TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, January 12, 2022
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
U.S.P.S. 240-420
Morrow County’s Home-Owned Weekly Newspaper
SEARCH OLD COPIES OF THE HEPPNER GAZETTE-TIMES ON-LINE:
http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/
Published weekly by Sykes Publishing and entered as periodical matter at the Post
Office at Heppner, Oregon under the Act of March 3, 1879. Periodical postage paid
at Heppner, Oregon. Office at 188 W. Willow Street. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax
(541) 676-9211. E-mail: editor@rapidserve.net or david@rapidserve.net. Web site:
www.heppner.net. Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times,
P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: $31 in Morrow County; $25
senior rate (in Morrow County only; 65 years or older); $37 elsewhere; $31 student
subscriptions.
David Sykes ..............................................................................................Publisher
Bobbi Gordon................................................................................................ Editor
Giselle Moses.........................................................................................Advertising
All News and Advertising Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m.
For Advertising: advertising deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Cost for a display ad is $5.25 per
column inch. Cost for classified ad is 50¢ per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $10 up to
100 words. Cost for a classified display ad is $6.05 per column inch.
For Public/Legal Notices: public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Dates for publi-
cation must be specified. Affidavits must be requested at the time of submission. Affidavits
require three weeks to process after last date of publication (a sooner return date must be
specified if required).
For Obituaries: Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to
meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines
or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space
for the obituary.
For Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor MUST be signed by the author. The Heppner
GT will not publish unsigned letters. All letters MUST include the author’s address and phone
number for use by the GT office. The GT reserves the right to edit letters. The GT is not
responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will
be placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks” at a cost of $10.
Obituaries
Jack Dee Unrein
Jack Dee Unrein was
born February 18, 1956,
and passed away Decem-
ber 24, 2021 in Salem,
OR at the age of 65. He
is in the care of Howell,
Edwards, Doerksen with
Rigdon-Ransom Funeral
Directors in Salem, OR.
A committal service
will be held Wednesday,
January 19, 2022, at 1:30
p.m. at Willamette National
Cemetery, Portland, OR.
Once a Marine, always a
Marine.
Good News Only
By Doris Brosnan
Never too late to ac-
knowledge deeds well
done. On Christmas Day,
employees at Heppner
Family Foods and at the gas
station kept their doors (and
pumps) open for a good part
of the day. Certainly, they
were paid to do so, but these
individuals had agreed to
work these hours that en-
abled customers to run in
for those last-minute food
items or those gallons of
gas and desired sundries so
helpful to their Christmas
celebrations. Kudos.
More snow and more
reports of helpful people:
A “shout out” has come this
way from Dana and Aileen
Wilson, who greatly appre-
ciated and were impressed
by the unrecognized helpful
gentleman who cleared
their street’s sidewalks last
week. “We were amazed
that his powerful snow
blower worked even on the
frozen-over snow,” Aileen
reports.
Another homeowner
was greatly impressed by
Gary Watkins’s quick re-
moval of the large snow
drift that blocked their ga-
rage access last week and
by his very reasonable fee.
“No job too small,” cap-
tures Gary’s enthusiastic
logo for his Little Diggs Ex-
cavating business. He has
fun on the several jobs he is
now capable of doing since
replacing his retirement
last year with a multi-task
piece of equipment and his
know-how of outdoor jobs
that may require a backhoe,
a bucket, a plow, etc.
And who was the
young man who came to
the rescue of the driver of
the high-centered vehicle?
Spinning one’s wheels did
no good, but his heavy
chain and his Ram diesel
pickup sure did.
Golf, anyone? Maybe
not on the frozen-snow
course in Heppner, but ap-
parently in the Tri Cities.
That was the announce-
ment by the dedicated golf-
ers loading their clubs on
Saturday, ready for some
rounds in the north.
Anyone who has a pos-
itive tidbit to share with our
readers: Contributions can
come this way before Mon-
day afternoon by writing to
dbrosnan123@gmail.com,
or calling 541-676-5382
or 541-223-1490. Readers
look forward to smiling
with the contributors.
Here’s hoping that
some good news comes to
everyone reading this.
~ Letters to the Editor ~
The Heppner Gazette Times will print all letters to the Editor with the following criteria met: letters submitted to the newspaper will need to have the name of
the sender along with a legible signature. We are also requesting that you provide your address and a phone number where you can be reached. The address
and phone number will only be used for verification and will not be printed in the newspaper. Letters may not be libelous. The GT reserves the right to edit.
