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Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 5, 2022 -- THREE ~ Letters to the Editor ~ Spiritually Speaking 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. Correction Last week The Gazette Times left off the name of the letter to editor “Know who you’re hiring.” The author was Cheyenne Rog- ers, Heppner, OR Grateful for care at PMH using her political power to strong arm and pressure support for her self-serving agendas. One who uses “homelessness” and “hous- ing shortages’, real crises affecting real people as campaign catch-phrases even though they were not important issues to her at any point during her 20 years in legislature. (ore- gonlive.com, Betsy John- son: unaffiliated Oregon Governor Candidate would bring longtime skepticism about government to the job, September 26, 2022). I implore you, please do your research. Read the above cited article. And vote with your heart and mind. (s)Cheyenne Rogers Heppner, OR To the Editor: I’d like to let everyone know about the wonder- ful service I received at Pioneer Memorial Hos- pital. Dr. Jeffrey Westin, Destiny and their team provided great care for me, Gayla Jones. They chatted and kept us company as we waited. My son and granddaughter were there to support me and were impressed with the facil- ity. I’m grateful and felt comfortable and well cared To all Conservatives for. “ Gayla Jones Not the phonies Heppner, OR To the Editor: To all Conservatives. The Please vote smart real ones. Not the phonies. To the Editor: Last week when Ones whose cornerstone I wrote abut the top three values are the Constitution, gubernatorial candidates, the rule of law, and institu- I thought I had discovered tions that make those pos- Betsy Johnson’s most ap- sible. When are you going to take your Party back? palling vote: “In favor of abor- Yes, you who used to call tion at all stages of preg- yourselves Republican be- nancy, up to the baby’s first fore your brothers and sis- ters swallowed the Kool- breath.” Sadly, I was hor- Aid of Putin’s puppet. And rifically wrong. Now, Ms. you, who still hold onto Johnson doesn’t have any the Republican label, just children, so I can’t expect because you have no place her to think or feel like else to go. A political par- parent. That is her choice ty without a moral core for her life and I have no grounded in reality, not judgment or opinion on self-delusion, eventually that. However, the state self-destructs. she wants to represent as I am no fan of Joe Biden. governor has millions of But he did identify Vlad- parents and children. Chil- imir Putin as a war crimi- dren who are the future of nal. Donald Trump called their families, their cities him a “genius.” What do and counties, our state, and you think? The big lie that Trump our country. Therefore, it is won the election worked impossible for me to con- well. Now it’s a litmus test ceive that any human could/ for “real” Republicans. It would vote against a bill didn’t matter that when it that bans infanticide. Spe- came time to produce evi- cifically SB 586 which is dence in open court, there currently in senate commit- was none. Believing mat- tered more than evidence. tee on health care: “Banning infanti- Intelligence has nothing to cide. Requires health care do with it. practitioner to exercise Why was selling the fraud proper degree of care to so easy? Because the lie preserve health and life of a was aimed at minds who child born alive after abor- want to be lied to. Even tion or attempted abortion.” Donald Trump was booed J o h n s o n v o t e d when he told people to get vaccinated. When you in- Nay! Let’s begin with the vite people like that into obvious (well, obvious to your party, the lunatics me, anyway). As a mother eventually take over the and Nana to my own and asylum. The ones who bonus children and grand- know better, but are in the children. . .each one more game to get power, have no precious to me than oxygen. choice but to bobble their . .My first question would heads along with loonies. be why on earth would leg- Courage only makes you a islation such as this even be target. Just ask Congress- written in order to be voted woman Liz Cheney. That on?? Even every single pro- is why the Republican Par- choice person I’ve spoken ty today has so few moral to (which is a considerable leaders. Who’s following number!) considers this them? The joke is anyone who murder! Secondly, what challenges the delusion is possible discussion could called a “RINO.” The fact be had to convince some- is: many real Republicans one to vote against such have already left. legislation, thus essentially James Tweed mandating that health care Ocean City, NJ practitioners kill a baby A little too Woke? born alive? A doctor whose To the Editor: oath states, in part, “First Twice in recent days or Do No Harm.” weeks, I have mentioned I pray with my to someone that the world, whole heart that Ms. John- and especially Oregon, and son not only fails in her bid maybe even my church at to be our next governor, but the upper levels, have be- that she never holds public come a little too WOKE office again. If we can’t for me. In both cases, they trust her to hold the best in- seemed to zero in on ho- terests of our most precious mosexuality as the likely and fragile demographic at cause of my concern. But its greatest height, how can that is not the