Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 1, 2023 -- THREE
~ Letters to the Editor ~
Good News Only by Doris Brosnan
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.
Congratulations to Ashley Lindsay, who has been se-
lected as a member of the Morrow County School Board.
FYI: Ashley joins Brian Kollman, Jacob Cain, Richard
Cole, Becky Kindle, Mary Killion and Rosa Delgado.
Congratulations to Corey Sweeney, Heppner’s new
mayor. And congratulations to Cody High, who was
selected as a (returning) member of the Heppner City
Council. FYI: Cody joins JoAnna Lamb, Dale Bates,
Sharon Inskeep and Adam Doherty.
Congratulations to Greg Grant, who has been selected
as a “National Coach of the Year.” His recognition by the
National Federation of State High School Associations
is based not only on his winning but his “commitments
to enrich every player’s life now and into the future” and
“heart over talent.”
Congratulations to Jessica Kempken, who earned
a 4.0 GPA last term in her classes in OSU’s School of
Pharmacy! Jessica is the daughter of Donna Sherman.
Ali Ball, who is Diana Ball’s granddaughter, just
returned from a month’s stay in Guatemala. While there,
Ali assisted medical and dental professionals as an en-
hancement of her studies in Health Sciences at Whitworth
University in Spokane, where she is a junior. At least one
outstanding experience Ali had while in Guatemala had
to have been her pulling of a tooth! Ali’s parents, Duane
and Stephanie (Payne) Ball, live in Cashmere, WA.
Earlier this month, Kevin Murray’s uncommon ex-
pertise on the bagpipes was featured at an event held for
dental and medical students at OSU. Kevin, son of John
and Ann, is a freshman in the School of Dentistry.
On Jan. 4, John Flynn and Polly Peltier rode horse-
back cross-country to Rugg Ranch, where they exchanged
wedding vows in the service conducted by Dick Temple.
The nuptials have begun their life together six years after
the two met at a high school wrestling match, both parents
of wrestlers! Polly comes to the area from Grants Pass.
Fourteen schools participated in the Heppner High
School Bank of Eastern Oregon invitational wrestling
meet last Saturday. (See the G-T article.) The Heppner
team, which consists of 14 mat men and women, placed
third, with a strong showing in the finals matches. Con-
gratulations, Mustangs! (The atmosphere of a wrestling
meet is like no other school-sport competition, with focus
on two competitors at a time and with a huge amount
of shouted instructions from the spectators—and some
coaches—throughout the matches of three two-minute
rounds.)
Okay, math students, how about figuring out the
odds of this: On Sunday, 22 people played Bingo at the
Rebekahs’ hall in Lexington. Six of those players were
children. The winner of the first game was five-year-old
Lane Tellechea of Heppner, who was there with his grand-
mother, Kathy. The second game went to an 11-year-old.
The third game was won by a seven-year-old! Is “begin-
ner’s luck” a scientific phenomenon?!
Tomorrow is Groundhog’s Day, but one might won-
der if the weather will be too cold for Punxsutawney Phil
to venture out of his den for a look.
Many thanks to everyone who contributes to this
column, willing to share good news and smiles with
Gazette-Times readers.
Company came, you enjoyed, and you want to share?
Have had a trip to talk about? New family members?
Entertaining words from the mouths of your babes?
Accomplishments by those kids/grandkids you are so
proud of? Any and all of your reasons for smiling can
be shared by many more people if you send your info to
dbrosnan123@gmail.com or call 541-223-1490.
Here’s hoping that some good news comes to ev-
eryone reading this!
Crosby for President in 2024
Since the mid-terms
have been a little disap-
pointing and I believe in
“putting your money where
your mouth is,” I’ve decid-
ed I can no longer sit back
and watch our great country
continue to go down the
tubes. So, as I throw my
hat in the ring, I’d like to
let you in on a few of the
changes I will make when
I’m elected president.
1) One-year term limits
for presidents and con-
gressmen. You have one
year to fix the country. If
you screw it up…at least
it’s only one year of dam-
age, not two or four.
