TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 16, 2022
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
~ Letters to the Editor ~
Heppner
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.
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.
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column inch. Cost for classified ad is 50¢ per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $10 up to
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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
Billy J. Adams
Former Heppner resi-
dent, Billy J. Adams, died
November 5, 2021 in Alba,
Texas. He was buried with
military honors at a mili-
tary cemetery outside Dal-
las, Texas.
He and his wife Shir-
ley had just celebrated
their 45th wedding anni-
versary on November 4.
He worked at the Mor-
row County bus sheds and
later at the Morrow County
Transfer station after retir-
ing from military service.
He is survived by his
wife Shirley and daugh-
ters Jessie of Minnesota
and Aileen of Washington
state.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
Fear not
To the editor:
All doctors and many
medical care specialists
take the Hippocratic Oath,
an oath to do no harm.
Heppner has been blessed
over the years with amaz-
ing doctors, nurses and
medical care specialists.
Heppner so venerated Doc
Tibbles the city present-
ed him with a bland new
Bronco on his retirement.
Doc McMurdo practiced
medicine into his eighties.
Doctors like Wally Wolfe
and Dr. Wagner, a gift-
ed surgeon who died too
young in a plane accident
in the nineteen fifties, in-
vested their entire medical
career in Heppner. Even
those that have moved on
like Joe Gifford and Rus-
sell Nichols have never-
theless blessed Heppner
and Morrow County. The
same can be said about the
multitude of nurses that
have dedicated their lives
to minister to the hurting at
their greatest time of need.
Part of that oath has
been solely tested by the
Covid pandemic. “I will
prevent disease when-
ever I can, prevention is
preferable to cure.” The
governments and public
health officials in the west-
ern world have put little
to no effort in measures
to prevent, build up im-
mune systems, or out-pa-
tient treatment to fight the
Covid 19 virus. “There is
zero effort, interest, pro-
motion or care about early
treatment of people who
are sick with COVID 19.
But there is a complete and
total focus on people who
don't have COVID 19 and
giving them a vaccine.”
(Dr. Peter McCullough,
THE EPOCH TIMES, Jan.
5-11) As the Hippocratic
oath requires prevention
preferable to the vaccine
cure, Dr. McCullough doc-
uments that “early treat-
ment markedly changes
spreads. So we reduce new
cases, we reduce the inten-
sity and severity and du-
ration of symptoms. And
by that mechanism, we
reduce hospitalization and
death.” (McCullough, op.
cit. P. 6) So why has the
United States not allowed
doctors to honor the Hip-
pocratic oath and suppress
virtually all efforts for ear-
ly treatment and preven-
tion of severe sickness and
death from COVID-19?
The answer, one man, Dr.
Anthony Fauci. Dr. Fau-
ci and his pharmaceutical
cartel have orchestrated
the pandemic lockdown,
vaccination mandates, so-
cial distancing, forced face
masks, business closures
and the highest COVID-19
death rate in the world.
The USA has document-
ed 77 million COVID-19
cases and 917,000, 000
deaths. The closest nation
to these horrendous num-
bers is India with over four
times the population and
one tenth the death rate per
population. Bangladesh,
(a) nation with few doc-
tors, hospitals and a neg-
ligent health care system
has lost 28,771 citizens, 35
times less than Dr. Fauci's
America.
“I will remember that
I remain a member of so-
ciety with special obliga-
tions to my fellow human
beings, those of sound
mind and body, as well as
the infirm.” (Hippocrat-
ic Oath) This oath does
not just pertain to doctors
and nurses but to all cit-
izens that have a heart to
do good, not harm. We
all have a special obliga-
tion to support our fellow
human beings, especially
in the face of a pandemic
that is dividing our coun-
ty, putting our youth in
fear-induced bondage and
snuffing out the lives of
our loved ones.
Can COVID-19 be pre-
vented and can early treat-
ment save lives? Accord-
ing to the Great Barrington
Declaration, signed by
50,000 scientists and
medical professions and
800,000 members of the
public, a strategy of early
treatment, protecting the
elderly and immune com-
promised, and no lock-
down of the general soci-
ety or forced vaccinations/
face masks, would have
saved hundreds of thou-
sands of American lives.
