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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 2024)
TWO - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, July 31, 2024 The Official Newspaper of the City of Heppner and the County of Morrow Good News Only by Doris Brosnan Heppner The Sykes Family recently held their annual reunion on the Oregon coast. This year they rented a beach house at Pacific City, where they spent a week visiting, enjoying the beach, and catching up on news about the families. David and April Sykes attended, as well as son Chris, his wife Rachel, and their children Sophie and Waylon. Son Andrew came from Pendleton with his friend Irma Rodriguez and her daughter Gianni, also of Pendleton. Allison Hayes and her husband Matt came from Cary, North Carolina, with their two boys August and Sebas- tian. Camille Sykes came from Milwaukie with her son Oscar. Also, there on Sunday to visit was David’s Sis- ter Ardeen Sykes from Monmouth Oregon. Her son and David’s nephew JC Clay and his wife Brandy also came for the visit. The group had fun at the beach, played dominoes, and cooked large dinners, including Allison’s popular annual seafood medley – a large kettle of crab, clams, potatoes, vegetables, and more that she cooks up and then dumps in the middle of the table for everyone to dive in and enjoy. Everyone also went to the beach and watched the fishing dories launch through the surf, and some even climbed the “huge” sand dune next to the beach. Kit and Shirley George’s daughter, Kimberly, visit- ed last week, just a hop, skip, and a jump from her busi- ness meeting in Seattle. They were joined one evening for dinner by the Georges’ granddaughter, Kelly, and her husband, Luke Barnett, as well as their baby daughter, Bo. Another evening was enjoyed by all with overnight guests Courtney George – another granddaughter – and her friend Joel. Courtney was here from her home in Ro- anoke, Virginia, to work with her mother, Destiny, who owns a mortgage loan business in Hermiston. Family visits and a stay at the family cabin in the mountains were highlights of the week. The Steagalls’ annual family reunion, July 10 through the 14 th , was again held at Bull Prairie. Was it the “luck of the Irish” that enabled them to gather for those five days and leave the park one day before the park had to be evacuated because of the wildfire threat? Ninety family members, including twenty under the age of twelve, attended this year, from ten states, with Bob Steagall of Albany claiming the “oldest” prize and two two-month-old boy cousins recognized as the youngest. Traveling from Texas and Pennsylvania were the lon- gest trips, and attendees traveled by plane, by car, with RVs, and with tents. Some who drove found rooms at the Spray motel and “probably enlivened that town a bit each night!” assumes one family reporter. The Texas and Utah cousins, as they do each year, created commemo- rative T-shirts, keepsakes sure to stir memories for years to come. A big surprise for the local Steagalls flew in on Friday: Coby, who now lives in California, told no one that he was going to come and was able to be there from Friday through Sunday. Once again, the mosqui- toes, uninvited pests, created chall1enges, but they did not change anyone’s mind about planning for a repeat gathering in 2025! Two years ago, Doris Brosnan’s niece Dena Struthers and her husband Lyle Wiese invited her to come to their home in Hammond, Oregon. Last weekend that visit fi- nally worked out! Doris and daughter, Darci, traveled from Salem on Saturday, enjoyed many hours of visit- ing and catching up on Wieses’ news, and returned to Salem on Sunday. On the return trip, they also enjoyed a long-overdue visit with Doris’s sister Edie, who lives in Lake Oswego. Doris had arrived in Salem on the pre- vious Thursday, so on Friday, her grandson Conor, who lives in Corvallis, joined her for the afternoon, a big bo- nus on her trip. Send your tidbit of good news to dbrosnan123@ gmail.com or call 541-223-1490 and give GT readers a few more moments of respite from less positive news! Here’s hoping that good news comes to everyone reading this. GAZETTE-TIMES 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 All News and Advertising Deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. For Advertising: advertising deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Cost for a display ad is $5.50 per 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. For Public/Legal Notices: public/legal notices deadline is Monday at 5 p.m. Dates for publi- 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). For Obituaries: Obituaries are published in the Heppner GT at no charge and are edited to meet news guidelines. Families wishing to include information not included in the guidelines or who wish to have the obituary written in a certain way must purchase advertising space for the obituary. For Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor MUST be signed by the author. The Heppner GT will not publish unsigned letters. All letters MUST include the author’s address and phone number for use by the GT office. The GT reserves the right to edit letters. 