Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 19, 2025 -- THREE
Spiritually Speaking
Father Thankachan Joseph
FORGIVING AND FORGETTING
The first reading and the Gospel this week call us to
treat others (even enemies) “as you would like them to
treat you.” We know exactly how we like others to treat
us: to be forgiving, merciful, generous, and loving. But
how many of us could say that we treat others in that
way?
The First Book of Samuel (26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23)
shows how jealousy, envy, and hatred destroy every hu-
man. It describes Saul, who is jealous of the young Da-
vid and pursues him, seeking to kill him. But the just
Lord delivers Saul into the hands of David and his com-
panions. David gets an opportunity to kill Saul, but he
will not do so because he believes it would not be right
before God.
I was reminded of an old story taught in catechism
classes: A primary class teacher told each child to bring
a plastic bag containing potatoes. Each potato was to be
given the name of a person the child hated. When the
day came, every child brought some potatoes - some
had two potatoes; some three, while some had up to five
potatoes. The teacher then told the children to carry the
potatoes with them wherever they went (even to the re-
strooms) for one week. Days passed, and the children
started to complain of the unpleasant smell of the rot-
ten potatoes. And those having five potatoes also had to
carry heavier bags. After one week, the children were
relieved because the game finally ended.
The teacher asked, “How did you feel while carrying
the potatoes with you for one week?” The children aired
their frustrations and complained of the trouble they had
to go through carrying the heavy and smelly potatoes
wherever they went. The teacher said, “This is exactly
the situation when you carry your hatred for somebody
inside your heart. The stench of hatred will contaminate
your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you
go. If you cannot tolerate the smell of rotten potatoes for
just one week, can you imagine what it is like to have the
stench of hatred in your heart for your lifetime? This sto-
ry teaches us to learn to forgive and forget.” The theme
of forgiveness leads us to the following life lessons:
ACKNOWLEDGE OUR PAIN: The first step in
forgiving is to acknowledge our pain to God. I am sure
David would have cried out to God and told Him of his
pain and hurt. David would have felt as did the psalmist:
“My eyes are tired from crying so much; I am complete-
ly worn out. I am exhausted by sorrow, and weeping has
shortened my life, I am weak from all my troubles; even
my bones are wasting away” (Ps. 31:9-10). As we place
our wounds before the Great Physician, He will begin to
administer healing to us, as David did with Saul.
PRAY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE HURT US: David
teaches the Christian quality of forgiveness, and the
Gospel (Luke 6:27-38) offers these words of Jesus:
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you.” Jesus knew that the only way for us to overcome
hurt is to pray for those who have hurt us. We can ask
God to help us and to soften their hearts so that they can
receive His peace and love. It is not easy to pray for the
people who persecute us. When I began praying for my
offenders, I felt insincere, but as I continued to pray for
them, I began to desire that God bless their lives.
FORGIVING DOESN’T GUARANTEE A PER-
FECT RELATIONSHIP: We cannot make our offenders
love us. That is not our job. We are called to love others.
LOVE OUR OFFENDERS: How can we possibly
love someone who has so badly hurt us? Well, the Lord
still loves and cares for us despite our imperfections and
drawbacks. As we continue to pray for our offenders,
love may grow. The Lord enables us to love those who
have done us harm. In 1Cor.13, love is described as nev-
er keeping a record of wrong doings.
WE REALLY CAN FORGIVE: It may sound im-
possible to forgive the one who has hurt us, but it is pos-
sible. All we have to do is begin. God doesn’t ask us to
do the impossible. As we begin to follow His way, He is
there to help us.
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From the Archives
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Email to editor@rapidserve.net or upload to Heppner.net.
February 11, 1982 Gazette-Times
SWAMP MONSTERS
Seems to me that the
vile response to Elon Musk
and the revelation of the
criminal spending of our
tax dollars speaks loudly
of the evil that has been
our government. But why
would this audit elicit such
a response from the whole
Democratic Party? Now I
understand how people can
support some of the fund-
ing. I mean, who wouldn’t
wanna spend $47,000 on a
Transgender opera in Peru,
2 million for sex changes
in Guatemala, or even hun-
dreds of millions to support
farming in Afghanistan….
for heroin production to
benefit the Taliban? Sounds
legit.
I can even understand
why they would want their
tax dollars to support their
Liberal press mouthpieces.
Can’t have too much good
press. But how can the
everyday Woke Joe be ok
with his paycheck going to
the Wuhan lab, meals for
al Qaeda fighters in Syria,
or even Chelsea Clinton’s
wedding? Will they just
jump on any bandwagon
that has a Woke Flag? Why?
Are they that insecure?
Are the thieving Swamp
Monsters invisible? May-
be they’ve reached a point
where they’ve traded evil
for good so long that they
can’t recognize the truth,
even when it’s right before
their eyes.
I get that criminals are
trying to keep doing what
they do and don’t want to
be caught. They’ve gotten
pretty used to their unabat-
ed freedom to steal. Their
underhanded activities have
gone unchecked for a long
time. Enter Trump and his
house-cleaning crew. Get
out the sump pump. The
swamp is just about to get
a little less swampy. And
hopefully, the Swamp Mon-
sters will be no more.
