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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 2020)
FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, November 18, 2020 Spiritually Speaking COUNTY STATS -Continued from PAGE ONE category at around 639,387 each. Boardman is 29 th with a population of 3,340. Condon, Fossil and Wasco bring up the rear with 655, 503 and 371 respectively. Median Income: Mor- row County is 11 th in median income at $55,440, ahead of 25 other counties. High- est are Washington with $78,010, Clackamas with $76,597 and Multnomah with $64,337. Lowest are Harney with $41,797, Lake with $36,627 and Wheeler with $33,456. Financial Hardship: Morrow County is one of the lowest in terms of households suffering finan- cial hardship at number 31 with 42 percent of house- holds. Umatilla County is 20 th , along with six oth- er counties at 45 percent. Crook County is the highest with 56 percent; Deschutes is lowest at 35 percent. Age: Rural commu- nities show the highest percentage of people in the age range of 55-74; with urban communities having the highest in the age range of 20-44. Life expectancy in Morrow County is 81 years, along with Gilliam, Clackamas and Deschutes. The highest life expectancy is Benton County at 83, with Wheeler, Washington, Grant and Hood River at 82. The lowest is Curry County at 76. Race/Ethnicity: Ore- gon as a whole is 76 percent white, with 12.8 percent Hispanic/Latino, 4.2 per- cent Asian, 3.7 percent two or more races, 1.8 percent Black/African American, .9 percent American Indian/ Alaska native, .4 percent Native Hawaiian/Pacific Is- lander and .2 percent some other race. Rural vs Urban Race/ Ethnicity: In rural Oregon 83.9 percent of the resi- dents are white, 9.8 percent Hispanic/Latino, 2.8 per- cent two or more races, 1.5 percent American Indian/ Alaska Native, 1.3 percent Asian, .5 percent Black/Af- rican American, .1 percent Native Hawaiian/Pacific Island and some other race. In urban Oregon 72.5 percent of the population is white, 14.2 percent His- panic/Latino, 5.6 percent Asian, 4 percent two or more races, 2.4 percent Black/African American, .5 percent Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander; .2 percent some other race. Employment Indus- tries: The top employment industries in Oregon are educational services and food/drinking services. Others include: hospitals, ambulatory health care services, crop production, food manufacturing, ad- ministrative and support services, accommodation, animal production, for- estry and logging, wood product manufacturing, justice, public order and safety activities, nursing and residential care facil- ities, executive legislative and general government, professional and technical service, social assistance, truck transportation, waste management and remedia- tion services, computer and electronic product manu- facturing and primary metal manufacturing. Job Growth: Morrow County ranks third at 28 in terms of job growth (net change is the estimated number of full-time and part-time jobs performed between last year and the year before per 1,000 resi- dents in the county). Sher- man County and Hood River County are first and second with 45.6 percent and 30.4 percent. Wasco and Crook counties are 35 th with a -2.1 and 36 th with a -2.6. Unemployment Rate: Morrow County is 23 rd with 4.3 percent unemployment; Grant County is first with 7.3 percent; Benton County is last with 3.2 percent. Labor Force Partic- ipation Rate (16 years or older employed or active- ly seeking work): 11 th in Morrow County with 59.1 percent; 12 th in Umatilla County with 58.6 percent; highest in Multnomah with 69.2 percent; lowest in Curry County with 41.5 percent. Property Tax Per Per- son: Morrow County is third with $2,670, preceded by Gilliam with the highest at $4,531 per person and Sherman with $3,936. The lowest are Douglas and Josephine with $882 per person. Low Weight Births: Morrow County is second in the state in the number of babies who weigh less than 5.5 pounds at birth with 10.3 percent. Gilliam is first with 23.5 percent and Klamath is third with 9.5 percent. Umatilla is 17 th with 6.8 percent. Kindergarten Ready (Letter Sounds): Morrow is 13 th with 8.5 percent; Wheeler is top with 12.9 percent; Jefferson is last with 4.3 percent. Ninth Grade on Track: 92 percent in Mor- row County; 96.7 percent in Wallowa; 86.5 percent in Umatilla; last, Wheeler County with 33.3 percent. Five-Year High School Graduation Rate: Morrow is 15 th with an 83.2 percent graduation rate. Lowest is Wheeler County with a 27 percent rate. Wallowa is highest with a 93.1 percent rate, followed by Gilliam with 91.2 percent. Four-Year College Degree or Greater: Mor- row is last with 10.9 per- cent. Benton is highest with 53.6, followed by Mult- nomah with 44.5 percent and Washington with 43.7 percent. Foster Care (number of children in a county in foster care per 1,000 in the population under 18 years of age): Morrow is 27 th in the state with 5.3; Gilliam is highest with 28.9; Umatilla is 23rd with 7.4; Sherman and Wheeler are last with zero each. Child Poverty (chil- dren under 18 who live in families whose incomes fall below the Federal Poverty Level): Morrow, 12 th in the state with 22.8 percent. Highest is Malheur county with 34.7 percent; third is Umatilla with 27.2 per- cent; lowest