Chaplain inspires hope, courage in soldiers
Editor s Note: The follow
ing story was submitted to
the Heppner Gazette-Times
by Staff Sgt. Pat Caldwell.
3rd Sustainm ent Brigade
Public Affairs.
JOI N T BASE
BALAD, Iraq— Silhou
etted against the shadows
of a dozen Mine Resistant
Ambush Protected vehicles,
the chaplain prayed.
97403
Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
HEPPNER
imes
VOL. 130
NO. 7
10 Pages
Wednesday, February 16,2011
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
City to continue with sheriff’s police service
Approves $181,272 contract
By David Sykes
The city of
Heppner will once again
use the county sheriff’s
department for its police
services, the council ruled
Monday night.
After a lengthy
discussion with Sheriff
Ken Matlack, the council
voted unanimously to move
forward with the $181,272
contract for the coming
year’s police services. The
amount, and the services
the sheriff will provide,
remain almost the same as
in past years.
Before approval
however, the council spent
quite a bit of time going
over details of the contract
on how to improve the
service they are receiving.
“This is a lot of money and
basically we want to know
are we getting our money’s
worth,” councilmember
Judy Buschke said. “We
have a lot of concerns,”
Mayor Les Paustian told
M atlack. Most council
members said they had
also heard comments from
Heppner citizens wonder
ing if the city was getting
its money’s worth.
“Are the peo
ple getting what they pay
for?” councilmember Keith
Lewis asked. “We have
two people (deputies) but
we don’t know when they
are working.” Under the
contract the city gets 80
hours of police patrolling
per week, which works out
roughly to two deputies
working 40 hours each per
week in Heppner. Ques
tions were raised if the city
was getting those 80 hours
of coverage. Matlack reas
sured the council that the
city was getting the hours
they are paying for.
“We have a sched
ule. It is just not made
public,” he said. He said
that City Manager Dave
DeMayo knows what the
deputies’ patrol schedules
are but the information is
not made public so law
breakers cannot use the
information.
Mayor Paustian
said a lack of communica
tion between the sheriff’s
department and the city
has sometimes been an is
sue. “We have had police
commission meetings and I
don’t think our concerns are
making it out the door,” he
told Matlack. “We are pay
ing some pretty good sized
dollars and people don’t
think they are getting their
money’s worth,” he added
Matlack said he
would like to see deputies
in the Heppner area get out
of their vehicles more and
meet people. “I know we
have deputies who have
benefited from getting out
of their cars. I want depu
ties to engage with people,”
he said. Deputies are ro
tated between the north and
south ends of the county,
and Matlack said he has to
impress upon his deputies
that policing in the north
end is different than in Hep
pner. “There is flexibility
in Heppner,” Matlack said
in how he wants deputies
to interact with residents
here. “You don’t have gang
bangers here and we can be
more user-friendly, so to
speak,” he told the council.
He said he likes to see depu
ties give more warnings on
the first minor offense and
that seems to work better
in the Heppner area. “But
then we want them to know
that if we catch them again
they are going to get ham
mered,” he said.
Some council
members said they would
like to be kept more in
formed on what is going
on around town. They cited
times in the past when dep
uties would attend council
meetings and pass out code
infraction pictures (such as
yard trash and abandoned
vehicles), and also a police
log to the council mem
bers to keep them up on
police activities. “We are
not getting that anymore.
We want to know what is
going on,” council member
Cindy Doherty said. She
said that as an elected of
ficial she wants to be able
-See CITY/SHERIFF
CONTRACT-Page SEVEN
City moves forward with im provem ents to H ager Park
By David Sykes
The Heppner City
Council Monday gave its
okay for the city to spend
$14,000 for purchase of a
picnic pavilion and play
ground set for Hager Park.
The equipment was pur
chased from a Baker com
pany and will be kept in
storage until 2012 when
the Army National Guard
will be in Heppner to put in
the equipment. City Man
ager Dave DeMayo also
announced that he gave
approval to develop the
north end of the park into a
soccer field.
In other business
the council learned that
the Heppner Fire Depart
ment has negotiated a new
contract with the Rural Fire
District that will give the
department 70 percent of its
annual gross income from
taxes. City Fire Chief Rusty
Estes said, “They came up
with this and we are very
happy with it.”
Estes also said fire
?
man Steve Rhea is applying
for a $9,000 Wildhorse
grant that would be used
to purchase a new piece of
rescue equipment that will
help cut people out of car
wrecks in conjunction with
the Jaws of Life already
used by the fire depart
ment.
Heard that the St.
Patrick’s Senior Center
has four vacancies. Hous
ing Authority Chairman
and city council member
Judy Buschke said they
have more applications but
restrictions on the amount
of income have kept some
people from being able to
move in. Some of the rooms
require that a person have
no more than $18,000 per
year in income in order to
live there.
The council heard
from Public Works Director
Brian Harmon who said the
crew had discovered a ma
jor leak on the city’s main
line between well one and
two that had been cause a
loss of “50 percent of the
water. It was major,” Har
mon told the council. He
said the leak was fixed.
Anderson and Per
ry engineers will be at the
next council meeting to talk
about the upcoming city
sewer upgrade project.
The council voted
to continue its auditing
contract with Barnett and
Moro to provide the city
yearly financial audit for
$9,800.
Learned that the
city will mostly likely pur
chase a HUD (Housing and
Urban Development) repos
sessed home in Heppner for
$1. The house is located
on Chase Street. HUD has
a program where cities
may purchase repossessed
homes after they are on the
market unsold for a certain
length of time.
