Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, July 6, 2022 -- THREE
Spiritually Speaking
Am I a good neighbor
to others?
By Fr. Thankachan Joseph
In this Sunday’s Gospel, we hear
Christ’s parable about a man lying
wounded by the roadside and how two
people passed him by but a third stopped
and helped him. Let us call to mind the
number of times we have passed by
Fr. Thankachan
someone who needed a little help.
One day, Mother Teresa was walking Joseph
down the streets of London and saw a
man looking sad and sitting quite folded up. As she went
up to him, took his hand, and asked, “How are you?” “He
took hold of my hand and held it tight, his face lit with
joy…. such small acts of thoughtfulness and love can
bring so much joy, peace and happiness.” On another
occasion, Mother Teresa said, “The biggest disease today
is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of
being unwanted, uncared for and deserted by everybody.
The greatest evil is the lack of love and charity, terrible
indifference towards one’s neighbor who lives at the
roadside assaulted by exploitation, corruption, poverty
and disease.”
Luke 10: 25-37 begins with a scribe asking Jesus,
“What should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus directs
the scribe’s attention to the Sacred Scriptures. The answer
is “love God and express it by loving your neighbor.”
However, to the scribe the word “neighbor” meant
another Scribe or Pharisee – never a Samaritan or a
Gentile. Hence, the scribe insists on further clarification
of the word. So, Jesus tells him the parable of the Good
Samaritan, which indicates that a “neighbor” is anyone
who needs help and anyone who gives that help. Thus, do
not to ask, “Who is my neighbor?” but rather ask, “Am
I a good neighbor to others?”
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus presents
three philosophies:
The philosophy of the thieves who robbed: “What is
yours is mine; I will take it by hook or crook.” In Jesus’s
day, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a safe haven
for bandit groups who roamed the countryside like packs
of wild dogs, attacking innocent victims. No wonder the
Jewish traveler was robbed, beaten, and left for dead on
the road.
The philosophy of the Jewish priest and the Levite:
“What is mine is mine; I won’t part with it.” The priests
were powerful upper-class authorities governing the
Temple cult. The Levites were the priests’ associates, who
provided music, incense, sacred bread, Temple curtains
and adornments. The representatives of these classes did
not pay any attention to the wounded man because of their
utter selfishness. Their excuses: a) “If the man is dead and
we touch him we will be unclean for seven days (Numbers
19:11) and disqualified for temple service.” Thus, they
saw the wounded man not as a person needing help, but
a possible source of ritual impurity. b) “This may be a
trap set for us by bandits.” This excuse has some validity,
as bandits did use a “wounded” member as a bait to trap
other people.
The philosophy of the Samaritan: “What is mine is
yours as well. I shall share it with you.” The Samaritan
was generous enough to see the wounded Jew as a neigh-
bor. He ignored the long history of enmity between his
people and the Jews. He was taking a real risk, since the
robbers might still be nearby. Nevertheless, he gave first
aid to the wounded Jew, took him to a nearby inn and paid
for his food and accommodations with enough denarii to
pay for more than three weeks’ board and lodging. The
Samaritan also assured the innkeeper of further payment
for any additional medical requirements of the wounded
man.
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho passes right
through our home, parish and workplace. It is any place
where people are being robbed of their material goods or
their dignity, any place where there is suffering and op-
pression. The Jericho Road may even be our own homes,
where our spouse, children or parents lying “wounded” by
bitter words or more blatant forms of verbal, emotional
or physical abuse. God wants more than anything for us
to show our love to others. Jesus invites us to have hearts
of mercy for those who are being hurt or mistreated on
any of the “Jericho Roads” of life.
An invitation to be loving and merciful to our en-
emies. The Jews and the Samaritans during the time of
Jesus hated each other. When Jesus told the story of a
Samaritan helping a Jew, everyone was probably shocked.
Impossible. “Good Samaritan” would have sounded like
a bad joke. The parable is an invitation for people of
all times to love their enemies--to love those they have
previously hated.