is Clatsop with 9.4 percent. Not ranked were Gilliam, Sherman and Wheeler counties. Crime: Morrow is 20 th with 20.4 crime offenses per thousand residents; Wallowa is last with .1; Multnomah is highest with 47.4; Umatilla is 10 th with 25.1. Food Insecurity: Mor- row County is last with only 8.3 percent of individuals who have limited or un- certain access to adequate food. Lake, Harney and Coos rank first, second and third. Good Physical Health: Morrow County is second from the last in percentage of adults reporting that they have had no poor physical health days in the prior month with 47.9 percent. Wheeler County is last with 29.7 percent; Crook is first with 73.1; Harney, second with 69.8 and Gilliam, third with 68.7 percent. Good Mental Health: Morrow, however, is the first in reporting that 70.9 Christ the King of the universe By Fr. Thankachan Joseph SDB, St. Patrick Church Kingship in the Scriptures always stands for service, love, and care. Christ, the Eternal King, came as a servant for the poor, the sick, the downtrodden and the sinner. The differences between the kingship of Christ and that of other kings of this world are that (1) Other kingdoms have territorial boundaries, but the kingship of Christ is universal. Christ is king without boundaries/borders. (2) Other kingdoms come and go, but the kingship of Christ is eternal. (3) The third aspect of earthly kingdoms is sus- tained by military power, whereas the kingship of Christ is sustained by the power of truth. The subjects of Christ’s kingdom must, therefore, stand by the truth even when it is hurting and humiliating to do so. Jesus has acquired this kingdom for us, at a great price, with his blood shed on the cross. He conquered the world with his uncon- ditional love. As St. Paul writes, as followers of Christ we are called to fight, “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Christ’s kingdom is a very special kingdom. Christ our King is an unusual King: He came to the world not for power, not for honor. He came not to be served but to serve. Christ has called His disciples and the Church to be faithful servants. Christ wanted His followers to be renewed and to bring the world unity and reconciliation as He did to the world (2 Cor 5:17). In our world where there is devastation of human lives and broken relationships, we as a church are reminded once again that our mission is to engage in peace-making and proclaim the good news of unity in Christ. The prophet Ezekiel (34:11-12, 15-17) describes Lord God as the shepherd of his people. The allegory of the shepherd is one of the primogenital and most familiar images used to describe God’s tender loving care for His flock - contradictory to the wicked shepherd, unfaithful kings, and false leaders who misguided the people, led them astray, and used them for their own selfish benefits. Yahweh is a faithful God who never stops caring for His people. Isaiah visualizes the coming Messianic King as the Shepherd King who will embody God’s care and con- cern for His people. If the people have gone astray, it is because of poor leadership. They deserve a good shepherd who will lead them along the right path. While Ezekiel is aware of the need of good leaders, he reminds the people that they, too, have a responsibility of walking along the right path. Ultimately, God will assume leadership of His people, but the people have to walk in faith and follow in the footsteps of the Shepherd. We have a responsibility to God and for God every day of our lives. In Saint Paul’s Letter to First Corinthians (15:20- 26,28), Paul reminds his listeners to look at God’s master plan and to focus on how Jesus is the centerpiece of this plan. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Christ puts the finishing touch to God’s plan. Jesus will appear in kingly majesty and lead the new creation to worship and adore the divine majesty of God. The resurrection of Christ is the definitive climatic point of salvation history. As one man, Adam brought death to the world, so through Jesus we have received eternal life. The Gospel of Matthew (25:31- 46) illustrates the scene of the last judgment, but the purpose of pre- senting this scene is not to portray Jesus as an austere and frightening judge. We need to realize that in our tradition, we are our own judges. Freedom, our great- est gift, brings along with it the responsibility to pass Fr. Thankachan Joseph judgement on ourselves. The role of Jesus is simply to remind us of the things that Christians need to be concerned about when they pass this important judgement on themselves. This Gospel highlights the criteria we need to bear in mind when we evaluate our lives: man will be judged on how he acts towards his neighbor. “What you did to the least of my brothers you did unto me.” The passage gives us the opportunity to see the presence of Jesus anywhere there are people who are suffering and to realize that in reaching out to the needy, we touch Christ Himself. This is how Jesus lived His life; this is how Jesus exercised kingship and leadership – identifying Himself with the little ones, the outcasts of society. The failure to recog- nize Jesus in the needy and the suffering results in our being separated and alienated from the kingdom of God. We have passed judgement on ourselves by refusing to acknowledge God