with another
countries and learning about
them, always with my mind,
hands and heart open to
learn new things that I will
never forget, because after
this I won’t be the same as
before, now I am a better
person, with new horizons
and a bigger plan o f life,
based on all the knowledge
given by my parents during
all my life.
I am really going to
miss this experience and all
the people implicated on it,
and again I wish to express
my deepest gratitude to all
who made this experience
what it has become.
Camilo Acosta (Marick)
~
Letters to the Editor ~
I'he Heppner Gazette Times will print all letters to the Editor with the following
criteria met: letters submitted to the newspaper will need to have the name
o f the sender along with a legible signature. We are also requesting that you
provide your address and a phone number where you can be reached. The
address and phone number will only be used for verification and will not be
printed in the newspaper. Letters may not be libelous. The G T reserves the
right to edit. The G T is not responsible for accuracy o f statements made in
letters. Any letters expressing thanks will be placed in the classifieds under
“Card o f Thanks” at a cost o f $10.
Flag Day is America’s day
Editor s Note: The
following letter was sub
mitted by Jean Jepsen. The
letter originally came from
public relations division o f
The American Legion.
Americans love their
flag. If there is any doubt
about that, ask the editors of
“Time” Magazine.
On the cover o f its
April 2 1st issue, “Time” used
the famous Joe Rosenthal
image o f the Iwo Jima flag
raising on Mount Suribachi.
In what could be m ildly
called a “ lapse o f ju d g
ment,” editors replaced the
U.S. flag in the photo with
a tree, in ord er to make
a statem ent about global
warming.
Donald Mates, a se
verely wounded Iwo Jima
veteran, said “to stick a tree
in place o f a flag on the Iwo
Jima picture is just sacrile
gious.”
T im H o lb e r t, a
spokesman for the Ameri
can Veterans Center, said the
doctored photo “trivializes
the most recognizable mo
ment of one o f the bloodiest
battles in U.S. history.”
Readers were out
raged at “Tim es’” lack o f
respect for Old Glory.
Today, we are not
honoring only the flag, but
what it symbolizes. We are
honoring freedom. We are
honoring the freedom to
w orship as we please, to
speak as we please and to
vote as we please. We are
honoring the hardworking
men and women who have
made this the greatest and
most successful country that
the planet has ever known.
Flag Day is America’s Day.
The 13 stripes on our
flag are not just symbolic
o f the original colonies but
they are sym bolic o f the
founding fathers who hailed
from those colonies. They
are symbolic o f their dreams
for a great Republic, dreams
that have been forged into
reality by all the men and
women who have defended
this great nation.
George Washington
once said o f the original
Flag, “ We take the stars
from Heaven, the red from
our mother country, sepa
rating it by white stripes,
thus showing that we have
separated from her, and the
white stripes shall go down
to posterity representing
liberty.”
The U nited States
Flag is the embodiment of
our Constitution that pro
claims our absolute com
mitment to defending the
freedoms given to us by our
Creator.
President Coolidge
may have been known as
"S ilent C al,” but he had
plen ty to say ab o u t our
Flag.
“ We do honor the
Stars and Stripes as the em
blem o f our country and the
symbol o f all that our patrio
tism means,” Coolidge said.
"We identify the flag with
almost everything we hold
dear on earth. It represents
our peace and security, our
civil and political liberty,
our freedom o f religious
w orship, our family, our
friends, our home. We see
it in the great m ultitude
of blessings, o f rights and
privileges that make up our
country. But when we look
at our flag, and behold it
em blazoned with all our
rights, we must remember
that it is equally a symbol
of our duties. Every glory
that we associate with it is
the result o f duty done. A
yearly contemplation o f our
flag strengthens and purifies
the national conscience.”
Legend says Betsy
Ross created the U.S. Flag.
What is not in dispute is that
the U.S. Supreme Court has
allowed misguided protes
tors to destroy it.
In 1989 the Supreme
Court mistakenly ruled that
flag desecration laws were
invalid because o f First
A m endm ent free speech
protections.
Yet, the First Amend
m ent’s prohibition against
“abridging the freedom of
speech” clearly does not
include all forms of expres
sion.
Why else would the
Founding Fathers have sepa
rately delineated protections
for a free press, assembly
and petition o f government
redresses if these actions
w ere alread y “ p ro tected
speech.”
Wouldn’t these addi
tions have been redundant?
As former Los An
geles Dodger Manager Tom
my Lasorda says, “Speech is
when you talk.”
Supreme Court Jus
tice John Paul Steven dis
sented from the Flag des
ecration ruling. He wrote,
“ s a n c tio n in g the p u b lic
desecration of the flag will
tarnish its value - both for
those who cherish the ide
als for which it waves and
for those that desire to don
the robes o f martyrdom by
burning it. That tarnish is not
justified by the trivial bur
den on free expression occa
sioned by requiring that an
available, alternative mode
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o f expression— including
uttering words critical o f the
flag...be employed.”
