Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 19 , 2022 -- THREE
Good News Only by Doris Brosnan
Father Thankachan Joseph
St. Patrick Catholic Church Heppner
The Heppner Gazette Times will print all letters to the Editor with the
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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.
Have all
the facts
Make use of
daylight to
keep Heppner
clean
With Daylight Sav-
ing Time ending the first
Sunday in November, it is
a good time to do a bit of
roadway and street litter
pickup before the daylight
hours for doing it go away.
If everyone will pick up
their part of the landscape,
then an important job gets
done with everyone pitch-
ing in to do their bit. A
litter-free town is nice for
ourselves and our visitors.
John Edmundson
Heppner, OR
HHS reunion attendees (front row): Ferne Albert Healy,
Evelyn Tucker Ross, Marlene Griffin Gray, Doris Morris
Brosnan, Shirley VanWinkle George and Elaine Laird Mc-
Gann. Second row: Bill Monagle, Tom Glass, Kathy Spencer
Clark and Sharon Keithley Harrison. -Contributed photo
Sixty-one years ago, the pictured good-looking Hep-
pner High School students and their classmates graduated
and went off to make their marks on the world. Since then,
they have reunited several times to report in and check on
one another. Saturday evening, they met at the Elks club
for dinner and conversation, which actually did include
more than just comparisons of hearing aids and artificial
body parts. Four spouses also joined in, but several other
distant classmates and locals Omer Huston, Sandra Jones
Blake and Judy Brinda Stevens were unable to attend.
During homecoming week in Heppner, a large crowd
of HHS students attended the volleyball games. Between
the JV and varsity games, the noise level of the rowdy,
good-natured crowd seemed to “old ears” to intensify,
so barely discernable was the announcement to “please
stand and remove your hats for the National Anthem.”
Amazing! With the very first note came absolute silence
from the students, as they removed various headgear and
turned their attention to the flag. These old ears were so
impressed by the respect the students showed their coun-
try. Thank you all! (Of course, the chants immediately
restarted after the last note was played!)
Ione High School’s homecoming was last week, a
week of fun-filled craziness and competitions that ended
with the Ione-Arlington football team fighting a good fight
on Friday night when they suffered a loss. Undeterred
from celebrating a long-standing tradition, fireworks lit
up the sky as the explosive ending to a busy week.
Not uncommon is a guest’s leaving a host a gift as a
thank-you for the stay. Maybe perky puppy Lily thought
that was the case when she idly roamed her house Sun-
day evening and discovered a pair of anklets left by their
guest and waddled out to the living room as her owner
visited with someone, with anklets hanging from the side
of her mouth. Such a thoughtful treat: something new to
chew on!
Last evening, the Ione community could attend a
presentation of the architect’s drawings of a new high
school building. This was another step in their process
toward a new school.
Finally, after several weeks of telling her doctors what
was causing her pain and what they should do about it,
Bonnie Campbell got her wish last week. The doctors
realized that, by gosh, she was right about having spinal
stenosis, the same condition she had two years ago. They
agreed to the same treatment she had then, shots in her
back at about waist level, which should, in a couple of
weeks, eliminate her pain, at least for some time. Bonnie
reports hope of walking without a cane, but she is pre-
pared for results short of that.
All G-T readers do not get their newsy notes from
social media, so the contributors to this column are bring-
ing them smiles they would not otherwise have. Thank
you! To add your tidbit, send it to dbrosnan123@gmail.
com or call 541-223-1490.
Here’s hoping that some good news comes to ev-
eryone reading this!
Support
Christine Boardman Halloween
festival planned
Drazan
It is time to voice your
The Boardman Parks
and Recreation District will
host a Halloween festival at
the Boardman Marina and
RV Park on Friday, Oct. 28,
and Sat., Oct. 29, from 5
p.m. to 10 p.m. each night.
Activities will include
a Halloween harvest mar-
ket with local artisan and
food vendors, doggy and
youth costume contests
sponsored by Banner Bank,
a mad-scientist kids corner,
a self-guided Halloween
Nightmare Haunt and a
bonfire on the beach.
Tickets for the Haunt
will cost $5 per person or
$15 for a family of four
or more. All other festival
attractions are free.
