Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday,June 26, 2024 -- THREE
Ladies WCCC June 18 th
Golf Invitational
~ Letters to the Editor ~
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Country Club hosted a Karen Thompson from
blessed. Have no fear of
them, nor be troubled….”
What if the first time 1 Peter 3:14
By Susie Crosby from
you heard a 12-year-old
Prineville,
Or.
kid spout the F word in the
grocery store, you stopped
him and said “Hey there
young man. You need to
watch your language”? I
can hear it now…...”But
it’s none of my business”.
Well, what if we had made
it our business way back
when. I wonder how dif-
This letter is a re-
ferent things would be now. sponse to Commissioner
Maybe Mayberry wouldn’t Jeff Wenholz BOC letter
be so far off. Can you imag- (G.T. 6/19/24). The G.T.
ine someone walking down quoted me (G.T. 6/12/24)
Main Street with their pants giving due credit to Bobbi
below their buttocks and Childers and her staff for
their skivvies hanging out? their “diligent, integrity
I bet they would have been driven staff for their un-
immediately escorted into a wavering commitment to
belt store. Aunt Bea would the cause”. What I actually
have been horrified. We wrote regarding our clerk
need more Aunt Beas. But and staff was kudos for
I fear the effective shock their “diligence, integrity
factor is behind us.
and plain old hard work on
I know some parents behalf of Morrow Coun-
don’t give a hoot how their ty.” The issue in this recall
kids behave. They just take is what best for Morrow
the path of least resistance, County. Nearly 700 Mor-
and it shows. But truth is, row County registered vot-
those kids interact with ers signed a petition ask-
other human beings….and ing for a recall vote of our
their behavior affects peo- current BOC because they
ple in their path, one way or do not believe these Com-
another. Yes, you can do ev- missioners are doing what
erything “right” in raising is best for Morrow County
your kids and still end up on every contentious issue:
with a rebellious brat, but (nitrate well water con-
a good amount of parental tamination, ASA ambu-
effort usually pays off…. lance service, new Circuit
for everyone. Example: if Courthouse, Amazon tax
and when one of my seven abatement, transparency).
children ever got caught in
Wenholz and the BOC
a lie, I didn’t brush it off. claim they are “following
They were lucky to see their the law and legal process-
next birthday……because es and being prudent with
credibility counts.
taxpayer dollars.” (G.T.
Remember the old say- 6/29/24) I contend they are
ing “It takes a village”? A using the law as a batter-
lot of truth in that. Society ing ram to dismantle the
is a teacher. It can be a MCHD ambulance system
good one, or a bad one. It as part of their Boardmen
all depends on who remains first agenda. This Morrow
silent. I just get the feeling County ambulance system
we’ve been sitting on our was one of the most highly
moral behinds too long, and rated in Oregon for nearly
now we’re reaping the con- 30 years and that is a tes-
sequences. Our silence and tament to Rusty Estes and
complacency have allowed over 60 EMT’S and Para
a new “morality” to breed Medics. The BOC Board-
until our country is almost man first agenda claims no
unrecognizable. Are we previous Morrow County
really that afraid of being Commissioners or OHA
confronted with “Get your passed ASA plan has been
hands of my uterus” and “updated since 1998.”
“It’s my body, my choice”? (Wenholz, G.T. 6/19/24)
Heaven forbid someone Had Jeff Wenholz attend-
points out the fact that your ed one of our five county
hands are nowhere near her BOC meetings in January
uterus and it’s NOT her and February he would
body being disassembled. have heard testimony and
In our moral absence, documents proving that is
we’ve allowed ourselves to a falsehood.
be scammed into thinking
The current BOC has
“Reproductive Choice” been responsible to de-
isn’t killing, and antisemitic termine a site for the new
rants are just “freedom of Circuit Courthouse since
speech”. And, of course, January 2023. Eighteen
destroying others property months later, multiple pub-
is acceptable behavior if lic meetings and great con-
you’re a college student. troversy, Morrow County
Meanwhile, quote the Bible citizens still do not know
and you’re guilty of hate where the new Courthouse
speech.
will be. If it were up to
Speak up enough and Commissioner Wenholz
someone might even hit you the new Courthouse would
with the only Bible verse be in Boardman (G.T.
they know….”Judge not, 6/12/24) and the BOC
lest ye be judged”. I hon- Boardman Agenda may
estly wonder if Jesus were well have been the reason
to turn a few tables today, for the 18 month delay.
people would be admonish-
The BOC Boardman
ing him for not being more Agenda has never been
tolerant. “Now remember proactive regarding the
Jesus….judge not….”
