Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 3, 2021 -- THREE
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Town concerns about
new retailer
Brains of mankind
connected to internet
To the editor:
To the individuals that
have stated about their con-
cerns of a new retailer com-
ing to town.
The City of Heppner
would like to clarify several
points for your idea of com-
ing to City Council to reg-
ulate the entity from being
a member of the Heppner
community:
1. You, as a citizen, are
always welcome to come
to any council meeting, but
be aware that we are under
extreme circumstances in
regard to COVID regula-
tions that limit meetings.
The meeting will be limited
to the council, two or three
staff, the press and very
few other individuals to
maintain social distancing
requirements. We do rec-
ommend writing, calling,
using a spokesperson and/
or using zoom to partic-
ipate in helping to avoid
a super spreader event or
being turned away because
of space. We will have the
zoom information available
at cityofheppner.org under
council meetings.
2. The City of Heppner
To the editor,
We are entering into
the ‘Brave New World’
as envisioned by Aldous
Huxley in 1931. Huxley
wrote of a dystopian world
that included double talk,
thought control, dehuman-
ization and the end of indi-
vidual liberty. In Huxley’s
vision, all citizens are po-
litically and scientifically
programmed by the state
through psychological and
biological manipulation and
brainwashing conditioning.
Huxley foresaw the world
of 5G where all machines,
objects, devices, animals,
insects and the brains of
mankind will be connect-
ed to the internet. This is
called the Internet of Things
(IoT). Huxley’s vision of a
dystopian world foresaw
artificial intelligence (AR),
virtual reality (VR) and ro-
bot, microchipped humans
called augmented humans.
The internet had not
been invented when Huxley
wrote his science fiction
novel. Even a few years ago
a world under virtual police
state totalitarianism would
have been improbable. How
could a virus, on the earth
since creation, turn the
world into Huxley’s Brave
New World?
On Oct. 18, 2019 Bill
Gates orchestrated Event
201 exercising a three-
and-a-half-hour pandemic
tabletop exercise that sim-
ulated a series of dramatic
world events that would be
triggered by a worldwide
COVID virus pandemic.
Fifteen global businesses,
government and public
health leaders were players
in the simulated exercise
to bring forth the dystopi-
an system the Bible calls
the Beast. Gates and Dr.
Anthony Fauci have been
working for decades, ex-
perimenting with vaccines
and viruses on children in
third world countries, par-
ticularly India and Africa.
The worldwide pandemic
plan required research into
manipulating viruses in the
lab to explore and develop
a path to cause animals
viruses to infect humans.
This research called “gain
of function,” is so danger-
ous that 200 scientists in
the USA in 2014 forced the
National Institute of Health
to call for a moratorium. In
the face of the moratorium,
Dr. Fauci,, as director of the
National Institute of Aller-
gy and Infectious Disease
(NIAID), “outsourced in
2015 the ‘gain of function’
research to the China Wu-
han lab and licensed the lab
to continue receiving the
U.S. government funding.”
(Dr. Fauci Backed Con-
troversial Wuhan lab with
U.S. dollars,” Newsweek,
April 28, 2020) The Wuhan
lab, under the direction of
Dr. Fauci, experimented
with the ability of a virus
to jump from animals to
humans, (‘spillover poten-
tial’) “which requires that
the virus be able to attach to
receptors in cells of humans
(allowing COVID-19 to
bind) to the ACE2 receptor
in human lungs, and other
organs.” (Op. Cit. News-
week April 28, 2021)
Welcome to the brave
new world of Dr. Anthony
Fauci and Bill Gates, own-
ers and patent holders of
Moderna and Pfizer. These
two men are more pow-
erful than any governor,
general or president. They
control and manipulate the
economy and liberty of the
entire free world and can
does not have a business li-
cense requirement and does
not regulate what business-
es operate in the city limits.
3. The City of Heppner
follows all zoning codes
and offers free advice as to
their purpose when wanting
to find out if it is a permitted
use in a particular zone.
This information is avail-
able on-line at the city’s
website (cityofheppner.
org).
4. Regarding what in-
formation has been asked
of the city, so far it has only
been on permitted uses of a
property and what utilities
are available.
5. No applications have
been made for review of
zoning. Building permits
are issued through Morrow
County in Boardman (not
Heppner) and are in ac-
cordance with Oregon law,
rules and code.
We always welcome
your concerns and ques-
tions. Feel free to contact us
by phone at 541-676-9618
or by email at heppner@
cityofheppner.org.
