Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 7, 2020 -- NINE
~ Letters to the Editor ~
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Peterson will make
hard decisions
Dedication to citizens of Doherty works hard for
our county
Morrow County
To the editor:
What is this? Ed Glenn
supporting a south coun-
ty candidate over a north
county candidate. Absolute-
ly unheard of you say?
Well there comes a time
when even I recognize the
need for a change to good
government. County Com-
missioner Jim Doherty has
demonstrated his inability
to serve Morrow County.
When faced with a hard
decision, Jim talks a big
tale but when it comes time
to make a decision, Jim
dodges and either abstains
or tables the matter.
A case in point was a
perfectly good agreement
for the CREZ II and Jim
turned it into a personal
disagreement where the
Commission continued to
not vote or table items un-
To the editor:
Today, August 29, I
had the pleasure of helping
Sheriff Matlack put up cam-
paign signs for the Novem-
ber election. I’ve worked
for Sheriff Matlack almost
16 of my 31 ½ years at the
Morrow County Sheriff’s
Office.
Sheriff Matlack has
impressed me with his
dedication to the citizens
of Morrow County. Sher-
iff Matlack is the hard-
est working sheriff I have
served under and really
does “go the extra mile” for
the citizens every day to get
our work done.
I remember when he
was first elected, we had
no animal control program.
Sheriff Matlack started
til the time was running
out. Everyone in the entire
county has benefited from
the CREZ II agreements
and now it is not clear who,
if anyone, will benefit. See
for yourself; watch the
county court in action on
Zoom.
Joel Peterson is willing
to show up and make the
hard decisions all of the
time. He understands that
the county hires profes-
sional employees to fill a
position and sees no need
to micromanage them daily.
While a resident of south
county, Joel will help gov-
ern Morrow County for the
benefit of us all.
Cast your vote for bet-
ter government; vote for
Joel Peterson.
Ed Glenn, Boardman
Elephants in the room
To the editor:
The “Elk damage on
private land” (GT 9/23/20)
failed to include three ele-
phants in the room. North-
east Water Association has
culled (shot) around 300
elk on private ground in
south Morrow and Uma-
tilla counties in order to
bring “private land herds
under control.” Director JR
Cook blamed “increased
pressure from the public in
the mountains the elk are
getting pushed down” on
to private land. Cook rep-
resents a coalition of local
groups that “want the public
to have good access to the
elk herds and hunting them,
but they want them back on
public lands.”
The first elephant that
was ignored are the hybrid
wolves that are driving elk,
deer and soon cattle out
of our mountains. These
wolves are colonizing
our Blue Mountains. The
present game management
from the Oregon Fish and
Wildlife is essentially wolf
management, i.e. wolf pro-
tection. Instead of killing
the wolves, the present plan
is kill off the elk by culling
and over the counter limit-
less cow tags. Deer tags in
Eastern Oregon have been
reduced by 4000 buck tags.
Hard to continue ignoring
this elephant.
The second elephant
is fee hunting on private
lands. LOP tags are sold
by fee hunting contractors
on private land to the great
financial benefit of private
land owners. In many cases
the elk have been hazed to
keep the herds off public
lands. The public is no lon-
ger allowed to hunt elk and
deer on most private lands
(thank God for the Wilkin-
son ranch) once fee hunting
was introduced, therefore
the herds remain where the
public can not push them
back on to public land. We
never had this problem in
the Heppner unit before fee
hunting was legislated. The
foothills of the Blue Moun-
tains provided recreation
opportunities that brought
multiple millions of dollars
into Morrow County. Fee
hunting is now reaping the
bad fruit of this ill-con-
ceived legislation.
