FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Spiritually Speaking
Heppner Chamber to host Christmas and
Well done, my good and
Merchant Stocking Extravaganza
By Lori Roach
Heppner Christmas and
Merchant Stocking Ex-
travaganza, presented by
the Heppner Chamber of
Commerce and the Heppner
Merchants will be held live
on Facebook on December
15 at 6 p.m.
This year has been so
crazy with COVID-19. It
has disrupted our lives and
caused so many events to
be changed or cancelled.
Christmas is such a special
time and even though we
cannot have the same type
of event that we have had in
the past, we would still like
to create something special
that will encourage locals to
shop local and our Heppner
citizens to find some hope
and joy this Christmas sea-
son. The Heppner Chamber
Christmas Committee has
done some planning and we
think we have come up with
an event that will encourage
shoppers to shop local.
When a customer ’s
purchase is between $1 and
$49.99 at local participating
merchants, they will get one
ticket. If their purchase is
$50 or over, they will get
two tickets. Customers have
to write their name and
phone number on the back
of the ticket and then drop
them in the container at the
time of purchase. Tickets
cannot be taken home and
returned at a later time and
date.
On December 15, we
will be having a Facebook
Live event where we will
draw tickets for each stock-
ing filled with donations
from local merchants and
out of town retailers we
visit when we are in the
neighboring communities.
Be sure to ‘Like’ and ‘Fol-
low’ the Heppner Chamber
of Commerce Facebook
page.
There will be only one
winner allowed per house-
hold.
If you are a merchant
and would like to partic-
ipate please drop your
donation by the Heppner
Chamber office. Tickets and
a collection container will
be dropped off Monday,
November 23 to partici-
pating Heppner merchants.
Contact Lori Roach at 541-
910-7482 if you would like
to participate.
This year’s Heppner
Christmas celebration will
be a little different than it
has been in the past because
of COVID-19 and all the
restrictions that are coming
along with it, but this will
still be an event to remem-
ber.
Be sure to log onto
Facebook and join us on
December 15 at 6 p.m. for
the live Heppner Christmas
and Merchant Stocking Ex-
travaganza.
GRANTS TO CITIES
-Continued from PAGE ONE aren’t available now and CREZ board had recently came back to the grants at
populous, but those who
are struggling to keep their
small towns alive,” she
said. At Heppner she said
the city is also wrestling
with a needed sewer up-
grade and the problems
with the DEQ changing
requirements. “When I talk
to Heppner and the DEQ
approved them (for a new
sewer disposal system)
and then pulled back and
has put in further regula-
tions,” she said. Lindsay
said the county commission
should start talking about
the different problems the
cities are facing. “We can’t
talk about they (Heppner)
were the only city that had
a decrease in Enterprise
Zone funds. Then I talk to
Irrigon about their sewer
and broadband problems.
We don’t talk about the fact
that the Boardman Fire De-
partment sees dollars (from
the Enterprise Zone) and
the Irrigon Fire Department
can’t survive as volunteer
force. We have to look at
need not just population,”
she emphasized on how
the county needs to look at
the distribution of its new
money coming in.
Commissioner Don
Russell who grew up and
still lives in Boardman, said
spending the money should
be based on need but also
does not take out where the
population is. “All of our
cities have needs,” Russell
said. “To say only the small
cities, have needs is not so.
Boardman has millions of
dollars in infrastructure
that is going to have to
happen for its transpor-
tation needs,” he pointed
out. Russell said he grew
up in Boardman when it
probably was the smallest
community in the county.
“There were 152 people
that were relocated with
the John Day Dam and the
back waters of Lake Uma-
tilla,” he said. Adding that
the city of Boardman found
a way through grants that
“other ways” to take care
of their sewer systems, “as
had Irrigon,” he said. “I
believe Ione and Lexington
will too,” Russell said. “I do
believe we have an opportu-
nity to help them with some
of this discretionary money
that is coming in, but to
spread it equally between
a town of 250 residents
gets the same amount of
money as a town of 4,500
residents or 2,000 residents
I think is not equitable,” he
said. Adding that he did not
think distribution of funds
should be based solely on
population either, “because
then the smallest wouldn’t
get enough to do a project.”
