TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 18, 2023
The Official Newspaper
of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow
Father Thankachan Joseph
St. Mary’s Catholic Church Wasco
Heppner
GAZETTE-TIMES
-Continued from PAGE ONE sent a letter to the Morrow
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 177 N Main St. Telephone (541) 676-9228. Fax (541)
676-9211. E-mail: editor@rapidserve.net or sykeschris@hotmail.com Web site:
www.heppner.net. Postmaster send address changes to the Heppner Gazette-Times,
P.O. Box 337, Heppner, Oregon 97836. Subscriptions: In Morrow County $35/year.
Outside Morrow County $40/year. In County Senior Rate (65 years or older) $30/
year. 9 month Student student subscriptions $35/year.
Chris Sykes ...............................................................................................Publisher
Annalynn Black ............................................................................................ Editor
Cindi Doherty.........................................................................................Advertising
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column inch. Cost for classified ad is 50¢ per word. Cost for Card of Thanks is $15 up to 100
words. Cost for a classified display ad is $6.00 per column inch.
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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).
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meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines
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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.
Holly Rebekah
Lodge host BINGO
and Dinner Oct. 29 th
The Holly Rebekah
Lodge will be having their
monthly dinner and BIN-
GO afternoon on October
29 th at the lodge Hall on
Main Street in Lexington.
This month they will be
having pulled pork sand-
wiches and Cole Slaw for
$5 starting at 3 p.m. and
BINGO is 50 cents per card
starting at 3:30 p.m. If you
would like to play BINGO
but don’t want to eat, feel
free to come.
Electric Co-Op
Annual Meeting
Thursday,
November 2 nd
The Annual Meeting of
the Members of Columbia
Basin Electric Cooperative,
Inc. is planned as a luncheon
for Thursday, Nov. 2 nd at the
Isobel Edwards Hall in
Fossil. Registration starts
at 11:15 a.m. with lunch
served at 12:00 p.m. The
annual meeting and election
of Directors will follow
the lunch. Multiple door
prizes will be awarded. All
members are welcome to
come and learn about their
Electric Co-Op.
The ODFW host webinar
to discuss the Mule Deer
Plan Oct 24th
The ODFW will be
hosting a webinar about its
rewrite for the Mule Deer
Plan on Oct. 24th at 6 p.m.
They will be focusing on
chapters about predation
and harvest management.
The webinar will have a
wildlife biologist present-
ing and answering the pub-
lic’s questions. You can
watch the webinar, read
the chapters, and submit
questions through their
website, listed below, it
will also be posted on You-
Tube afterward.
While the influence of
predation on the deer popu-
lation is a complex one, the
plan is focused on research
and monitoring efforts to
determine the level of pre-
dation and how the rate is
impacted by other factors,
as well as what the ODFW
has learned from past pred-
ator removal studies and
efforts.
Join the conversation
at https://www.dfw.state.
or.us/wildlife/manage-
ment_plans/mule_deer/in-
dex.asp
GIVE GOD WHAT BELONGS
TO HIM
We have no right to own anything that does not be-
long to us. Does God have the first place in our lives? Do
we see ourselves as believers first? Today’s word chal-
lenges us to make first preference to God always.
The first reading from the prophet Isaiah (45:1, 4-6)
reiterates the basic principles: God is the God of history,
and He is in charge of the world, and nothing occurs by
accident or by mere coincidence. The Lord is constantly
at work even though we may not see His hand or rec-
ognize Him. King Cyrus may think that victory comes
because of his might but he is God’s hand to chasten the
rebels who fight against Israel. The prophet goes on to
repeat to his people that God is supreme, and none can
take His place. Even though the people do not acknowl-
edge and give due credit to God, He still takes care of
His people and will continue to provide for them. God
took care of His people through a pagan king, and He
continues to take care of us through the most unlikely
people in strange and wonderful ways. Even at this time
of different wars that take place around us and natural
calamities of fire, flood, earthquakes etc., we need to ac-
knowledge the fact that we are all surviving and going
ahead not because of our merits. It is because of Him
who has a plan for every one of us.
During the last few Sundays, we were listening to
how the Lord Jesus is having a conflict with His con-
temporaries. Today’s Gospel from Matthew (22:15-21)
continues showing the conflict growing between the
Pharisees and Jesus. The Pharisees tried to test Jesus on
the issue of paying taxes to the Romans and put Him
in jeopardy for His opinion on the matter of taxation.