The third elephant is
the most dangerous because
all the “partners” (Rocky
Mt Elk, Oregon Hunters
Assoc., Oregon Dept. Of
Fish and Wildlife, Gurdane
Elk Management, etc.) have
agreed to fixing the problem
by systematically killing
off our elk herd to protect
private land owners. One of
the great reasons Americans
chose to live in Eastern Or-
egon is our heritage of elk
and deer hunting. Heppner
used to support five gas
stations, five grocery stores
and six bars and restaurants,
primarily because of moun-
tain recreation and hunt-
ing. Those three hundred
“culled” elk could have
supported 300 Morrow
County families instead
of feeding the continuing
anarchy in Portland.
These three elephants
have been ignored but they
are being ignored to our
great detriment and delu-
sion. The problem is not
our birthright elk herds. The
problem is the ill-conceived
plans to manage them.
Stuart Dick, Irrigon
a program by funding it
himself, allowing us to
take stray animals to Pet
Rescue. Countless animals
have been reunited with
their owners over the years
because he cared.
Sheriff Matlack has
many years of experience,
is a wise man, looks at the
issues, listens to opinions
and makes his decision.
He has a sixth sense in
hiring and I’ve learned to
follow his wisdom. He is
always willing to listen to
the concerns of the Morrow
County citizens.
I hope the voters rec-
ognize that he is the best
choice for Morrow County
Sheriff and elect him in
November.
Terry Harper, Heppner
Khrushchev’s message 61 years ago
To the editor:
The following is not
meant to be political but a
commentary on where our
country is heading.
Khrushchev’s Message
61 years ago:
Khrushchev also said,
“We [Communism] will
bury you.” A quick read
but a lasting thought. Pretty
scary now. A sobering re-
minder. Almost exactly sixty
years ago since Russia’s
Khrushchev delivered this.
Do you remember Sep-
tember 29, 1959?
This was his entire
quote:
“Your children’s chil-
dren will live under Com-
munism. You Americans
are so gullible. No, you
won’t accept communism
outright; but we will keep
feeding you small doses
of socialism until you will
finally wake up and find you
already have Communism.
We will not have to fight
you. We will so weaken your
economy, until you will fall
like overripe fruit into our
hands.” “The democracy
will cease to exist when you
take away from those who
are willing to work and give
to those who would not.”
Do you remember what
Russia’s Khrushchev said
in 1959?
Remember, socialism
leads to Communism. So,
how do you create a Social-
istic State?
There are 8 levels of
control; read the following
recipe:
1. Healthcare - Control
healthcare and you control
the people.
2. Poverty - Increase
the poverty level as high as
possible, poor people are
easier to control and will
not fight back if you are pro-
viding everything for them.
3. Debt - Increase the
debt to an unsustainable
level. That way you are able
to increase taxes, and this
will produce more poverty.
4. Gun Control - Re-
move the ability to defend
themselves from the Gov-
ernment. That way you are
able to create a police state.
5. Welfare - Take con-
trol of every aspect (food,
housing, income) of their
lives because that will make
them fully dependent on the
government.
6. Education - Take
control of what people read
and listen to and take con-
trol of what children learn
in school.
7. Religion - Remove
the belief in God from the
Government and schools
Matlack is a people person
To the editor:
This letter is to explain
why Sheriff Ken Matlack
should be re-elected on
Nov. 3, 2020. He is a people
person and is very much
appreciated by us and many
others in Morrow Coun-
ty. We first met him in
the spring of 2008 when
we first moved here. He
knocked on our door and
after introducing himself he
explained that he was run-
ning for sheriff and would
appreciate our vote. He also
shared what he planned to
do to make our county a
very safe place to live.
We voted for him be-
cause we appreciated his
attitude and we felt that he
would be the best man for
the job. Since then I have
felt very safe living here in
Irrigon. There was a time
Matlack will “Go the extra mile”
To the editor:
I’ve had the pleasure of
working for Sheriff Ken-
neth W. Matlack since Jan-
uary 2005, when he was
elected Sheriff of Morrow
County. Sheriff Matlack
stated he would be a “Work-
ing Sheriff” and he contin-
ues to prove that daily. He
responds to calls, backs up
deputies and conducts traf-
fic stops as needed. As well
as all of the administrative
duties that comes with be-
ing the sheriff.