Fauci and his ilk, rather
than engaging in public
discourse, “organized a
quick and devastating pub-
lished takedown" (The Ep-
och Times, Jay Bhattacha-
rya, Jan. 6-11, 2022) of the
Barrington Declaration.
Here is the rest of the
story much of our present
health care system can not
honor lest they be fired.
You can prevent or at least
mitigate the severity of the
dreaded COVID-19. Build
up your immune system.
Vitamin, mineral and nu-
trition supplements will
help build up resistance to
all types of infection and
disease. Vitamin A,B, C,
D, E; herbs such as milk
thistle, echinacea, beet root
powder, grapeseed extract,
multi minerals, especially
zinc, magnesium, seleni-
um, macro green super
foods, medicine such as
ivermectin and many oth-
ers according to individ-
ual needs will help build
up your immune system.
More important, take care
of yourself. As my dad
used to say in his late 80’s,
“If I knew I was going to
live this long I would have
taken better care of my-
self.”
In closing, there is
hope for those struggling
with the after effects of
COVID-19 as well as the
COVID vaccinations and
booster shots. Just one ex-
ample (there are more) is
Apple Pectin (powder or
liquid). This apple product
has been proven to remove
toxins from your body. Ap-
ple pectin reduced 137c ce-
sium uptake levels 62 per-
cent in Ukrainian children
after Chernobyl nuclear
reactor disaster. (Swiss
Medical Weekly, 2004)
Apple pectin can bind ra-
dionuclides (radiation tox-
ins) because it is a natural
chelator that can help the
body flush out toxins and
that includes nanoparticles
from COVID vaccinations.
(thedrardiashow.com)
There is always hope.
There is an exhortation
“fear not" 365 times in
the bible, one “fear not"
for every day of the year.
“Fear not" my brethren and
take care of yourself.
Stuart Dick
Irrigon
BEO Bancorp reports 2021
earnings
BEO Bancorp and its
subsidiary, Bank of East-
ern Oregon, announced
consolidated year end 2021
earnings of $6,917,000;
average earnings per share
of $5.74. Total assets were
$821.6 million; net loans
were $466.5 million, while
deposits ended the year at
$753.4 million.
“2021
continued
where 2020 left off…
pandemic, mandates, sup-
ply chain. All terms that
we have become way too
familiar with over the
past two years. Throw a
drought into the mix and
the year included addition-
al cause for concern. From
a growth and net income
perspective, the bank had a
very strong year. A tremen-
dous amount of fiscal stim-
ulus money flowed into the
economy via various gov-
ernment programs. These
programs contributed to
bank growth, especially
in deposit and total asset
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M.
growth,” said President
and CEO, Jeff Bailey.
According to Chief
Financial Officer, Mark
Lemmon, “Net income
rose 25.2 percent year over
year. Return on average
assets is 0.93 percent com-
pared to 0.95 percent in
2020. Return on average
equity is at 15.39 percent,
up from 13.88 percent in
2020. Our book value per
share is $39.80, up 13.8
percent from last year’s
$34.96; while sharehold-
er equity increased 14.3
percent year over year. All
of these financial metrics
reflect a good year for the
bank.”
Chief Operations Of-
ficer Becky Kindle said,
“Deposits grew 24 percent
year over year. This came
from all areas of our branch
network. The pandemic
created various staffing
challenges
throughout
2021. We are very proud
of our employees’ dedica-
tion to providing excellent
customer service in some-
times less than ideal condi-
tions. In 4Q 2021 we also
converted to a new core
processing system, which
added to a chaotic year,
but our employees met the
challenges admirably.”
“Loan volume de-
creased 5.1 percent year
over year, but if our SBA
PPP loans are taken out of
the equation, core loans are
up 5.4 percent in 2021,”
said Chief Lending Officer
John Qualls.
Chief Credit Officer, Ed
Rollins commented, “Our
loan portfolio has per-
formed quite well over the
past year. While produc-
tion for our ag producers
was down, commodity
prices, crop insurance and
other stimulus programs
helped avert what could
have been a terrible year
for our agricultural sector.”