“Is it permissible to pay taxes or not?” The unconcealed
question is whether it is proper to pay taxes to the gov-
ernment, but there is a hidden agenda that Jesus is aware
of. Because the tax paid to Rome was a constant humil-
iation and a reminder that they were a conquered peo-
ple, a majority of the Jews hated it and the Pharisees
were against paying taxes to the Romans. On the other
hand, Herod and his followers were in favor of paying
taxes to Rome. Whichever way, Jesus knew their inside
thoughts and answered the question in a way different
from their expectations. He knew He would be trapped.
If He said taxes had to be paid to Rome the people would
be against Him and if He said the opposite, He would be
seen as provoking revolt against the authorities. Jesus
completely sidesteps the issue by asking them for a coin
with which the taxes were to be paid. This coin bore
the image of Caesar and an engraving declaring his au-
thority. Jesus simply says, “Give to Caesar what belongs
to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” Since the
money comes from Caesar and belongs to him, he ob-
viously has a right to demand it, so Jesus says, “Give it
to him.”
Jesus is not entering into a discussion of the rights
of the state and the rights of religion; He is not making
a statement in favor of one or the other, but on the oc-
casion of the question He proposes a deeper truth. What
matters more to Jesus than being under Caesar’s rule and
paying taxes, is belonging to God’s kingdom. Jesus is
reminding His listeners of a deeper issue: that of being
people of God. If they belong to God, then they have to
give God His dues through their daily lives. Jesus offers
the idea that everyone should have God as the most im-
portant priority in their lives. A good Christian is one
who fulfills his duty both to his fellow men and to God.
Only when there is a clash of interests do we have to
remind ourselves that God always comes first. Nowa-
days there is a trend to travel miles to attend a ball game
or something similar but forgetting to attend a weekday
holy service. Is it right? We need to keep in mind the
above principle “Give God what belongs to Him.” Then
surely, He in turn will lead according to His fashion. So,
make first preference to God always.
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Port of Morrow in
stalemate
Spiritually Speaking
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the process to move for-
ward and we let somebody
else make the decision since
we’re unable to.”
“Rick mentioned that
he wants to do what’s in the
best interest of the Port,”
replied Doherty. “I don’t
think giving this selection
to the county court is in the
best interest of the Port.”
“I would prefer to make
the decision,” said Stokoe,
“but it’s obvious we’re not
going to get there.”
While Taylor said he
also preferred to either de-
cide or defer to the county
board of commissioners,
he eventually agreed to the
request to continue the pro-
cess in hopes that the Port
Commission could reach
a decision. On Oct. 6, the
commissioners voted 3-1,
with Stokoe dissenting, not
to adjourn the meeting but
to recess until Oct. 11.
Despite that, the Oct. 11
meeting yielded no results.
Continued interviews and
discussions again ended in a
deadlock, and Taylor decid-
ed to adjourn the meeting.
The next day, and de-
spite objections from Com-
missioner Murray, Taylor
County Board of Commis-
sioners informing them of
the stalemate and asking
for the board’s intervention.
“A majority cannot
agree,” Taylor wrote in
his letter. “I respectfully
request that you consider
the top two applicants as
you establish your process
for appointment to the Port
of Morrow Commission.”
Hard on the heels of
Taylor’s letter, Murray and
Doherty sent their letter
objecting to the request.
They claimed Taylor acted
outside of his authority by
proceeding without a ma-
jority vote.
“Legal council was
consulted and no statu-
tory time limit has been
presented to the commis-
sion,” their letter stated.
“We recommend you take
no action until a majority
vote from our commission
is presented.”
The Morrow County
Board of Commissioners
had scheduled a special
meeting for Oct. 13 to dis-
cuss the issue, but that
meeting was later canceled.
The issue remains unre-
solved for now.
The Oregon Circuit
Court host Community
Conversation Oct. 30 th
The Oregon Judicial
Department invites all
Oregonians to an online
community conversation
to provide ideas and feed-
back about how to improve
the courts. The topics will
include how to make the
courthouse safer and more
welcoming, how to make it
easier to do business with
the courts, im-prove the
jury, and how the courts
can improve on talking to
and listening to the com-
munity. The OJD espe-
cially wants to hear from
people who have used,
interacted with or helped
someone inter-act with the
courts this past year. Join
the conversation on Mon-
day, Oct. 30th, from 5:30
pm-7 pm online at courts.
oregon.gov/event.
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