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 $15 Spiritually Speaking Father Thankachan Joseph What do you hunger for most? Whether we like it or not, we must admit that now and then we forget the road that we tread. We cannot have the joys of a new world without abandoning the comforts of the old world. Instead of going forward to- wards the Promised Land, the Jews continued to hanker after the “fleshpots of Egypt.” And after having fed the people with ordinary bread, Jesus offered them some- thing far better, “the bread of eternal life,” but they didn’t want to know about it. We ourselves are reluctant to go beyond material things, yet what God offers us is much better. The Book of Exodus (16:2-4, 12-15, 31), describes the journey of the Israelites through the desert towards the Promised Land. They had grieved dreadful- ly under the strong hand of the Egyptians, who treated them as slaves. Moses had led them out of slavery with the assurance that the Lord would provide them with the land He had promised. But they had a strenuous journey across the desert, and we see them grumbling, complain- ing about the difficulties they face in the wilderness, and they preferred to go back to Egypt. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to die in the heat of this desert; to die of hunger and thirst in this hostile land? There is no food and not a drop to drink. We did not have our freedom in Egypt, but we had our flesh pots! Why don’t we go back?” These reactions are often our own when we are faced with new challenges and unknown situations as we journey through life. We prefer to retreat, we prefer “the flesh pots of Egypt,” our past addictions and hab- its, even though they may have kept us in bondage. In- stead of surrendering to God and putting our lives in His hands, we let our desires and the past control our lives. The Gospel of John (6:24-35) reminds us that the people came back to the place where Jesus had multi- plied the loaves and the fish and fed the multitude, but Jesus was not there, and they went in search of Him. When they found Him, they said, “When did you come here? How did you get here? We were looking for you?” At face value it would look commendable that the peo- ple were searching for Jesus. But Jesus confronts their searching. “I know why you were looking for me! You were not really interested in me, you wanted bread, and you wanted to fill yourselves!” Jesus then adds, “Do not look for this food that perishes but look for the things that will really satisfy you!” Like the crowds that were searching for Jesus, there are many times when we, too, are searching for Jesus. But are we really searching for Jesus or for the things that he can give us? So often we are searching for God so that He might listen to our prayer, might heal us, might give us a good job, so that we might …. The list can go on and on. The test is whether we keep search- ing and believe when we do not get what we want from God. Are we looking merely for the blessings of God or are we satisfied with the God of all blessings? Jesus in response to the crowd reminds them that it was not Moses who fed them but His Heavenly Father. But Jesus wants to give them something even better than what Moses gave his people. He is ready to give them the bread that satisfies, not earthly bread but spiritual food. He is ready to give Himself. But they must be- lieve, they must let God into their lives. Jesus is trying to raise their minds to higher realities, but they prefer to satisfy their mundane desires. He wants God to be their food, they prefer food be their God. Jesus desires to raise them to the level of God, but they prefer to bring God down to their level. They said to Jesus: “Give us this bread to fill our stomachs, always!” But Jesus says: “I want to give you something even better, the bread that will fill your heart forever.” Instead of telling God how He should act in our lives, can we let Him be the God of our lives? We are invited to re-examine what we hunger for. Do we look for Heavenly things or mundane things of this world? That doesn’t lead us to God. Submit News, Advertising & Announcements