2) All subcommittees
must include one each:
rancher, farmer, logger,
police officer, veteran, cow-
boy, and great-gramma.
A budget committee must
also include at least one
farmer’s wife.
3) All governmental
officials (including presi-
dents) will receive the same
pay and benefits package as
law enforcement and work
the same hours.
4) All school board
members will be required
to pass a fifth-grade biology
test from the year 1959.
5) Sex ed will be lim-
ited to field trips to a local
farm or ranch, preferably a
cow/calf operation.
6) High school gradu-
ation requirements will in-
clude the ability to change
a tire, fix a leak, render first
aid, grow a vegetable and
write a thank you note.
7) No permits of any
kind will be required, in-
cluding building permits.
You get to live in the house
you build.
8) Ten percent tax rate
for everyone. Government
shouldn’t get more money
than God.
9) All medications pur-
chased in America will be
made in America (not by
our enemies). Pharmaceu-
tical company profits will
be the same profit margin as
the American farmer.
10) Any doctors per-
forming abortions will ex-
perience the same proce-
dure as the unborn child.
Likewise for doctors per-
forming sex changes on
children. These physicians
will be used as trial subjects
for any new vaccines, in-
cluding multiple boosters.
11) All fuel purchased
in America will be from our
own resources (not our ene-
my’s). Electric cars will be
reserved for golf courses.
12) All American
weapons will belong to
and be used by our own
military (not our enemies).
No weapon left behind.
13) Anyone (including
presidents) found consort-
ing with the enemy will be
handed over to the enemy
and any bank holdings or
assets will be distributed to
local veterans.
14) Athletes defiling
our flag or “taking a knee”
during our National An-
them will be shipped to
North Korea to continue
their athletic careers.
15) Law-abiding gun
owners will receive a tax
break for taking responsi-
bility for their own safety
and controlling their own
guns.
16) Firearms confis-
cated from criminals will
be redistributed to their
victims.
17) Criminals convict-
ed of a violent crime will
complete their full sentenc-
es. Repeat offenders will
be incarcerated with their
lawyers…and possibly a
few judges.
18) Build that wall! But
every so often, insert a taco
truck. Win/win for all.
19) Votes will be in
person by a show of hands
and tallied by one person
from each political party.
Nobody leaves the room
until there’s a consensus on
the results.
20) The firing squad
will be reintroduced and
utilized for murderers, drug
cartels and people who
drive 40 miles per hour in
the fast lane.
I believe these chang-
es will benefit all Ameri-
cans, including those who
don’t deserve it….or are too
dumb to know it.
Thank you for your
vote!
Susie Crosby
Heppner, OR
Spiritually Speaking
Father Thankachan Joseph
St. Patrick Catholic Church Heppner
Be salt of the earth
and light of the world
We are invited to be the light of the world and salt of
the earth. We know from our daily life how salt plays an
important role in our daily cooking experience. You may
put choice spices into a dish, but unless you add salt, it
does not have the right taste. Similarly, we are invited to
add salt to someone’s life.
The prophet Isaiah (58:7-10) describes the artificiality
of the faith present in the lives of believers. The prophet
harshly blames those who claimed to be religious but were
also at the helm of social injustice and oppression. The
prophet reminded the faithful that the restoration and glory
of Jerusalem could not be sought amidst evil whereby
the weak are oppressed. The prophet offers the remedy
of turning away from the old way by sharing the bread
with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and homeless,
clothing the naked. Only then shall the light shine upon
them and the gloom shall become for them like midday (Is
58:7,10). We must examine ourselves for the glory of God
within us. Isaiah invites us to evaluate our way of living.
In the Gospel Matthew, 5:13-16, Jesus uses two met-
aphors of salt and light. Jesus wants us, His followers, to
be to a light and salt to someone’s life. If you are a cook,
you know the role salt plays in cooking. Everybody gets
annoyed with food that has either too much or too little
salt. If it is in the right proportion, nobody even thinks
about salt.