County nitrate problem.
I can tell you what that “This is an issue that has
verse DOESN’T mean. It been known about since
doesn’t mean we should 1990…did not occur
just pretend like everything overnight and will not be
is good. And it DOESN’T solved overnight.” (Wen-
mean we should let our holz, G.T. 6/19/24) Had
schools’ become cesspools, Wenholz attended any of
our borders become free- the five city meetings he
ways for sex traffickers and would have known the
terrorists, our government nitrate issue was most
become a sanctuary for Morrow County citizens’
liars and thieves, and our number one priority, espe-
country become Commu- cially in the north end. In
nist China. So, speak up…. the face of a recall the cur-
please.
rent BOC is now claiming
“ B u t e v e n i f y o u to make nitrate contami-
should suffer for righteous- nation a priority: Morrow
ness’ sake, you will be County (Commission) “is
Say something
Response to-
Commissioner
Jeff Wenholz
BOC letter
taking a leadership role in
finding solutions (for ni-
trate contamination)” (G.T.
6/12/24).
The CREZ BOC
Boardman Agenda is il-
lustrated by the current
contention in CREZ fund-
ing allocation. The Board-
man Agenda has always
dominated allocation of
funds from CREZ. Sykes
and Wenholz as current
Board members of CREZ
II always vote with Board-
man and so has the Port of
Morrow until John Murray
and Kelly Doherty were
elected. Wenholz claims
“Morrow County would
not be the beneficiary
of the $21.3 million that
Amazon paid in property
taxes in 2023…and does
not include the about $12
million they paid in Enter-
prise Zone fees last year.”
(Wenholz G.T. 6/19/24).
Morrow County property
taxes have increased every
year since the first Amazon
arrived. Our county energy
requirements have sky-
rocketed 550 times. Each
new Amazon complex re-
quires the megawatts of
15,000 households. The
electric rate payers fund the
infrastructure for each new
Amazon. Not only have
Amazon property taxes not
benefitted Morrow Coun-
ty taxpayers, the $12 mil-
lion tax abatement goes to
special interest controlled
by the Boardman Agenda.
Only one of the
Amazons is in the city
of Boardman and “very
few of the CREZ business
are in Boardman’s juris-
diction.” (Mike Gorman,
G.T. 6/19/24) These Am-
azon data centers employ
few technicians when
complete and require ex-
cessive amounts of water
and power that will end up
costing Morrow County
citizens unknown conse-
quences. The Amazon tax
abatements are the driving
force behind the Boardman
Agenda and the current
BOC.
Morrow County Citi-
zens organization expects
and will exhort the Gover-
nor, in a successful recall,
to appoint Commissioners
that will negotiate Ama-
zon tax abatements to low-
er county property taxes,
fund equally our cities es-
pecially with citizen water
needs and finally attend
to the needs of our aging
schools, plus nitrate reme-
diation, plus restore Mor-
row Counties Ambulance
system.
One final issue that
must be addressed by the
Recall is the Wenholz/
BOC giveaway of our
industrial/agricultural
property at the Columbia
Development Authority.
Why would Commissioner
Wenholz and the BOC give
away priceless industrial
land that belongs to the
citizens of Morrow Coun-
ty? This industrial land on
I-82 and I-84, with railroad
access and next to the sec-
ond largest Port in Oregon,
with proper innovation and
technology could make
Morrow and Umatilla
county the industrial/man-
ufacturing capital of East-
ern Oregon. The Wenholz/
BOC give away has no
transparency. Jeff Wenholz
as vice Chair of Umatilla
Electric Company, who
has the contract for power
for the CDA, has a conflict
of interest and is the sub-
ject of two UEC ethics in-
vestigations. Commission-
er Wenholz as UEC Vice
Chair. is required under
a duty of loyalty to “Act
only in the best interests
of UEC and its members.”
(UEC Board requirements)
Now you know what
“KEEP LOCAL CON-
TROL” really means.
Stuart Dick Irrigon, Or
Good News Only by Doris Brosnan
9-hole Invitational on June
18 th for the T-Bird Associa-
tion. One of 7 events held
through the golfing year
for 8 different clubs around
the area. 35 guests from 7
area clubs were represent-
ed, Meadow Springs C.C,
Zintel C.C, Touchet Valley
C.C, La Grande C.C, Buck-
skins C.C, Walla Walla C.C,
and Walla Walla Veterans
C.C.
12 Willow Creek C.C.
ladies from our 9-hole
Tuesday morning group
joined in the play for a total
of 48 players. The WCCC
Tuesday ladies group also
hosted the salad luncheon
following the 9 holes of
golf.