The GT is not responsible for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks will be placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks”
at a cost of $10. Email to editor@rapidserve.net or upload to Heppner.net.
Proposing a different
narrative
To the editor;
I propose a different
“narrative” than the “nar-
rative” Pelosi suggested on
January 6 th that we need to
“keep alive.”
President Trump saw
a rush in election state law
changes-often done illegal-
ly- and warned about the
increased opportunities for
fraud. He was dismissed as
explaining away an antici-
pated loss.
Trump went to bed on
election night with a com-
fortable lead in several key
states. When he woke up,
he’d fallen behind in all of
them. At least one video
showed counting had con-
tinued after most people,
including all the observers,
had been sent home for the
night. Numerous people
came forward to complain
about not being able to
observe the count the way
they were supposed to, and
others signed affidavits
(a written statement that
can be used as evidence in
court, and which amounts
to perjury if it is not the
truth) describing abnor-
malities in the vote count
which certainly indicated
fraudulent ballots were
counted on a fairly large
scale. There were other
reasons to question the
accuracy of the vote count,
but I think that is enough to
make the point. Numerous
lawsuits were filed, but no
one wanted to take a stand
on this mess and even look
at the evidence. The story
about this became-he failed
to prove anything, not be-
cause no one would look at
the evidence, but because
there was none. But it was
too late-some of us already
knew better.
Trump apparently en-
couraged his followers to
come to the capitol to show
support for him and to pro-
test the certification of the
electoral vote as it looked
like it was going to be.
Several of the states had
alternative delegates, show-
ing that state’s reservations
and questions about its own
election.
And come they did.
So much so that Trump
himself, as well as others,
requested additional police
protection, and even help
from the national guard, a
couple of days before the
6 th . They were turned down,
with ultimate responsibility
for not having enough pro-
tection lying at the feet of
Pelosi. Hmm.
Before Trump even fin-
ished his speech a block or
a mile away from the cap-
itol, sending his supporters
off with admonitions to
be peaceful, havoc was
starting to break out at the
capitol. The riot ended up
undermining what Trump
was trying to do. In most
cases, even states which
planned to challenge their
state electoral votes didn’t
after this fiasco. Within a
couple of days, Trump was
being blamed for inciting
the riot, and it was be-
ing called an insurrection.
Quickly an impeachment
was planned and carried
out, after Trump had left
office, even though the pur-
pose of an impeachment is
to remove a president from
office. Thus, the impeach-
ment had no purpose-or
at least not the purpose an
impeachment is supposed
to have-and was unconsti-
tutional.
A few months later,
even the FBI admitted there
was no evidence of orga-
nized insurrection. But it is
still called that.
Unlike the riots in many
of our cities starting about
a year and a half ago, when
whole blocks were taken
over and declared “not part
of the US,” and police were
kept out, there were no fires
and damage was light by
comparison. It was all over
in a few hours. There were
miniscule weapons for the
size of the crowd, and none
of them were used. There
was only one killing-not
by a Trump supporter, but
of a Trump supporter – an
unarmed woman, a veteran,
who was shot by a police-
man who fired his weapon
without warning, according
to witnesses. A policeman
with a record of reckless
behavior. We know not
why he was exonerated and
wouldn’t even have found
out who he was if he hadn’t
revealed himself, apparent-
ly proud of what he did.
Although any violence
was roundly condemned
by many conservatives and
Trump supporters, it wasn’t
long before all conserva-
tives and Trump supporters
were being called white su-
premacists, insurrectionists,
enemies of the state, and a
threat to democracy. Big
tech censorship increased,
and about half the popula-
tion felt like outcasts from
the USA they’d always
loved and considered their
country.
Sandra Johnson,
Heppner
Explaining the stats
To the editor;
In response to my letter
to the editor last week, I
have heard a lot of talk from
the administration about the
inaccuracies of my stats.
So, I thought it be best to
explain my numbers. There
is one PA for PMC, with
another PA who possibly
works at PMC one day a
month in addition to work-
ing in Irrigon. Another PA
works for Irrigon; an FNP
works part time for Ione and
Good Shepherd, a MD that
works a lot of ERs but does
see patients in clinic, and
last I heard, a chief of staff
who lives in Washington.
