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Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, January 12, 2022 -- THREE Spiritually Speaking Do whatever He tells you (Jn 2:5) Lindsay appointed as AOC legislative committee treasurer Morrow County Com- missioner Melissa Lindsay By Fr. Thankachan Joseph has been appointed for the In the last two Sundays’ celebrations we have reflect- second year in a row to the ed on the manifestation of the Lord. This Sunday we will treasurer seat on Associ- reflect on Jesus’s self-manifestation at the ation of Oregon County’s wedding feast in Cana. As we enter into (AOC) legislative commit- the ordinary season of liturgical celebra- tee. Her work may include tions, it begins with the gracious presence testifying before state leg- of our blessed Mother and Jesus in the islative committees and wedding house at Cana. The readings advancing counties’ state of Ordinary Time always bring us close Fr. Thankachan policy priorities at events to the Lord in His humanitarian tasks. Joseph and meetings. The AOC Knowing Jesus in His humanity draws Legislative Committee for- us to His divinity. mulates public policies The Prophet Isaiah (62:1-5), though Jerusalem and the temple are in ruin after the conquest, reminds the peo- ple of God that when Jerusalem is filled with the glory of the Lord, it has a different existence. The prophet is trying to describe to us that God cannot be silent any longer. God -Continued from PAGE ONE loves His bride, the Church, the people redeemed by His as advertised. “With the Son. God wants to rejoice in His people and wants His current system they are on people to rejoice in Him. The prophet describes the glory more than they are off. It’s and beauty of Jerusalem when it is filled with God’s glory. a shame to see because they The First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (12: have the system in place,” 4-11) describes the different kinds of spiritual gifts and said Seitz. “I don’t know the diverse forms of services used to serve the Lord. St. what’s wrong with it,” he Paul bluntly explains the multiple types of gifts present told the commissioners. in each of us and how we should use these personal gifts Commissioner, and to please the Lord. Each of us has gifts and we are to use newly elected chairman, them to build up the body of Christ, to benefit others. Jim Doherty said he has Perhaps we think that our gifts are negligible. Perhaps had “a half dozen discus- we think that others have better or more important gifts sions” with NextEra about than ours. That does not matter, whatever we are given, the lighting system with no it is given to us for others. satisfactory answers from The miracle of changing water into wine at the the company. “Every time Wedding Feast at Cana is only marked in the Gospel of we talk to them, they give John (2:1-11) alone; we have no reference to it in any of us some version of: ‘the the synoptic gospels. The Gospel of John can be divided system is trying to figure into two major parts: Chapters 1-12:50 as the Book of itself out. It will get up to Signs, and chapters 13 to 20:29 as the Book of Glory. In speed and it will start to the first part, John explains six major signs performed by work,’” Doherty relates. He Jesus during His public ministry. The wedding at Cana suggested the company is is the first sign He performed, the first of the signs that not holding to the letter of reveal His glory. Changing water to wine shows that, the contract signed with the if we pay attention, we shall see the divinity shining county, and perhaps their through Christ’s humanity. This is another Epiphany, a tax abatement deal should manifestation of the divine. be revisited. “At what point I have noted a slight difference in my reference Bible have they defaulted on that and the missal that we follow in our worship.. The Bible because the system is not I used to write this article begins with these words: “On functioning?” he asked. the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee.” It In the agreement, is very interesting to note that in this wedding celebration Wheatridge, which is we don’t hear much about the bride or the groom – at the owned by NextEra and end of the story the groom appears only briefly. It was Portland General Electric Jewish customary practice that the marriage celebration received special property went on for nearly seven days. The third day is open to tax breaks through the Stra- several interpretations: It is the third day of Jesus’s public tegic Investment Program ministry. Another explanation is that after leading the (SIP) from Morrow County. Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, Moses brought them to Assessor Mike Gorman Mount Sinai, where the Lord offered a covenant relation- said he was involved with ship to Israel. We read in Exodus (19:16) that, “On the NextEra negotiating on the morning of the third day the Lord appears on Mount Sinai tax breaks, and with the in his awesome power and reveals his ‘glory’” (Deu5:24). lighting system not work- Marriage is actually a covenant relationship. The ing correctly he would be bride and the groom pledge to live a lifetime together in willing to contact the com- their joy and happy moments as well as through difficul- pany. “I was involved with ties. Similarly, to this miracle of changing water into wine, negotiations. The intent was the bride and the groom are brought together by the Lord to have the lights off more to live together forever, as a new wine, as a new family. than they were on unless an I was impressed by the words of Mother Mary. She aircraft was coming by at tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). night. I am more than happy Families on the verge of dividing and breaking away need to pay attention to these words. What must I do for my family, my spouse and others to make them happy and contented? Jesus is always willing to help, even when a miracle is not required. Am I willing to help others when The Morrow County they need me? Am I willing to give my time and my energy to reaching out to other members of the family School District (MCSD) received an unmodified when it has no benefit for me? audit opinion for their an- nual financial statements, the 10 th consecutive year the district has received a “clean” report. Independent firm Dick- ey and Tremper, LLP per- formed the audit for the The Heppner Chamber of Commerce would like to thank the merchants and Individuals 2020-21 fiscal year. The that donated to and assisted with the Celebrate Heppner Community Christmas Event. Wheatland Insurance school board reviewed the Russell Ellsworth audit report at its January Allstott Construction TREO Ranches 10 regular meeting. Wilkinson Ranch Among the financial Blue Mountain Investments Dickinson Chiropractic highlights in the report: Browne House Coffee -MCSD carried a sur- Hansen Veterinary Services Blondees Salon plus of $475,343. This is Peterson’s Jewelers because of additional sup- Murray’s Country Rose Les Schwab port from federal, state BiMart and local grants, includ- East Oregonian Alive & Well ing COVID grants, the Prodigal Son Brewery State Student Investment Blue Mountain Community College Amazon AWS and the “Amazon Elves” Account and the Morrow Kim Cutsforth Education Foundation. Walmart Distribution Center Sage Clothing Company -Using increased fund- Tacos Hometown ing from these sources, Seed & Trowel Flood Town Books MCSD added four instruc- Mayor Jim Kindle tional days to the school Santa and Mrs Clause The Heppner Elementary Parent-Teacher Club calendar, hired eight staff, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints including three counselors, And Sheryll Bates and continued wraparound services to provide men- tal health services, CARE coordinators and Safety *Design *Print *Mail Resource Officers. Sykes Publishing 541-676-9228 -MCSD carried a PERS Reserve Fund of $1,448,889 ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: and did not spend any of the fund. The auditor also noted that MCSD carries liabili- and legislative positions, including policies and po- sitions on state or federal legislation, and directs the legislative activities of the executive director and AOC legislative affairs team. “I am pleased to be elected to this position for the second year in a row. Serving on the Association of Oregon Counties exec team gives me the ability to connect closely with fellow commissioners and staff from around the state and share our Morrow County mes- sage. The three current c o m m i s - Melissa sioners have Lindsay been active at AOC, seeing the bene- fits, with Commissioner Doherty serving as the Pres- ident in 2020,” Lindsay told the Gazette. Legislative committee membership consists of the AOC Board of Directors, one additional member from each of the eight AOC districts, the chair and vice chair of each AOC steering committee, one district attorney designated by the Oregon District Attorneys Association, and any ad- ditional members that the board of directors choose to appoint, such as a county not otherwise represented. concluded. COVID and mandate up- date In other business at the meeting commissioners dis- cussed a proposed COVID testing and vaccination policy toward employees if mandates are enacted from either the federal or state governments. The county currently has about 123 employees with 56 indicating they are vaccinated. If the mandates come down, they will most likely require all unvac- cinated workers to take a weekly test and prove negative for COVID. Com- missioners are still up in the air about what the county policy will be. First, they are not sure which mandate they will have to follow, either state or federal, and second, who will pay for the testing if it is required. County officials are also concerned about a rush on testing kit purchases and not enough available to give their employees. “We have a couple of decisions: one is who pays? Is testing going to be issue? Availability of testing. They will have to provide proof of a negative test every week. If you can’t provide that proof, then you can’t come to work. That is the way I read it,” said Russell. He said he was in favor of the county paying for the tests. The federal