Kraig Cutsforth,
Heppner City Manager
Improvement isn’t
inevitable, change is
To the editor:
There is a possible
change coming to the Hep-
pner’s downtown culture
and long-term vibrancy.
Corporate America
wants to come to town. You
may have heard that Dollar
General is looking to place
one of its box stores where
the RV park now sits. If you
didn’t know, you should.
Why? Because of the likely
detrimental effects to our
downtown that have al-
ready befallen thousands of
small, rural towns once they
arrive, settle in and begin to
exert their long-term effects
on the business district and
culture of the town.
I suspect you may be
saying my opinion is jaded
because I have a 60-year-
old main street business
and just don’t want any
competition, but that is not
my main reason for writing
today. Murrays has, and
is, staying pertinent and
competitive with mail-or-
der pharmacies, big box
retail pharmacies, little
cookie cutter box pharma-
cies, web-based pharma-
cies, etc., etc. by providing
personal customer service
and home-town values to
everything we do. Murrays
will continue.
My reason for writing
in opposition to dollar box
is the negative effect it will
have on the culture of our
town. Some people get up
in the morning and go to
work in a retail shop or
service wanting to make a
living, of course, but also
to serve people. Kind, gen-
erous, helpful, friendly, af-
fordable service to the peo-
ple of Heppner can result
in a lifetime of living here,
and a lifetime of having
that well delivered service
available here. Lifetimes
lived here, especially when
started at an early adult age
(meaning our kids) result in
a vibrant community. One
filled with school kids, jobs,
volunteers, parishioners,
shoppers, neighbors and
club members. They cre-
ate something good called
‘quality of life’, which para-
doxically is most likely why
they chose to return or stay
here in the first place. As
attractive as riots and loot-
ing are in other towns, they
still are choosing to live in
Heppner and participate.
How on earth could one
store possibly be the ruin-
ation of our entire towns’
culture? Well, it has been
proven in other communi-
ties our size to be the first
step toward it.
A few specifics: The
jobs they bring will not be
additional to town, they
will simply be shifted from
a damaged business down
the street. Googling these
dollar box stores’ employ-
ment practices shows that
I would not want to work
for them. Defective and ex-
tremely poor-quality mer-
chandise.
Why did the Food and
Drug Administration fine
all three dollar box chains
for selling outdated medica-
tions? How much outdated
merchandise do you have
to sell to get a federal agen-
cy involved to correct the
problem? Or why would a
class action suit be created
across 16 states to address
that Dollar General motor
oil was of such poor quality
as to be unusable in cars
built after 1988?
Why would Heppner
want stores in town that
bring such a low level of
quality? Why would we
want to worry about any of
these issues in a business
we have in town? And why
would we want to sacrifice
the livelihood of some of
our bright, young, busi-
nesspeople who brought to
us such energizing events
as Heppner’s First Friday
summer get together? We
deserve better than a dollar
box.
Please join me in ask-
ing the city council for
a conversation about the
future of the business dis-
trict in Heppner and how
we can maintain the very
best aspects of it. I firmly
believe that corporate box
stores are not the direction
we should go for our town’s
best future. Working togeth-
er with our elected council
people is the only way of
accomplishing this. We will
find a way.
Respectfully submit-
ted,
John Murray
require their vaccines on all
humans without relinquish-
ing mandated masks as a
method of dystopian world
control. The worldwide
press and media cover and
expedite their every diabol-
ical exercise. Anyone that
challenges or exposes them
will be censored and at-
tacked as xenophobic. This
same press will usher in a
ruthless antichrist system
worse than Nazi Germany.
What can be done to
save our country, our way
of life, our loved ones and
our souls from this dysto-
pian ‘brave new world’?
Commit your heart to Jesus
Christ. The Bible clearly
prophesizes at the end of
the age Satan will deceive
the world and attempt to
rule in defiance of Almighty
God. The battle belongs to
God and only the return of
the Lord Jesus Christ will
defeat this satanic beast
system. Do not yield to this
satanic plan. Support our
local business, especially
those forced to close. De-
mand our schools open and
stay open. Build up your
immune system (more on
that later). Find a Bible
teaching church or home
group. Build your faith
through study of the Bible.
Build your faith through
prayer. Build your faith
through standing up against
falsehood, doubletalk un-
equal application of the law.