So here we are 19
years later, respecting and
honoring the Flag o f The
United States but at the same
time waiting for Congress to
act. It will take a constitu
tional amendment to restore
the right o f the American
people to once again protect
their flag from desecration.
All 50 state leg islatu res
have petitioned Congress
for a constitutional amend
ment that would restore to
Congress the authority to
prohibit flag desecration.
Poll after poll shows the
overwhelming majority of
the American people want to
see their flag protected.
L o p sid ed m a jo ri
ties in both houses o f Con
gress have supported a flag
amendment. The House of
Representatives has passed
such an amendment in six
consecutive votes and the
Senate failing by only one
vote o f a needed two-thirds
supermajority in the 109th
Congress.
Rep. John Murtha of
Pennsylvania has introduced
H.J. Res 12, which would
once again protect the flag.
It is up to “We the People,”
to tell our Representatives
to pass H.J. Res 12 and for
the United States Senate to
follow suit.
The American Le
gion takes it personally when
the Flag o f the United States
is disrespected. As Medal of
Honor recipient and retired
Army Major General Patrick
Brady often says, “ If the flag
is precious enough to drape
over the coffins o f our dead
heroes, it is precious enough
to protect.”
A nother great Le
gionnaire who knows some
thing about protecting the
flag is C harles B ennett,
The American Legion’s 4th
District Commander in the
Department o f Maine.
When a misguided
student at the University of
Maine at Farmington needed
to conduct a so-called art ex
periment, she came up with
a truly offensive idea.
The student placed
American flags and like
nesses of the American Flag
on the floors o f a hallway
to see how many students
would walk on Old Glory
and how many would walk
around it. Charles Bennett
bravely said, “enough.”
Mr. Bennett attempt
ed to pick up the flags but
was threatened with arrest.
As a police officer at the
scene told Mr. B ennett,
“ If you are arrested, they
win.”
Bennett, a Vietnam
War veteran, then demon
strated on his own.
He b r a v e ly an d
peacefully stood in front o f
one o f the flags - holding a
sign stating “Disgraceful”
- and, by his m ere pres
ence, discouraged many o f
the students from trampling
on it.
Mr. B e n n e tt w as
soon joined by Travis Hill, a
young Iraq war veteran and
member o f The American
Legion. The pair bravely
stood their ground.
There w ere many
faculty members and pro
fessors at the university that
day, but it was Mr. Bennett
and Mr. Hill who were the
true teachers.
“ I love the flag and
will protect it until I die,”
Mr. Bennett said afterward.
Y et, o fte n tim e s
those who visibly love this
country are mocked as “jin
goistic flag wavers.” Some
academics, politicians and
even media personalities re
sent seeing Americans “rally
around the flag.”
One huge exception
is CNN’s Lou Dobbs.
“ Like may A m eri
cans, I began wearing a flag
pin after September 11,” Mr.
Dobbs said on his broadcast.
“I do so out o f respect for
those killed in the terrorist
attacks, and in recognition
o f this country’s war on radi
cal Islamic terror. It turns
out that some journalists
and some presidential can
didates are uncomfortable
and even upset about flags
on lapels. Their comments
are both disappointing and
bizarre given the very seri
ous issues facing this nation.
But maybe their superior
and supercilious views offer
a window into what ails us
as a society.”
But Mr. Dobbs was
just getting warmed up. He
continued, “Katie Couric o f
CBS News takes exception
to the whole culture o f wear
ing flags on our lapel and
saying ‘we’ when referring
to the United States.
"We are Americans,
right, Katie? I’m sorry, but
how can anyone possibly be
offended by acknowledging
that our troops who are sac
rificing so much for us are
‘ours,’ and that we are their
proud countrymen?”
Mr. Dobbs conclud
ed, “ I choose to wear that
flag on my lapel because the
nation it represents makes
that choice possible.”
As Lou Dobbs real
izes, a pin alone does not
make one a patriot. But no
American should ever feel
ashamed o f this beautiful
symbol o f freedom.
Thank you for being
here. God Bless you all and
God bless the Flag o f the
United States o f America!
The American Legion
Births
Austin Hale Willis-
A son, Austin Hale Willis,
was born to Sheila Marie
Price and Chad A nthony
Willis o f Bend on May 9,
2008, at St. Charles Medical
Center in Bend. The baby
weighed seven pounds, 10
ounces and m easured 21
inches long.
G ra n d p aren ts are
H arlan and L inda D un
away, Lexington, and Don
and Beth Willis o f Bend.
Great-grandmother is Greta
Adams, Bend. He joins a
sister Ashly.
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