Go to boardmanpar-
kandrec.com for more in-
formation and vendor ap-
plications.
USE PROMO CODE: GIFT50
CALL CONSUMER CELLULAR
877-916-0803
© 2022 Consumer Cellular Inc. For promo details please call 877-916-0803
U STAN
HEPPNER M
BOOSTER HHS
OO
ER
S
T
CLUB DINNER
& AUCTION
G
vote at the ballot box. Or-
egonians need a governor
who represents all of the
people of Oregon, not just
a few. We need a change
and a new direction. My
vote will be for Christine
Drazan.
Christine is for restor-
ing our city streets back to
law enforcement. She plans
to do this by providing more
funding of our police, and
by increasing the number of
them on our streets. Chris-
tine is also for getting rid of
Cap and Trade in order to
help our gas prices. She is
for appointing judges who
will follow the Constitution
and uphold the rule of law.
These are just a few
of the policy change ideas.
Please read your voter pam-
phlet and do your own
research to compare the
three Oregon governor can-
didates’ policies and back-
grounds.
We need Christine Dra-
zan. Oregon needs Chris-
tine Drazan.
Vernie Mudie Basford
Ione, OR
The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds
The central focus of today’s parable is pride, humility,
and the role of grace in our salvation. The reading from
Sirach is a perfect companion piece to the Gospel parable,
as the writer talks about “the prayer of the lowly, pierc-
ing the clouds to reach the unseen throne of God.” Such
prayers are heard because they come from the hearts of
people who know how much they need God.
In Sirach (3512-14, 16-18), a wise Jew taught how
faithful Jews should live good lives, what moral and
spiritual choices they should make, and what behavior
would be honorable. Chapter 35 begins with the kinds
of sacrifice truly acceptable to God, including keeping
the law, observing the commandments, doing works of
charity, giving alms, refraining from evil and avoiding
injustice. Sirach asserts that God has no favorites. He
always hears and grants humble prayers of widows, or-
phans, the lowly, the weak and the oppressed.
In Luke 18:9-14, two Jewish men, a Pharisee and a
publican, went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee saw
himself as the perfect example of a true Jewish believer.
The publican regarded himself as a failure. The nominal
Christian tries, like the Pharisee, to make himself one with
sole control over all his actions. The proud and self-righ-
teous Pharisee did not really go to the temple to pray to
God, but only to tell God how good he was in the guise
of thanking Him. He “said this prayer to” himself! He
was proud, despising all others, labeling them sinners. He
was really a good man but lacked compassion for others.
His first big mistake was to think that God would be im-
pressed by his boasting; the second was in thinking that
he was better than others. Two things especially make our
prayers void: a proud sense of our own righteousness, and
contempt for others. A humble heart is contrary to both.
We read that the Lord loved the prayer of the tax
collector, who stood at the back of the Temple and would
not even lift his eyes to God. He confessed his sins and
brought before God his unworthiness with sincere heart
of repentance, humbly asking for mercy: “Kyrie, eleison,”
“O God, be merciful to me—a sinner.” His heartbroken,
humble prayer won him acceptance before God. His
humility led him to repentance and prompted him to ask
for mercy. Lessons from the parable of the Pharisee and
publican:
1) We need to expel the Pharisee and recover the pub-
lican in each of us. There is a big dose of the Pharisee’s
pride in many of us and a small dose of the tax-collector’s
humility. Jesus invites us to make a pilgrimage from pride
to humility. If we are not sensitive to other people, we
are not sensitive to God. The Pharisee was not sensitive.
The tax collector was sensitive to his own failings and
thus, was equally sensitive to God. Sensitivity to others
and to God go hand in hand.
2) Let us have the correct approach in our prayer lives.
For most of us, prayer means asking God for something
when in need. We conveniently forget the more important
aspects of prayer, like adoration, praise and thanksgiving.
How many of us remember to say, “Thank You, God, for
giving me another day,” when we awake in the morning?
How many of us show our gratitude for our health, jobs,
food and other daily needs? As long as our earthly lives
run along smoothly, we are likely to forget God. If we
have forgotten God through our years of prosperity, how
can we expect him to take notice of us when something
goes wrong? Our day’s work and our day’s recreation,
if offered for the honor and glory of God, are prayers to
Him. Further, we have to surrender our lives completely
and unconditionally to God, holding out empty hands to
receive Him in all humility.