in our midst in the “little ones.” Our focus has to be on preparing for a kingdom, faithful to the example of a loving and constantly caring King. The feast day of Christ the King offers us not only with the opportunity to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Master, but it also is an affirmation of human dignity over all attempts to subject people to systems and ideologies, because His kingdom is a kingdom of justice, love and truth, inaugurated by Jesus Himself. As the theologian Reinhold Neibuhr pointed out, “Any justice which is only justice soon degenerates into something that is less than justice. It must be saved by something that is more than justice.” And “something more than justice” is found in the life of self-sacrificing love lived by Christ our King and bequeathed to us by him.” – Patrick Labelle. Another writer puts it well. Barclay’s explanation goes like this, “God will judge all of us in accordance to our reaction to human need. God’s judgment does not depend on the knowledge we have amassed, or the fame we have acquired, or the fortune we have gained, but on the help we have given.” The good news is that the challenge Jesus gives us is simple and our mission is to engage in peace-making and proclaim the good news of unity in Christ. And it can be fulfilled by anybody. Jesus simply tells His followers to be kind to one another. Look after the poor, visit the sick, give food to the hungry. We can all do this, and so we become a part of God’s kingdom and by doing this we can proclaim Christ as the King of the Universe. percent of adults saying that they had no days of poor mental health. Lake is second with 69.4; Crook is third with 65.5 percent; and Umatilla is 4 th with 64.5 percent. The last five include Multnomah, Lane, Grant, Baker and Jefferson. Tobacco Use: Morrow is seventh in the state with 36.7 percent of adults using tobacco. Baker is highest with 39.6 percent; Gilliam, Sherman and Wasco are second with 39.3 percent. Broadband Access: Morrow, with 77.6 percent is 27 th in the state in terms of households served by broadband internet. Benton county is the highest 99 percent, followed by Mari- on, Multnomah, Deschutes and Polk. Lowest are Har- ney with 45.1 percent and Wheeler with zero percent. Child Care: Morrow County is second to last with 10 childcare slots per 100 children under 13 years sold. Lake County is last with three and Jefferson County is first with 28, followed by Wheeler and Benton with 26. Va c c i n a t i o n R a t e (two-year-olds): Morrow County is 8 th in the state with 75 percent, tying with Clackamas and Wallowa. The highest is Hood River with 83 percent and the lowest is Curry with 59 percent. No information is provided for Wheeler Mobile Homes: Mor- row County is first in this category with 30.7 of hous- ing units reported as mo- bile homes, followed by Harney, Sherman and Lake counties. Multnomah is last with 1.8 percent. Vehicle Miles Trav- eled Total: Morrow Coun- ty is 26 th in the state for vehicle miles traveled on Voter Participation: Morrow County is near the last with 63.1 percent of registered voters who participated in the 2018 biennial general elections; Wheeler County is first with 83.6 percent; Umatilla is last with 57.1 percent. Oregon by the Num- bers contains key measures for Oregon and its counties. It is published annually by the Ford Family Foundation and Oregon State Universi- ty Extension Service. This year the report was pro- Oregon state-owned high- ways. First is Multnomah with 3,118; second, third and fourth are Clackamas, Marion and Washington with around 1,800-plus each. Last is Wheeler with 20. Vehicle Miles Trav- eled (per capita): Morrow ranks 4 th with 17,282 miles traveled per person, with Gilliam first at 89,471, Sherman 2 nd at 74,350 and Baker, 3 rd with 18,455. Washington and Benton are 35 th and 36 th with 3,048 and 2,812 per person. Transit Service: Mor- row is 33 rd with 3.5 per- cent of residents served by public transit, followed by Gilliam, Lake and Sherman with no residents served by public transport. Mult- nomah is the highest with 85.9 percent. Developed or Culti- vated Land: Morrow is 9 th with 30 percent of total land cover classified as devel- oped or cultivated (includes pasture). Umatilla is 8 th at 32.8 percent; first is Marion County with 46.9 percent; last is Grant County with 1.2 percent. Publicly Owned Lands: Morrow is 30 th with 16.7 percent of publicly owned land; Malheur is first with 78.4 percent; Umatilla is 27 th with 26.7 percent. duced in truly historic times – global pandemic, eco- nomic crisis, catastrophic fires and increasing national awareness of structural in- equities in the society. Readers of past Oregon by the Numbers will notice a few changes this year. As with prior years, the hope is Oregon by the Numbers helps readers learn some- thing about where they live as well as other parts of the state. One goal is to help all of Oregon see all of Oregon. NEW LISTING $85,000 Three bedroom 1 bath 2 story home in the quiet town of Fossil, Oregon. Large fenced yard ready for kids or pets. Some appliances included. Looking to get away from the big city? Here is the place for you. Call for a showing. 1175 WASHINGTON ST Fossil, OR 188 W. Willow P.O. Box 337 Heppner, OR 97836 david@sykesrealestate.net Owner/Broker David Sykes 541-980-6674