Stuart Dick,
Irrigon
Dollar General would
represent positive
economic growth within
the community
To the editor:
Dollar General is cur-
rently in a due diligence
phase for a new location at
388 N. Main St. in Heppner,
Oregon, which means we’re
interested in adding a new
store in Morrow County
but have not committed to
doing so quite yet. At this
time, we anticipate having
a final decision in late 2021.
At Dollar General,
we strive to be a positive
business partner and good
community neighbor. We
believe the addition of a
new Dollar General store
to the Heppner community
would represent positive
economic growth within the
community. Our beneficial
impact would be reflected
through the creation of local
jobs and opportunities for
employee development and
career advancement and
through grants provided
through the Dollar General
Literacy Foundation that
positively impact literacy
and education initiatives
at schools, non-profits and
libraries. We hope our new
store would help customers
save money on the items
they purchase most often
and need so they have re-
maining funds to use to-
ward purchases they want.
Our customers are at
the center of all that we do,
Obituaries
Robert Patrick
McLaughlin
Robert “Bob” Mc- way. He never stopped ask-
Laughlin passed away
ing questions and
peacefully at home on
would much prefer
Tuesday, January 12,
to learn about some-
2021, with his wife
one else than to talk
Bette by his side. Bob
about himself. He
was born August 30,
will be remembered
1929 and raised on
most as an honest,
the family ranch near Robert
humble man of in-
Heppner, OR. The Patrick
tegrity and for his
ranch was homestead- McLaughlin lifelong love and
ed in 1884 by his Irish
commitment to his
ancestors. He was ninth of family.
14 children, born to Cor-
He is survived by his
nelius and Mary (Doherty) wife Bette; brother, Terry
McLaughlin.
McLaughlin; son, Stephen
He served in the U.S. (Rhonda) McLaughlin;
Army from 1946-1948, daughter, Anne (Murray)
returned to eastern Oregon Perkins; son, Chris (Shari)
and eventually purchased McLaughlin; daughter,
the family ranch from his Shannon (Mark) Cham-
father. He met Elizabeth bers; daughter, Kelly (Jeff)
“Bette” Scharn, and they Koker; 13 grandchildren,
married in 1965. Bob op- five great-grandchildren,
erated the ranch, putting and another on the way.
their five children through
Because education was
college before selling and of such high value to him,
moving to Bend, OR in a scholarship fund has been
2002. He easily made the established for graduates
adjustment from thousands of Heppner High School
of acres to life on a city attending an Oregon public
lot, busying himself with institution. Those wishing
reading, hiking, gardening, to make a contribution in
babysitting grandkids and his honor can do so by
travel. He never missed an donating to the Bob and
opportunity to attend one of Bette McLaughlin Educa-
his grandchildren’s athletic tion Foundation (contact a
events, cheering for them family member for where to
and their opponents.
send the donation).
Fond memories for his
family include summiting
South Sister on his 75 th
birthday and the yearly Pi-
lot Butte Challenge. He was
a conservationist before
it was “cool,” caring for
his land and maintaining a
lifelong curiosity of nature,
as well as for the humans
he encountered along the
and meeting customers’
needs is Dollar General’s
top priority when choosing
store locations. In select-
ing store sites, we take
a number of factors into
consideration, carefully
evaluating each potential
new store location to ensure
we can continue to meet our
customers’ price, value and
selection needs.
The store would em-
ploy approximately 6-10
employees, depending on
the individual needs of the
store. Anyone interested in
joining one of America’s
fastest-growing retailers
with competitive wages
and benefits, world-class
training and development
and the ability to further
them through our growing
organization career – where
approximately 75 percent
of current store managers
were promoted from within
our organization – may ap-
ply for available positions
online at www.dollargen-
eral.com/careers.
Also, the critical role
played by our stores has
been evident during the
COVID pandemic as cus-
tomers seek convenient
options to purchase es-
sential household goods.
During this time of national
crisis, our customers have
relied on Dollar General to
remain open and provide
the essential items they
need at affordable prices
in a smaller, less crowded
and easy, in-and-out envi-
ronment. We take this re-
sponsibility of service very
seriously, and we are proud
to have remained open for
our customers during these
uncertain times. Our efforts
were recognized by Forbes
magazine, which identified
Dollar General among its
top 25 corporate responders
to the COVID-19 pandemic
and are reflected in a Harris
Poll that outlines the es-
sential role Dollar General
stores play in the lives of
our customers.
Best,
Angela Petkovic
Dollar General
Corporation Public
Relations
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