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Lindsey and Doherty threaten sophistry of Port
To the editor;
Take a deep breath
Morrow County and allow
the rest of the story to come
to the surface regarding
the termination of Morrow
County Administrator Dar-
rell Green, before initiating
a recall that would tear
the heart and soul of our
county. Melissa Lindsey
and Jim Doherty have tire-
lessly and faithfully served
Morrow County and in this
case they protected our
citizens from a lawsuit by
not speaking, something
Don Russell deliberately
failed to do. Russell had
no business attempting to
listen to personal accounts
of the investigation that
he full well knew must be
keep private. Russell got
the same information as
the other commissioners,
and he knows exactly why
Darrell Green was terminat-
ed and whether Green was
blindsided as he claims.
Green knew that Lindsey
and Doherty could not re-
spond publicly to his yet to
be proved claim of being
blindsided. By Russell’s
crafty public criticism of
fellow commissioners, he
has purposely created great
confusion and anger in our
community.
We h a v e a l a rg e r,
life-threatening issue in
our county than a divisive
recall attempt. Our water
in private wells in the Ir-
rigon and Boardman area
and beyond has been in-
tentionally poisoned with
cancer causing and health
destabilizing nitrates. The
wells in our neighborhood
(between Boardman and
Irrigon) are polluted with
five to ten times the safe
level of nitrates. The Port of
Morrow has been pouring
nitrogen polluted wastewa-
ter on thousands of acres of
farm and “twenty percent
of dairy land for decades.”
(Oregon Capital Chronicle,
June 17, 22). “The Port of
Morrow…for years has
spread excessive amounts
of nitrate-laced wastewater
on area farmlands in a way
that contaminates ground
water and was ‘reckless’ in
doing so.” (Oregon Capital
Chronicle (OCC), Jan. 11,
22). The DEQ found the
Port was ‘reckless’ “be-
cause the public agency
intentionally applied exces-
sive amount of nitrogen.”
(Op. Cit. OCC Jan.11,22)
Not only was the Port of
Morrow ‘reckless’ in poi-
soning our well water, but
they were also “negligent in
failure to monitor the nitro-
gen” (Op. Cit. OCC Jan. 11,
22). If any person or public
agency deliberate poisoned
your drinking water, they
would be held be held ac-
countable in a court of law.
Not the Port Morrow. Since
1997 the Port of Morrow,
Morrow County Judge and
Commissioners, the DEQ,
and multiple organizations
charged to protect drinking
water have known we have
a dangerous problem with
nitrate well water poisoning
yet until now precious little
has been done. The Port of
Morrow has deliberately,
negligently and recklessly
poisoned our well water for
nearly two decades. Here
is the evidence from DEQ
documents:
From 2007 to 2009
the DEQ documented 42
violations of 3,620 pounds
per acre of excess nitrogen.
In 2011 the Port prom-
ised a new plan for nitro-
gen-laced wastewater in
place of fines. From 2012 to
2014 the DEQ documented
200 tons of excess nitrogen
applied to local farms and
dairy land. In 2015 the Port
was finally fined $129,000
for excess nitrogen applica-
tion. In 2016 the Port was
fined $8,400 for building
a storage wastewater pond
with no permit. From 2015
to 2017 the Port applied
263 tons of excess nitro-
gen-laced wastewater, yet
the DEQ issued no fine.
In 2017 the DEQ issued a
new permit forgiving all
previous nitrate poisoning
provided the Port build a
new storage pond, limit the
spread of nitrogen waste-
water in the winter and
build anaerobic digesters to
remove significant amounts
of nitrogen in the waste-
water. As usual the Port
reneged on their agreement
and hired scientists to argue
the nitrogen-laced waste-
water was not reaching
ground water tables in local
wells. From 2017 to 2021
the DEQ documented 1,100
Port nitrate violations with
over 165 tons of nitrogen-
laced wastewater poured
on local farms and dairies.
On Jan. 12, 22 the Port
was fined $1,300,000 for
“reckless, intentional and
negligent” DEQ wastewater
violations.
How has the Port Mor-
row responded to these fines
for recklessly poisoning
our water? “The violations
were unintentional and be-
yond the reasonable control
of the Port and had no
adverse effect on ground-
water nitrate level. The Port
denies it violated its permit
by failing to monitor nitrate
uptake in crops since there
DEADLINE:
MONDAYS
AT 5PM
were no applicable standard
methods for monitoring and
the DEQ did not provide
an agricultural approved
method until 2021.” (Jan.