At an earlier Oct. 7
meeting when aid to cities
first came up, Lindsay said
she would like to see the
$379,000 split evenly be-
tween the five cities. The
proposal caused Russell to
suggest Lindsay, who lives
on Sand Hollow Rd in south
County, was prejudiced
against Boardman when
making money allocation
decisions in the county
because of that city’s large,
66.3 percent, Hispanic pop-
ulation. “I am just going to
throw it out there,” he said
in the meeting. “I wonder
if you have a prejudice
against people in the north
end of the county because
of where they live. I can’t
help but look at the photos
in the paper and see the
makeup of our ethnicity.
If this were food would
you do the same thing?” he
asked Lindsay.
The comment made
Lindsay upset saying she
had just allocated county
funds for a new food pan-
try in Boardman. “I just
gave $100,000 to the food
pantry in Boardman and
I was happy to do it,” she
told Russell. “Heck no it
is not about that (ethnicity
of Boardman) Don. That is
pathetic,” she said of his
comments about race. She
also brought up how the
sent one third of its money
to Boardman. “I voted to
send an entire one third of
the money to Boardman.”
The CREZII enterprise
zone funds are separate
from county tax money,
but both she and Russell
also serve and make deci-
sions on the CREZ board.
Both Russell and Lindsay
are county representatives
to the CREZ board and
Russell is the chair. At the
Oct. 7 meeting Lindsay,
who is chair of the county
commission, tabled the
grant to cities discussion
after Russell’s comments,
saying she was too upset to
continue. “I can’t believe
you went there. I want to
table this grant to cities so
I can calm down,” she told
the commission.
The commissioners
Dirksen reports
successes and
disappointments
Morrow County School
District Superintendent
Dirk Dirksen told the board
about the successes and dis-
appointments of the current
school year as educators,
students and parents deal
with the COVID crisis.
“I am excited about
having school and ner-
vous at the same time,”
said Dirksen, meeting
with some members of
the board at Heppner Ele-
mentary School and others
via Zoom. He commented
that he “couldn’t be hap-
pier” about the work that
classified, certified and
administrative employees
have done this year amidst
the pandemic.
Dirksen said keeping
the schools open is a matter
of the “new metrics” man-
dated by the state based on
the COVID positivity rate
but added, “We’re in safe
harbor until January 4.” He
Owner/Broker David Sykes
541-980-6674
its Oct. 21 meeting, where
Russell’s comments again
came up resulting in an
emotional exchange be-
tween the two. “My ar-
gument has nothing to do
with race,” Lindsay said,
“much less about city. “It’s
about the needs of an en-
tire county. I want to be
very clear that that was
an unfair statement,” she
told Russell about his race
comments. “To hide be-
hind those things. We know
those things are happening,
and then to throw a race
card at someone that just
wants to have a bigger dis-
cussion is wrong,” Lindsay
said. Russell apologized for
his remarks. “I apologize
for my comments; they
were out of line. I will do
better,” he said.
188 W. Willow
P.O. Box 337
Heppner, OR 97836
david@sykesrealestate.net
Do you have property to sell?
Now is the time!
I have buyers looking for homes,
land and building lots in the
Heppner, Lexington and Ione area.
This is a good time to sell!
Call, text or email me.
said the COVID positivity
rate has to be less than five
percent for schools to stay
open.
“Busing has been a
challenge,” he noted, with
more difficulties in the
north end that they are
trying to resolve. “We’re
trying to improve the flow
(at Sam Boardman Ele-
mentary) and the parking
situation has been bad for
40 years.”
Dirksen said attendance
in kindergarten through
third grade has been around
73 percent and around 70
percent in grades four
through six. Attendance in
grades seven-12, however,
is only at 45 percent. He
said attendance for second-
ary kids has been “pretty
much down to distance ed.”
Snow days this school year
will be “comprehensive
distance learning for all.