Sheriffs Report for Janu
ary 2011
-See CITY COUNCIL/
Page TWO
He prayed for the
men standing around him
in a semi-circle; he prayed
for their families back home
in places like Oregon and
Idaho. He prayed for their
spouses and daughters and
sons and brothers and most
of all, he prayed that on
this cold January night, the
men in the MRAPs would
be safe.
Then the prayer
ended. The soldiers from the
3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry
Regiment, 3rd Sustainment
Brigade, 103rd Sustainment
Brigade (Expeditionary),
slowly began to wander
away, back to their MRAPS
that would, in a few short
hours,' carry them down a
stretch of Iraqi highway that
may or may not be safe.
A soldier lingered.
He chatted with lsl LtaJock
Johnson, chaplain for 3rd
Battalion, 116lhCav. Regt.,
3rd Sus. Bde. Then, he too
walked away; back to his
MRAP.
“ It was g o o d ,”
Johnson said. “I think they
appreciate that the chap
lain showed up.” Johnson
walked slowly down the
line of MRAPs from Alpha
Company, 3rd Bn., 116,h
Cav. Regt., 3rd Sus. Bde.,
talking, laughing, point
ing. He stood at the end of
the line and surveyed the
vehicles.
For Johnson, the
very act of meeting and
praying with soldiers be
fore they go outside the
wire carries its own kind
of significance, its own
form of sanctity. There,
down the line of MRAPs,
the 3rd Battalion chaplain
can recognize devotion and
fellowship and, in a strange
way, purity.
“This is one of
those things you can’t mea
sure,” he said.
He p r o b a b l y
wouldn’t label his profile
as a “beacon of light” to
soldiers, but Johnson fills
a role that is distinctive, at
times challenging and more
often than not, rewarding.
Chaplains are wo
ven into the very fabric of
today’s Army. They exist at
a rare intersection between
counselor and religious
mentor where they bal
ance faith with the mission
and nurture soldiers while
First Lt. Johnson, chaplain for 3rd Battalion, lló"1 Cav. Regt.,
3rd Sus. Bde. prays with soldiers in Iraq. -Contributed Photo
furnishing a foundation of
encouragement.
“The chaplain’s
role is kind of unique in
that we provide religious
support and, at the same
time, we offer aspects of
well-being life counseling,”
Johnson said.
More than 25,000
chaplains have served in
Army ranks through its
history, and more than 700
are now serving soldiers
in places like Iraq and Af
ghanistan.
As a ch ap lain ,
Johnson must minister to
a large group of men and
women with diverse be
liefs. Some are Catholic
or Protestant or Baptist.
Some place their convic
tions in other faiths. All
of them though, by virtue
of their calling as soldiers,
are members of Johnson’s
ministry in Iraq.
“I think my job is
real critical,” Johnson said.
“It isn’t [as] critical when
things are going well. But it
is when things are not going
so well.”
One key goal of
chaplains in the Army is to
help with the free exercise
of religion, an aim Johnson
takes seriously. “My job
allows soldiers to express
themselves and protect their
religious practices,” he
said.
Johnson is well-
versed in scripture and
can discuss religious phi
losophy easily, but his real
focus is on the average sol
dier. It is there, among the
sSoldiers, where Johnson
said he secures the most
reward. “Me going out to a
CET [Convy Escort Team]
shows them I’m approach
able. I’m someone they can
confide in. The easiest thing
(about my job) is going out
and visiting troops. I enjoy
praying with the troops,”
Johnson said.
-See CHAPLAIN/Page
SEVEN
Morrow County School Board
officially hires Dirksen, Mendoza
The Morrow Coun
ty School Board Monday
ni ght o f
ficially ap
proved hir
in g Di r k
Dirksen as
district su-
perinten-
de n t and
George
M e n d o z a Dirk
as assistant Dirksen
superinten
dent.
Dirksen replaces
current Superintendent
Mark Burrows who will
retire at the end of this
school year
and Mendo
za replaces
current As
sistant Su
perinten
dent Phyllis
Danielson
who also
retires at George
the end of Mtendoza
the school
year.
Dirksen is currently
the Riverside High School
principal and Mendoza the
RHS assistant principal.
The board opted to
dispense with interviews
of other candidates upon
Burrows’ recommendation
to hire the two from within
the district based on their
job performance.
At the meeting, the
board approved a 2011-
2012 service plan with the
newly-formed Intermoun
tain Education Service
District. 1MESD resulted
from a state recommended
merger of the Umatilla-
Morrow ESD and Union
Baker ESD.
Intermountain ESD
provides services to Mor
row County School District
and lone School District,
as well as the following
districts: Athena, Echo,
Helix, Hermiston, Milton-
Freewater, Pendleton, Pilot
Rock, Stanfield, Ukiah,
Umatilla, Cove, Elgin,
Imbler, LaGrande, North
Pow der, Union, Baker City,
Unity and Halfway.
Intermountain ESD
provides programs for chil
dren with special needs,
technology support, school
improvement services and
administrative and support
services.
According to infor
mation supplied by Michael
Lasher, Umatilla-Morrow
ESD deputy superinten
dent, UMESD will lose
$223,260 for the 2010-11
fiscal year, based on budget
expenditures. UBESD has
$232,424 in unspent resolu
tion funds.
UME SD’s bud
geted funds for 2010-
2011 include: $3,100,000
from local property tax
es, $2,399,713 from state
school support; $98,390
from federal stimulus mon
ies for $5,598,103 in total
state school support funds
with 90 percent dedicated
to resolution services for
$5,038,293 in total resolu
tion services funding.
UMESD’s 2010-
-See SCHOOL DISTRICT/
Page TEN
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