case. we expect her to hold any I googled woke to be of our interests at heart. sure I knew what the word Furthermore, the meant in an objective last thing Oregon needs sense. It seems to be relat- as governor is a person ed to race and Marx Criti- who has spent two decades cal Social Justice Theories. When I talk about WOKE, I’m thinking about a number of differ- ent beliefs being pushed on society recently, es- pecially the last two or three years. It includes the belief that America is irredeemably racist and all white people are white supremacists and all black and brown people are victims with no chance of succeeding. (There is plenty of evidence to dis- prove the latter statement. Don’t think it’s possible to prove or disprove the for- mer.) We’re living on sto- len land. (Controversial— indigenous peoples didn’t own land and fought each other over it even before white people came, just as had been done by most peoples throughout the world for centuries, and it seems possible no one in the world is NOT living on stolen land.) Men can be- come women, and women can become men. Men who identify as women have a right to compete against biological women in sports (in spite of their superior size and muscle strength gained with tes- tosterone surges during puberty.) Men who iden- tify as women should be allowed in wom-en’s re- strooms, locker rooms, even prisons, even before surgery, even after wom- en have been victims of rape in these settings. Black and brown people are targeted by police and at greater risk from them than from criminals—and racism is the only possi- ble reason they are over represented in the prison system. (Loss of fathers in the home couldn’t possibly be a serious contributor.) All this seems more de- signed to turn us against each other and create chaos than it does to solve prob- lems. And there seems to be no room to disagree with the WOKE narrative, or discuss it. You are a bad person if you question any of it. An interview I listened to on the internet expressed this better than I ever could: Speaker 1: “The woke brigade categorizes them- selves as liberals, but there’s nothing liberal about that mentality. But when you have a cancel culture which is driven by if you don’t agree with what I say, you’re going to get shamed, vilified, can- celed, fired, maybe even imprisoned. That is actu- ally what fas-cist regimes do.” Speaker 2: “Yeah, but the fascists are more straight forward about it, cause they basically come out with something like, ‘Shut up, or we’ll beat you,’ whereas the compassionate types, they come out and say, ‘Well, we’re really try- ing to save the world and we’re acting in everyone’s best interests, so we just think it would be better if you regulate what you say, and if you don’t you’re not a good person.’” And you’ll be shamed, vilified, etc. Speaker 1: Piers Morgan Speaker 2: Jordon Peter- son; I hope you see the accuracy of the message, even if you don’t like the speakers. Sandra Johnson Heppner, OR Good News Only by Doris Brosnan After a couple of dashed hopes of visiting classmate and friend Ferne Healy in Roseburg, I was able to enjoy a couple of days with her and husband, Mike, a week ago. ‘Twas my luck, also, to meet some of Ferne’s friends because they needed a substitute pinochle player the day I arrived. A walk-about in downtown Roseburg was a first; I enjoyed browsing small, independent shops. I felt as though I was missing something when I first arrived in Roseburg, but I quickly realized that it was the first time in months that I was without a melancholy collie and perky puppy. They stayed in Salem with Darci. Yes, we will have pizza. This is according to Dawn Brosnan, who reports that it is true: The plan is for Drew and Taylor Brannon to buy the business that they will start running as this year ends and the new year begins. Both Dawn and Josh will be doing other things, but they are pleased to know that Heppner will continue to have pizza. Good luck to all. (A few devoted Old Hags cus- tomers advise: “Don’t change the sauce.”) And yes, those determined young women successfully completed their marathon and half-marathon runs last weekend in Portland and have the medals to prove it. (Using maiden names from their HHS days) congratu- lations go out to Janelle Healy, Kathleen Greenup, Petra Elguezabal, Jaci Hughes, Amber Peck and Annie Hisler. And kudos to Joyce Hughes, previously from Heppner, who successfully joined them. Trevor Nichols, HHS graduate, son of Russ and Toni Nichols, has done it again. Trevor is receiving recogni- tion for being an important member of the men’s EOU cross-country team that has “surged into the top 10 in the nation,” as reported by the “East Oregonian”. The team is presently ranked sixth, the highest since 2017. Trevor is credited for being part of a duo “who have been the proverbial tip of the spear….” Kudos, Trevor. Janet Greenup and her family were relieved when she came home from St. Anthony’s Hospital in Pendleton last Friday, after a bout with blood clots in her lungs. Re- covery will be slow, they have been told, but Janet is de- termined, as demonstrated by her attendance at church last Sunday. If you enjoy smiling with the contributors to this col- umn, think of the smiles you can bring to faces if you send your tidbit to dbrosnan123@gmail.com or call 541-223-1490. Here’s hoping that some good news comes to everyone reading this. Marriage