Only one person in the Bible, a woman, could really
say: “I am salt!” That woman was the wife of Lot, who
turned into salt when she looked back on her past in Sodom
and Gomorra (Gen. 19:26). She became salt, 100 percent
salt, and nobody around her seems to have been happy
about it. Being salt is hopeless. There is nothing so useless,
so unmanageable, and so inedible as salt by itself. You
can’t do anything with just salt. In a time of famine, you
cannot eat it. In a time of drought, you cannot drink it. Salt
only becomes useful when it is used, as Jesus indicates in
today’s text, mixed up with other things. We are not salt;
we are the salt of the earth. We should be mixed up with
the reality around us.
When Jesus used the symbol of salt, He must have
meant it as a great compliment. When we say to someone,
for example, “You are the salt of the earth,” we emphasize
his worth and usefulness. In the ancient world, salt was
very valuable. The Romans used to say, “There is nothing
more useful than the sun and salt.” Salt purifies, and the
Romans considered salt the purest of all things because
it is the product of the sun and the sea. It was used as an
offering to the gods. When Jesus used this example of
salt, He meant that His followers should be models of
purity like salt.
Salt preserves things. Now we have refrigerators to
preserve things from spoiling. People of ancient times
used salt as a preservative. I remember that even in the
20 th century in our country, we were using salt to preserve
things. It prevents rotting or decay. So, the followers of
Christ must have the quality of “antiseptics.”
Salt adds taste to the food. It is the spirit of Christ that
flavors Christian life. When Sir Wilfred Grenfell was in
Labrador, he wanted a volunteer to go as a nursing sister
to his hospital. One girl volunteered. He wrote to her and
said, “We can’t offer you much money, but if you come
out here and help the sick and nurse the lonely you will
have the time of your life.” Christians who are the salt of
the earth should be taste givers and taste makers in our
human reality—in this street, town, city country, in this
world. Just as salt must be mixed with something else,
we the believers of Christ, when we are mingled in the
information, contact PMH world and with the humanity in a proper dimension, we
chaplain Jerry Conklin at can make this a better place. Jesus reminds each one of
us that “You are light of the world.” Our sacramental life
541-676-2946.
should help us to be a spark in someone’s life.
Grief support group begins
this week
A new 13-week grief
support group is begin-
ning this week. GriefShare
meetings will be held
Wednesdays from 2-3 p.m.
at Willow Creek Terrace
beginning Feb. 1. Willow
Creek Terrace is located
on Frank Gilliam Dr. in
Heppner.
GriefShare is a non-
denominational network
of 15,000-plus churches
worldwide and features
biblical concepts for heal-
ing from grief. Each weekly
meeting will contain a vid-
eo seminar, a small group
discussion and journaling
and personal study exercis-
es that reinforce the weekly
topics.
The GriefShare pro-
gram is sponsored by Pi-
oneer Memorial Hospice
(PMH) and Willow Creek
Baptist Church. For more
*Design *Print *Mail
Sykes Publishing
541-676-9228
Morrow SWCD to meet
Morrow SWCD will
meet Wednesday, Feb. 8,
beginning at 9 a.m. at the
Gilliam and Bisbee Build-
ing, 106 E May Street in
Heppner. To join via Zoom
or conference call, contact
the SWCD beforehand at
541-676-5452. Meetings
of the Morrow SWCD are
open to the public.
M o r r o w C o u n t y B u d g e t C o m m i t t e e
Morrow County has one vacancy for the remainder of the term ending
on June 30, 2023
Committee’s Purpose:
Budget committee meetings are typically held in mid-
April. At these meetings, the budget committee
receives the budget message and the proposed budget
document, which it may revise, before it is formally
approved. The budget committee meetings also
provide members of the public with an opportunity to
ask questions about and comment on the budget
document.
If you are interested in serving, please visit https://www.co.morrow.or.us/bc-bc and
send application to HR at kince@co.morrow.or.us