Letters To The Editor Send Us Photos Start A New Subscription Obituaries Dona Gail Cobretti Dona Gail Cobretti, 76, of Heppner, died Saturday, July 20 th , 2024, at her home. A graveside service will be held 11 a.m., Saturday, August 3, 2024, at the Riv- erside Cemetery in Siletz, Oregon. She was born on Sep- tember 4 th , 1947, in Des Moines, Iowa, the daughter of Ron and Betty White Fitch. She also had a stepfa- ther named Richard Brown she was very close to. Dona was raised in Forest Grove, Oregon where she graduat- ed from high school. Dona was married to the love of her life, Carlito Cobretti, for 23 years. The couple lived at Oregon City for a time before moving to Heppner in 2013 where she lived until her death. She had many hobbies; baking, fishing, hunting, and oil painting which she did on metal, wood and canvas. Survivors include her husband, Carlito Cobret- ti, son’s Stacy Sherman, Thomas Sherman and An- drew Sherman, stepchil- dren, Maria Deason, Carl Schmidt, Patrick Copell, Kindra Schmidt, and Carry Schmidt and grandchildren, Justin, Nicole, Tommy, Jes- sica, Nikki, Joseph, Michael and Hannah. Dona was preceded in death by a son, Johnny Vern Sherman and a daughter, Kristina Gail Sherman, par- ents, Ron Fitch and Betty Brown, Grand parents Da- vid and Rose White (Dona had a special bond with Grandma Rose), and broth- ers, Tom Fitch, Jack Brown and Marvin Brown. Sweeney Mortuary is in care of arrangements. You may sign the online condolence book at www. sweeneymortuary.com. Mary Patricia Pierce Mary Patricia Pierce was born December 29, 1949. She was adopted by the Gene and Faye Pierce family, which, at the time, included older brother Mike. By 1953 they were joined by sister and broth- er, Martha and Greg. The family moved to Heppner in 1957 and sister Molly joined the family in 1958. Mary graduated from Heppner High School in 1968 and then attended Blue Mountain Community College, gaining her dental assistant certification. She worked as a dental assistant in Portland for several years before moving to Arizona, where she worked as a wait- ress, making many friends there. She returned to Oregon in the mid ‘80s and married Steve Anderson of Heppner in 1989. Their son John was born in 1994. The couple later divorced. Mary had lived in The Dalles for the last 20-plus years. Mary is survived by son, John Anderson (She- reya), granddaughter, Ava, of Arlington, and sisters, Molly Rhea, Heppner, and Martha McQuinn of Pend- leton, as well as several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and brothers, Mike and Greg. Mary, a homemaker, was a devoted mother and grandmother. She loved snow skiing and water ski- ing, the Pendleton Round- Up and tennis, both watch- ing and playing. ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. Lunch & Dinner Menu OTLD monthly happenings Summer Reading is in full swing! If you haven’t signed up for your FREE Page Turner’s Virtual Sum- mer Reading program - contact Annette or Melissa for the login instructions! Go to the Summer Reading tab at otld.org for more in- formation. Crafty Nights @ the Library will be on August 14 th at 6:00 pm. Register online or call 541-676-9964 to reserve your spot. This months new book list, Adult Fiction: Acts of Forgiveness: A Novel - Maura Cheeks A Sudden Country: A Novel - Kar- en Fisher Chasing End- less Summer: A Novel - V. C. Andrews Last Chance Gulch - B. N. Rundell Lights, Camera, Bones - Carolyn Haines Our Little Secret - Lisa Jackso Did you know that WorkSource Oregon offers free, year-round, virtual workshops for job seek- ers covering interview- ing, resumes, networking, and state job applications? Workshops for both Span- ish and English speakers are available. OTLD provides access to Brainfuse Job- Now, a personalized career center seamlessly integrat- ed with advanced virtual technology to help job seek- ers of diverse backgrounds and needs. Visit OTLD’s Job & Career Resources page for all the latest net- working ideas. Morrow County Sheriff Office scam alert PHONE SCAM ALERT There is a new phone scam, caller is saying they are from the Morrow Coun- ty Sheriff’s Office and that you have a warrant and need to pay them***THIS IS A TOTAL SCAM***They have even spoofed the Sher- iff’s name and the office phone number***THIS IS A SCAM*** HANG UP and call the Court or the Sheriff’s Office. We will not call you to tell you, that you have a warrant. We will not call you to collect money. If you get such a phone call, please DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY INFORMA- TION OR MONEY, hang up and call the court or the Sheriff’s Office 541-676- 5317. 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