No one will be coming into
school on those days,” he
added.
In other business, the
board:
-received the follow-
ing enrollment report:
A.C. Houghton Elemen-
tary, Irrigon, kindergarten
through third grade-201;
Sam Boardman Elemen-
tary, Boardman, K-3-321;
H e p p n e r E l e m e n t a r y,
-See DIRKSEN/PAGE
SEVEN
faithful servant
By Fr. Thankachan Joseph SDB, St. Patrick Church
We are coming to an
end of a liturgical year, and
the theme of the last Sunday
of the year is an appraisal
for all the great and praise-
worthy works that each
one of us has managed to
accomplish. In today’s Gos-
pel reading we come across
a man who brought back
to his master everything he
had been given and yet was Fr. Thankachan Joseph
reprimanded. The master
blames him not for misusing the gifts he had been given
but, rather, for not having used them at all. Which of us
could say, in all truth, that we always do our best? Do we
not all bury at least some of our talents? Will He tell us,
“Well done, my good and faithful servant”?
The Book of Proverbs last Chapter (31: 10-13.19-
20.30-31) depicts a perfect wife, a woman who is the
model for every Christian, “The woman who fears the
Lord is to be praised.” The perfect wife is considered
the light of every household. The writer of the Book of
Proverbs appreciates and praises her for her prudence and
wise behavior. According to the writer she has something
far more precious than jewels - namely, a loving heart and
caring hands towards everyone in the family.
The first letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians (5:
1-6) tells us that our waiting must become a longing for
Jesus’s coming, since His coming will mark the fulfilment
of all our expectations. St. Paul urges the Christians of
the Thessalonian Church to be always alert and sober in
all they do and take up. Paul reminds the community that
the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night,
so be prepared to act in a way to save oneself from that
unexpected moment.
The Gospel of the day is from St. Matthew (25:
14-29), which describes the parable of the talents. This
discourse of Jesus teaches us about the immediate prepa-
ration to get into the kingdom. He wants to communicate
to us followers to be like the five wise virgins or like
the persons who received the five and two talents, to be
inventive, creative, and prepared always to welcome the
master even if he comes late in the night.
Through this parable, the Lord is trying to describe
how we use our God-given talents for ourselves and for
others. In the parable of the talents, Jesus speaks of a
wealthy man about to go on a long journey, who entrusts
three of his servants with various sums of money, each ac-
cording to his potential and capacities. The master entrusts
the money/talents to the servants not just for custodian of
it, but that they may make it yield more money through
sound investment. Two of the servants actually move fast
and invest the money entrusted to them and profit in both
cases a hundred percent. Whereas, with the third servant
chooses not to take risks and buries the precious metal in
a safe place. The master appreciates and congratulates the
servants who received the five and two talents for their
committed, hardworking, innovative, and creative ways
of going ahead to multiply the money that they received.
The Lord condemns the third servant’s sluggish behavior
and is upset about his laziness and the useless excuse he
brings. This parable seems to add a further nuance of
actively and imaginatively engaging in one’s responsi-
bilities, in an attitude of vigilant expectation. As faithful
disciples, we are asked to live active lives, following the
commands of Jesus as we await the final coming of the
Son of Man and the end of the world. Our waiting must
become a longing for Jesus’s coming, and His coming
becomes the fulfilment of all our expectations.
The servant who received one talent was convicted for
the crimes of idleness and laziness and for the excuses he
brought forth. The punishment for his idleness was that
the talent was taken away from him, he was deprived of
everything he had received from his master, and he was
left in utter poverty, since he had nothing he could call his
own, except his laziness. Instead of looking at someone
else and feeling jealousy and envy on the growth of others’
prosperity and development, use the God-given talents in
each of us and multiply them. Then we, too, will receive
these words the master uttered to those faithful servants
who invested their talents in the proper use, “Well done,
good and trustworthy servants; you have shown you are
trustworthy in small things; I will trust you with greater;
come and join your master’s happiness” (25:22).
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188 W Willow Street
Heppner, OR
editor@rapidserve.net