When I was working
for the health district, there
were five MDs, six PAs
and two FNPs for a grand
total of 13 providers. Per
the US Census of April 1,
2020, there is a total pop-
ulation of 12,186 people
in Morrow County. Off the
top of my head, I can think
of 12 providers (six MDs,
four PAs, two FNPs) who
are currently not working
for the district. There were
three CEOs (one of which
retired), one COO, two
clinic directors, one Locum
provider, and at least eight
employees for the hospital
and clinic.
As we all know, this
town talks. The people of
Morrow County knew I
was moving here before my
husband and I even moved
here. I don’t have a source; I
just open my eyes to what is
really going on. I am still a
resident of Morrow County,
and I am still a patient of the
health district; just look at
my medical bill.
Just because I used to
work there, does not mean
I don’t have a right to voice
my opinions about my own
healthcare, or my hus-
band’s, or even my neigh-
bor’s, who I care about. And
I commend every employee
who still works at the health
district. You have more
patience than I did. I was
unfortunately unable to get
past the betrayal from the
district, therefore I left.
For those employees
working at the clinics and
the hospital, and who are
continuing to take care of
our communities, I thank
you for sticking through it.
You are appreciated more
than you know.
Victoria Waltz,
Heppner
Grief support group
to begin
The GriefShare support
group will begin holding
meetings for 13 weeks on
Wednesdays, beginning
January 19, 2022. The
group will meet from 6 to
7:30 p.m. at the Gilliam
and Bisbee building in the
upstairs conference room.
Participants are asked to
enter the building at the side
entrance on Main Street.
After the funeral, when
the cards and flowers have
stopped coming, most of the
people around you return to
their normal lives. But your
grief continues, and you
feel alone. GriefShare is a
series of video seminars and
support group discussions
for people experiencing
grief and loss. GriefShare
runs for 13 weeks, featur-
ing nationally recognized
experts on grief recovery
topics. Seminar sessions
include “Is This Normal?”
“The Challenges of Grief,”
“Grief and Your Relation-
ships,” “Why?” and “Guilt
and Anger.”
Often, friends and fam-
ily want to help you, but
don’t know how. Finding
strategies that can help
you cope and eventually
find peace is the reason for
GriefShare. The group is led
by caring people who have
experienced grief and have
successfully rebuilt their
lives. You are not alone.
There are others experienc-
ing overwhelming feelings
also. GriefShare support
group offers a warm, safe
and caring environment that
will become an “oasis” on
your journey through grief.
By sharing experiences, we
can strengthen ourselves
and help others who are
facing similar challenges.
You are welcome to
begin attending at any point
of the 13 weeks. Each ses-
sion is self-contained, so
you don’t have to attend in
sequence. You will be able
to pick up any sessions you
missed. There are three key
parts to your GriefShare ex-
perience: A video seminar
experience with leading
grief recovery experts; a
support group discussion
about the weekly video con-
tent and a journaling work-
book and personal study
exercises that reinforce the
weekly session topics.
GriefShare is spon-
sored by Pioneer Memorial
Hospice and the Willow
Creek Baptist Church. For
more information, please
contact Jerry Conklin, Hos-
pice Chaplain at 541-676-
2946 or www.griefshare.
org.
Chamber annual
luncheon scheduled St. Pat’s committee
Enterprise Zone
seeks volunteers
meeting Jan 21
The Heppner Chamber
of Commerce annual lun-
cheon will be held January
20 at noon at the Gilliam
and Bisbee building. Lunch
will be provided by Hep-
pner Market Fresh for $10
per person.
RSVPs must be sent to
There will be a public planning meeting for the St.
JoAnna Lamb at heppner-
chamber@gmail.com prior Patrick’s Day celebration on January 18 at 7 p.m. at the
The Columbia River
city hall conference room. Anyone interested in this event
to 4 p.m. on January 18.
Enterprise
Zone (CREZ II)
is welcome to attend.
will hold a public meeting
Friday, January 21 start-
DEADLINE:
ing at 9 am at the Port of
Morrow Riverfront Center
MONDAYS
in Boardman. The CREZ
AT 5PM
II will discuss among oth-
er things how it plans to
disburse $9 million in tax
dollars this year under its
control.
The meeting is open
to the public and available
to attend by Zoom. For a
link to the zoom meeting
visit the Gazette-Times web
page at heppner.net/crez