Sheriff Matlack has
increased the capabilities of
the Sheriff’s Office in many
ways. He has expanded the
Patrol, Communications
and Criminal Divisions
and established Morrow
To the editor;
Jim Doherty is in a
November runoff to be re-
elected as county commis-
sioner in Morrow County.
I have been watching Jim
since meeting him over a
year ago, and he will get a
vote from me. I encourage
everyone registered to vote
in Morrow County to vote
for him as well.
Jim looks at situations
from all angles and at-
tempts to steer decisions
in a manner that will ben-
efit everyone in the county.
Jim works hard advocating
for our county in Salem.
Jim spends time trying to
understand the way things
operate and is not afraid
to push for improvement
even when it is unpopular.
County’s own Parole and
Probation Division. Sheriff
Matlack has increased the
safety and security of our
youth by implementing
two School Resource Dep-
uties and a K-9 program. I
believe Sheriff Matlack is
doing an outstanding job
as sheriff. He has made
substantial changes which
have benefited the Morrow
County Sheriff ’s Office
and more importantly, the
citizens of Morrow County.
With Sheriff Ken Mat-
lack’s continued leadership,
experience and knowledge,
the citizens of Morrow
County will continue to re-
ceive the law enforcement
services they want and
deserve.
I fully support the
re-election of Sheriff Ken-
neth W. Matlack in the 2020
election. “Go the Extra
Mile.”
Brian Snyder, Irrigon
The Heppner Ga-
zette-Times wants to see
pictures of your trophy
animals from this hunting
season. Stop
by to have
your picture
taken, drop
off photos,
mail them to
PO Box 337
in Heppner, email them to
editor@rapidserve.net or
text cell phone photos to
541-980-6674.
This behavior is exactly
what we need in our local
government.
As a business owner
raising my family in Mor-
row County, I want Jim
Doherty working for me
as county commissioner.
I know that with him in
office, someone is think-
ing of each individual and
each entity when making
decisions. Jim has been
commissioner for one term,
and during that time he has
developed and adapted. I
believe he will only be-
come more effective with
time in office. Please join
me in voting to retain Jim
Doherty. Morrow Coun-
ty deserves to have Jim
Doherty as part of our team.
Thank you for your
time,
J. Fletcher Hobbs,
Boardman
because the people need to
believe in ONLY the gov-
ernment knowing what is
best for the people.
8. Class Warfare - Di-
vide the people into the
wealthy and the poor. Elim-
inate the middle class. This
will cause more discontent
and it will be easier to tax
the wealthy with the support
of the poor.
These statements made
61 years ago are more rel-
evant today than any time
in our history. It is time for
people to pay attention and
make informed decisions
to protect what our country
stands for.
The poodle is off the
front porch and the pit bull
is in the back yard.
Roger Britt, Heppner
DEADLINE:
MONDAYS
when I thought our house
had been broken into. I
called 911 about 11 p.m.
and within minutes Sheriff
Matlack came to our house.
He said, “Let’s investigate
together.” In no time we
both decided that a bird
must has flown into our
window and broke it.
We were very im-
pressed with the way he
cares about people and
AT 5PM
caters to our needs. He sent
his deputies to our house
when we had a fraud com-
plaint with our bank. The
problem was solved and
we had our money returned.
We were elated as it was
several hundred dollars of
losses.
Cordially,
Stanley and Linda An-
derson, Irrigon
THERESA CRAWFORD
FOR
MORROW COUNTY
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
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Strong work ethic
Common sense
Compassion in and out of court
Fairness, consistency and respect
“I will treat the people of Morrow County and all
who come before me with respect, consistency,
effectiveness and fairness.”
~ Theresa Crawford
Please like my facebook page
Theresa Crawford for Justice of the Peace
You can also email me anytime with questions
t_buffy@live.com
Vote November 3rd