3) Let us get rid of our self-justification: It is a tragedy
that those who justify themselves leave no room to receive
grace, though morally, they may be living exemplary
lives, as their self-justification leaves no room for the
grace of God to take hold. On the other hand, if we are
truly humble, we will find grace, mercy and peace. There
must be a space in our lives for grace to enter and work
its miracle. We must keep focused on our relationship
with God, recognizing that we are constantly in need of
His mercy and forgiveness.
B
In regards to recall ef-
forts of Morrow County
commissioners, and from
what I’ve read in the news-
papers, I feel compelled
to start the conversation
regarding transparency and
the accusations being made
about the commissioners.
As someone who has
sat on public boards, I am
truly concerned about peo-
ple having and understand-
ing the facts about how the
process works. I am all
about freedom of speech
and total transparency, but
I am alarmed with how peo-
ple can say and do whatever
they want without people
questioning whether what
they are saying is true??
Let’s start with due
process and executive ses-
sions, especially in regards
to personnel issues. Basic
Roberts Rules of Order
are guidelines used to pro-
tect people who represent
businesses and institutions.
When these representatives
are faced with personnel
issues, they can be very
sensitive and must be han-
dled appropriately. This is
to protect the accusers and
the person or institution
being accused. If a victim
or victims come forward
and approach the board
or commissioners with
accusations of harassment,
abuse or any form of illegal
conduct, it is morally, eth-
ically and legally required
that it goes into executive
session, where it imme-
diately is kept between
the board or, in this case,
commissioners. As I said,
this is not only to protect
the accusers but also the
person being accused.
Basic Roberts Rules
of Order (IEEE Policies
9.24) states: A member of
a society can be punished
under disciplinary proce-
dure if he/she violates the
secrecy of an executive
session. Anyone allowed to
be present is honor-bound
not to divulge publicly
anything discussed in these
meetings.
Again, to protect the
accusers and the person
being accused. It goes on
to state: Notwithstanding
the dedication to the fun-
damental importance of
transparency IEEE also rec-
ognizes that some aspects
of its operations need to
be kept confidential. Thus
certain types of informa-
tion are protected when
unrestricted availability
would be detrimental to the
organization they represent.
So again I ask, do we
have all the facts? I believe
the commissioners did have
all the facts. According
to Basic Roberts Rules of
Order, the public is not en-
titled to all the detailed in-
formation. Accusing them
of being dangerous for not
being transparent when
quite the opposite is true.
Not following the guide-
lines given them along
with legal advice would
be dangerous and com-
promise the due process.
Unless victims come for-
ward themselves we do not
know the details. Do you
think commissioners took
their actions lightly? Did
they do their due diligence,
listen to everyone involved,
seek legal counsel and dig
deep morally, legally and
ethically and try to do the
right thing for the county
at large, knowing it would
most likely cause them
personal public criticism?
As I said before, I am
alarmed how many voters
are not questioning those
throwing harsh accusations
around without having all
the facts. What are these
people motivated by? You
the voters have the oppor-
tunity to base your vote on
facts. Ask yourself, what
are the people behind the
recall motivated by? There
seems to be a lot of hate,
vindictiveness, or possibly
other ulterior motives. Do
you want to be a part of
that?
Commissioner Lindsay
was voted out by a relative-
ly small margin. Her term
ends in January. Many of
us witnessed an impressive
amount of hard work on her
part. She was passionate
and accomplished a lot of
great things, focusing on all
residents and communities
in Morrow County.
I encourage voters to
look at the facts and think
long and hard with your
head and your heart when
you go to vote in Novem-
ber.
Gregg Rietmann
Ione, OR
Spiritually Speaking
S
~ Letters to the Editor ~
Saturday, October 22nd
Gilliam & Bisbee Building
D oors open at 5:00
Dinner at 6:00
Live Auction: 7:00
STEAK DINNER
$20/person
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE!
Silent & Live Auction
The Card Game - Raf f l e
Heads & Tails Game
Please come out and
Support the Mustangs!