31, 22 Capital Press)
It should come as no
surprise that on June 12,
2022, the DEQ fined the
Port an additional $800,000
for “adding 96 tons of ex-
cess nitrogen on an already
contaminated aquifer that
is the drinking supply for
portions of Morrow and
Umatilla County.” (Oregon
Capital Chronicles, June
17, 22) Nevertheless the
Port continues to this day to
pour more cancer-causing
nitrogen wastewater, pollut-
ing area drinking water. The
Port continues to justify its
contamination as executive
Director Lisa Mittlesdorf
claims, “By the DEQ’s own
analysis the Ports industrial
waste water reuse program
is responsible for less than
five percent of the area’s
nitrates.” (Op. Cit. OCC)
Past Morrow County Com-
missioner John Wenholz
used the same chart from
the LUBGWMA Action
Plan to make the same
claim. (Gazette Times June
29, 22). The problem is that
chart is no longer accurate
using “data from 2004-07.”
(Second LUBGWMA Ac-
tion Plan p. 17) Not only is
the chart no longer accurate,
the five percent claim uses
land acreage not the amount
of applied nitrogen-laced
wastewater to that acreage.
Wenholz complained Com-
missioner Doherty’s emer-
gency nitrate campaign
is fear mongering, how-
ever no previous Morrow
County Commissioners did
anything to expose the Port
“intentional” poisoning of
our well water. Most of the
nitrate well water poison-
ing is coming from Port of
Morrow “reckless” nitrate
poisoning. To this hour the
Port has yet to submit to
the DEQ for review and
approval a plan to achieve
compliance with nitrogen
loading limits in the permit.
This is an issue only coming
lawsuits will force the Port
to stop poisoning our water.
The elephant in the
room is why has the DEQ
failed to protect our local
drinking water? The Or-
egon Groundwater Pro-
tection Act of 1989 (ORS
468B.150-190) requires
well water to be below sev-
en parts per million nitrate
level. Why has the DEQ
been subservient to the Port
of Morrow? Follow the
money, or rather lack of it.
On January 9, 21, days
before the Port’s $1,300,000
fine the DEQ received a
memo, “urgent for Leah
Felder, hold up issuing the
notice” from Heppner State
Representative Greg Smith.
(Water contamination wors-
ened as DEQ went easy on
Port of Morrow, Oregon
Capital Chronicle (OCC),
Baumhardt, Sinanian, Cal-
laway, March 2022) The
DEQ was properly ready to
fine the Port $29,000,000.
(Op. Cit. OCC). Smith has
been a State Representative
from Heppner since 2001.
He once worked for the
Port of Morrow. Smith has
a seat on the state legislative
powerful budget committee
which oversees the DEQ
budget. Smith has personal
financial ties important
to the Port. He receives a
salary of $144,812 for ad-
ministering the Columbia
Development Authority
which controls the develop-
ment of the previous Uma-
tilla Chemical Munitions
Depot which is vital to the
Port development of which
the Port is a partner. In addi-
tion, the Port of Morrow has
established an economic
nonprofit that pays Smith’s
private company $100,000
per year. Emails “show
Smith stepped in to stall
DEQ’s new conditions for
the Port.” (Op. Cit. OCC)
The day the Port would
be receiving its permit re-
quirements Smith wrote
an email to DEQ director
Whitman on Nov. 8, 21, “I
would respectfully request
that you hold off on this
until our meeting tomorrow
morning.” (Op. Cit. OCC)
The DEQ twice extended
the deadline until Jan. 10,
22. According to DEQ doc-
uments the fine should have
been $29 million not $1.3
million.
Commissioners Lind-
sey and Doherty are a threat
to the sophistry of the Port
of Morrow, especially
Doherty as the commission-
er now oversees the Colum-
bia Development Adminis-
tration and is responsible
for helping expose the Ports
nitrogen wastewater abuse.
Do not be deceived by this
shameful attempt to recall
Doherty and Lindsey. The
Port makes millions of
dollars every year removing
the wastewater from food
producers and Amazon in
co-mingled ponds poison-
ing our drinking water at
the north end. This will get
worse when new Amazons
come online if action is not
taken. Recall the nitrate
polluters not the commis-
sioners that expose them.
Stuart Dick
Irrigon
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