12 teams of 4 each with
winners of teams and spe-
cial events as follows:
Team Events- Low
Gross – 1 st Karen Thomp-
son, 2 nd Virgina Grant, Low
Net- 1 st Kris Lindner, 2 nd
Betty Carter.
KP 2 nd shot #2 Mary
Apple from La Grande,
Karen Sinclair from Mead-
ow Springs, and Karen
Wolff from Heppner.
Longest putt #5 Jackie
Allstott, Heppner.
Longest Drive #6
Stephanie Zimmerman
WCCC Men’s play
Twenty-one players
participated in men’s play
on Sunday June 23 rd , at Wil-
low Creek Country Club.
Results are as follows:
Special Events, KP #4/13
Tim Wright, KP 2 nd shot
1/10 Dennis Peck, KP 2 nd
shot 6/15 Dave Pranger, KP
2 nd shot 8/17 Dave Pranger,
Least Putts Charlie Fergu-
son. Net, 1 st Dave Gunder-
son 59, 2 nd Tim Hedman 60,
3 rd Tom Shear/Curt Day 6.
Gross, 1 st Erin Mason 60,
2 nd /3 rd Dave Pranger-Jerry
177 N. Main
A slow week for school graduation…. And P.O. Box 337
Good News?
the “plus”? Bringing back Heppner, OR 97836
This writer won a sort to Heppner the “grand Chris@sykesrealestate.net
of “triple crown” plus one
last week: 1) Trip with
daughter and granddaugh-
ters to see the school in
CA that the recent Salem
graduate will attend. 2)
Gathering with grandson
and two families of grands
to celebrate his earning
an associate’s degree at
Linn-Benton. 3) And gath-
ering with many families
and friends to celebrate
that granddaughter’s high
dog” from Salem, to spend
a couple of weeks!
GT readers report en-
joying the Good News tid-
bits. We also need to hear
from readers who enjoy
sharing if we are to con-
tinue. Sharing is as easy as
sending to dbrosnan123@
gmail.com or calling 541-
223-1490. Here’s hoping
that good news comes to
everyone reading this!
Heppner.
Birdies- Andrea Mol-
lonet from Zintel Creek,
Lura Powell from Meadow
Springs, and Betty Carter
from Heppner.
The Heppner course
was in great shape through
the help of various volun-
teers. All their hard work to
help get the course prepared
for this pre-planned special
event was greatly appreci-
ated by the ladies’ group.
The day turned out sunny
and without too much wind.
Great day for golf.
A big thank you to the
ladies’ group who pitched
in and helped make the
day a success, and a special
shout out to Pat Dougherty
who came out and helped
with our morning snacks,
kitchen duty, and lunch. We
would also like to thank:
Rick Johnston, Bill Mor-
ris, Mike Sweek, and Joe
Sherman for their help or-
ganizing carts and assisting
the ladies as they arrived
from out of town. Without
their help, we would have
been in trouble. Special
recognition goes out to
the volunteers who loaned
out their carts so we could
provide rides for the guests.
Gentry 68.
There will not be play
next Sunday as the annual
WCCC men’s invitational
will be taking place. The
next regular men’s play will
be Sunday July 7 th Hosts
for that event will be Duane
Disque, John Bowles, and
Rick Paullus. The sign-
up sheet for the 2 nd half of
Wednesday night play is in
the clubhouse. The 2man
match play league will be-
gin on Wednesday July 10 th .
Broker
Chris Sykes
541-215-2274
$239,000
Reduced price
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This house has undergone extensive renovations, with
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Convention. Amber ex- windows. 510 S Main St. Heppner MLS#: 23687525
pressed her gratitude to
everyone who made the
Young Guns competition
possible. Despite the chal-
lenges, the family is sup-
ported by Jaylee’s dad, and
Kinsley is eager to follow
in her sister’s footsteps. She
even joked about stealing
Jaylee’s horse to be on TV
someday!
The Cowboy Chan-
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Schlaichs debut on The
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-Continued from PAGE ONE
"EARS"OF
EXPERIENCE
Jaylee and Kinsley Schlaich
pose for a picture with
Emma Cameron,
Miss Rodeo America.
-Photo Contributed
professionals, and even
got their autographs. The
day she competed on The
Cowboy Channel was also
her parents’ 10th wedding
anniversary, making it an
extra special day.
In the coming years,
Jaylee will be aiming to
qualify for the KK Run
for Vegas during the NFR
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AT 5PM
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Offering complimentary hearing
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