mandate right now is tied up at the Supreme Court which so far has not given a ruling, and the state policy is supposed to be coming out on Janu- ary 24, so the county does have some time to make decisions. Commissioner Lindsay said if the county does pay for testing, then it should give the same amount of money it spends there to vaccinated workers as compensation for a bene- fit of paying for the unvac- cinated tests. Undersheriff John Bowles also pointed out that it may become a union issue if the county requires workers to pay for tests, and he feels the coun- ty should pay for the tests. County Emergency Manager Paul Gray said the last he checked test prices ran around $6.99 each for an individual test and $13.98 for two tests and a kit. Russell said with his calculations it would cost the county about $280 per week to test all the unvac- cinated workers, and with today’s tight labor market that might be a good idea to keep their employees. He also said from his expe- riences, vaccination is not proving to be much of a de- terrent to catching the virus. “My personal knowledge is that vaccinated people are getting the new mutated virus as often as unvacci- nated people. May be lesser severity of the disease, but personally I know a ton of people who have been fully vaccinated that have contracted COVID. Even boosted people,” he related. In other business, the commissioners appointed Eric Imes interim public works director. Imes has been the assistant road mas- ter for the county for almost four years and he replaces Matt Scrivner who recently resigned. WIND TURBINES drafting a letter to NextEra explaining the intent (of the agreement) and explaining the problem,” he told the commissioners. “And I could suggest their SIP ex- emption may be in jeopardy if they don’t address this problem,” he added. Russell said he has talked to lighting system manufactures and believes occasionally there was go- ing to be a pilot that flies into Lexington at night and trips the lights on the towers on, or there is going to be a military jet from the bombing range that trips the lights. “But most of the time the lights would be off. At night nobody should be flying that low. There are certain standards if you are a pilot, and you should not be flying that low. You should never fly less than 1,000 feet above the ground out there unless there was an emergency landing. I personally think they are in violation (of their agree- ment),” Russell said. Seitz said there are two sensors that detect aircraft, one up north closer to the Bombing Range and one closer to south county. After discussion, the county agreed to have Gor- man draft a letter to Nex- tEra telling them once more of the lighting problem and suggesting they could be in violation of their tax abatement agreement if it is not fixed. “If the technology just doesn’t work that is one thing, but if it works and they are not using best efforts to make it work, that is something else,” Russell Morrow County schools receive clean audit Print & Mailing Services MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. ties for PERS ($25.3 mil- lion) and health insurance ($2.6 million), common for government agencies across the state. -Investment on MCSD property included two driveways/parking lots to accommodate increased traffic, roofing and masonry repairs, air-conditioning units, security cameras and water heaters. -MCSD completed on-time repayment of the voter-approved general ob- ligation bond for capital improvement from 2001. -Though the COVID-19 pandemic forced students to begin the school year with limited in-person in- struction, MCSD pivoted to full-day instruction by the end of September for non-quarantined students and used federal funding to purchase technology needed for online learning. “It’s a credit to our entire staff, our partners at the IMESD and the school board that the Morrow County school consistently receives high marks for financial accountability,” said Dirk Dirksen, Super- intendent of the Morrow County School District. “Our mission is to invest in the education and devel- opment of every student, every day, and we know that Morrow County com- munities expect us to do that responsibly.” The complete audit is available on the Mor- row County School Dis- trict website at https://5il. co/1454y. Morrow County School District is located in rural north central Oregon. The county encompasses more than 2,000 square miles with a growing popula- tion of over 12,000 in the four main communities of Boardman and Irrigon, along the Columbia River, and Heppner and Lexing- ton, in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. INVESTMENT PROPERTY $750,000 New Two -3 bedroom 2 bath 1,270 sq ft duplexes (four total units) in Heppner, Oregon. Will make a great invest- ment. Strong rental market has given these two duplexes an almost 100% occupancy rate with a cap rate of 5.44 and a gross rent multiplier of 12.07. Quality construction. P&Ls reports available. Call me for details. 515 E COWINS ST Heppner 188 W. Willow P.O. Box 337 Heppner, OR 97836 david@sykesrealestate.net Owner/Broker David Sykes 541-980-6674