Licenses Send engagement and wedding announcements to editor@rapidserve.net or upload to Heppner.net. Marriage Licenses Issued On September 12, 2022: CASTRO LANDEROS, ESTELA ARACELY (18) FLORES RESENDIZ, PEDRO (27) 80839 WAGON WHEEL LOOP 80839 WAGON WHEEL LOOP IRRIGON, OR 97844 IRRIGON, OR 97844 REA, JASON MICHAEL (20) ASHBECK, MADISON RHEA (19) 63201 HOWTON LANE 69425 LITTLE BUTTER CREEK RD. IONE, OR 97843 ECHO, OR 97826 Father Thankachan Joseph St. Patrick Catholic Church Heppner Gratitude is an art of human life In both the Old and New Testaments, God laments over man’s ingratitude: “Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth, for the LORD speaks: Sons have I raised and reared, but they have disowned me! An ox knows its owner, and an ass, its master’s manger; But Israel does not know, my people have not understood. Ah! Sinful nation, people laden with wickedness, evil race, corrupt children! They have forsaken the LORD, spurned the Holy One of Israel and apostatized” (Isaiah; 1:2-4). “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him” (John 1:11). Who among us is not grateful for the numerous blessings that we receive in our day- to-day lives. From dawn to dusk, we receive abundant blessings from the Lord, but how do we respond to Him? God desires gratitude from us for the many blessings we receive and feels pain at our ingratitude. The Second book of Kings (5:14-17) describes the pagan Naaman (king of Damascus and captain of the king of Syria’s army) at his healing from leprosy through the power of Yahweh. When the prophet Elisha refused to accept Naaman’s costly gifts as reward for the healing, the grateful Naaman asked the prophet’s permission to take two loads of Israelite earth with him from Yahweh’s land, for building an altar in Damascus so as to pray to Yahweh on Israelite soil. The grateful Naaman promised that he would accept Yahweh as his only God and offer holocausts to Him in thanksgiving for the healing. This week’s Gospel story from Luke 17:11-19 tells us of a gentile leper (a “Samaritan-foreigner”) who returned to thank Jesus for healing him, while nine Jew- ish lepers went their way under the false impression that healing was their right as God’s chosen people. They did not seem indebted for the singular favor they had received. Instead, they hurried off to obtain a health certificate from the priests. “Where are the other nine?” Jesus asked the gentile leper. “Did only one come back to say ‘thank you?’” We are reminded that faith and healing go hand-in- hand. Faith prompted Naaman to plunge himself into the waters of the Jordan River, and faith in Jesus prompted the lepers to present themselves to the priests. The scripture readings remind us of the following life values that we need to put into practice. 1) Learn to be thankful to God and to others. Al- though we receive so much from God, we often take it for granted. We allow negatives like health problems, financial worries, conflict with a neighbor or co-worker or spouse to hide the blessings we receive. And we are often thankful only when we compare ourselves with less fortunate people. In times of need, we pray with desperate intensity; but as time passes, we forget God. Many of us fail to offer grace before meals or allot a few minutes of the day with family to thank the Lord for the numerous blessings he has showered upon us. God gave us His only Son, but we seldom give Him thanks. Similarly, we owe a great debt of gratitude to many other people, but we often fail to thank them sufficiently. 2) Celebrate the Holy Eucharist as the supreme act of thanksgiving: The Greek word “Eucharist” means “profoundly religious” and “thoroughly spiritual thanks- giving.” When we worship together, we are thanking God for the great gift of His Son, whose sacrifice formed us into the People of God, and for the gift of the Spirit, through which we bring the presence of the Lord to others. Saying thanks to God with the parish community, sharing our time, talents, and blessings in the parish and sharing the heavenly bread of thanksgiving, the Holy Eucharist, is the least forms of thanksgiving we can offer every Sunday in response to God’s blessings. 3) Realize the truth that we all need healing from our spiritual leprosy. Although we may not suffer from physical leprosy, we may suffer from “spiritual leprosy” of sins, which makes us unclean. Externally, we all look beautiful and handsome, but inside we need a thorough cleansing. Jesus wants to heal us from this leprosy of sin. Since Jesus is not afraid to touch our deepest impurities, let us not hide them. Just as the lepers cried out to Jesus for healing, let us also ask Him to heal us from the spiritual leprosy of sins including impurity, injustice, hatred, and prejudice. May He bless us all with this spiritual healing. Elks’ golf tournament Raises donations The Heppner Elks spon- sored a “very successful benefit golf tournament at the Willow Creek Country Club” on September 24. Over $2,300 was raised for a donation to the Ore- gon State Elks Children’s Eye Clinic. This was the 25th year for the annual tour- nament which was head- ed up by Marvin “Marty” Brannon, a Heppner Lodge #358 member, PER, and local businessman. This was the 25th year for the tournament, which Mr. Brannon chaired for the past 14 years with the help of local Elks members. 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