This whole tax dollars
down the toilet thing makes
me think. What if we han-
dled our finances like our
government? Husband:
“Hey Debbie, there’s a guy
outside that says he’s here
to repo my truck. And I
just looked at our check-
ing and we’re $10,000 in
the hole. Have you been
depositing my paychecks?
Hey…where did all this
new furniture come from?
And I thought we agreed
we couldn’t afford a trip to
Hawaii this year. What are
these tickets?”
Wife: “Don’t raise your
voice to me! Why were you
getting into the checking
account? I told you to let
me handle the finances.
And hey…. what I do with
your money is my business.
I knew you didn’t trust me!
Now out of my way…. I’m
going to get my nails done”.
Or it could be the other
way around (not to offend
any particular sex). “Hey
Steve, I have no money for
groceries, and you come
home with a new Harley?
Seriously?”
I’ve often thought it
would be great to have a
farmer’s wife on the Budget
Committee. She can sure
stretch a budget and I’m
pretty sure there would be
no condoms heading to
Africa if she had any say.
Balanced budget, here we
come. Elon would be proud.
I hope they keep on
digging until every foolish-
ly spent dollar is exposed.
And I believe it would be a
better world if thieves were
behind bars, and everyone
could see the difference
between good and evil.
“Look, the wages you
withheld from the workmen
who mowed your fields are
crying out against you. The
cries of the harvesters have
reached the ears of the Lord
of Hosts.” James 5:4
By Susie Crosby
Prineville, OR
Dorian Forrar leaps high against Sherman, while
Jeff Orr (20) looks on.
Bouncing back from a Friday night defeat at the
hands of Pilot Rock, the Heppner Mustangs downed
Sherman Saturday, 71-61.
“I thought we played an exceptional game,” Coach
Dale Holland said, especially since the Mustangs’ stand-
out center, 6’5” Robert Bier, was out with a knee injury
sustained in the Pilot Rock game.
Holland said he played only six people in the game,
alternating Mike Currin and Jeff Orr at center. “They
both did a good job,” he said.
But the real story of the game was the Mustangs’
guards’ ability to control the game. “(Doug) Holland
and (Don) dominated the game,” said Holland. Doug
Holland scored a season-high 21 points in the Sherman
contest.
“We beat them on the boards against a bigger ball
club. And we played a much better ball game all around,”
Holland said.
Seniors Matter February Menu
Feb 4 - Pork and Hashbrown Casserole
Buttered Carrots
Dessert
Feb 11 - Mini Pizzas
Garden Salads
Dessert
Feb 12 - Vets Meal
Chicken Pot Pie, Peach Cobbler
Feb 18 - Beef Stroganoff over
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Dessert
Feb 25 - Tacos on a Plate
Dessert
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Morrow County officials discuss AI use
-Continued from PAGE ONE
of other government enti-
ties that do. Commissioner
Jeff Wenholz didn’t seem
opposed but said he would
like to know if AI met legal
standards.
Morrow County Coun-
sel Justin Nelson said AI is
being used quite a bit.
“It depends on the AI,”
he added.
Nelson, who is also
Morrow County District
Attorney, said the grand
jury uses Google Recorder,
which creates a transcript.
“It does its best and it
tries to differentiate peo-
ple,” he said. “The AI, I
imagine, goes beyond that.
“It’d be interesting to
see how it does it,” he add-
ed.
Nelson also said he did
not see why it would be a
legal issue since BOC meet-
ing minutes would also be
backed up with audio and
video recordings.
Sykes said if the other
commissioners agreed, he
would like to look into it
more. Morrow County Fi-
nance Director Kevin Ince
told the commissioners he
has been working with the
county’s IT (information
technology) department
on testing out some of the
AI functionality that’s out
there.
Specifically, he said,
they had been looking at
meeting transcription, both
in Teams and with Zoom
meetings. They were also
looking at the Microsoft AI
app Co-Pilot, which is inte-
grated with the Microsoft
365 suite of applications.
“There’s a lot of ques-
tions about appropriate
use of AI in business,”
Ince said, adding that they
don’t have a formal testing
program right now. “We’re
just exploring it right now
to identify if there’s any
technology concerns or
security concerns, anything
like that.”
Ince said there needs to
be a “broader discussion”
regarding licensing and
government entities. How-
ever, he said the meeting
transcription services he
has been using have worked
well.
“It’s not something that
you want to just publish the
transcription,” Ince added.
“You want to make sure that
it summarizes things with
the appropriate intent.”
There are a variety of
AI programs, including pro-
grams designed specifically
to take meeting minutes.
Morrow County Broadband
Consortium apparently uses
Read Assistant, an AI pow-
ered meeting assistant.
Sykes brought up the
topic as part of a larger
discussion centering around
meeting minutes.
Wenholz had brought
up the issue of mistakes in
the minutes, especially in
meetings such as a recent,
somewhat contentious,
land use hearing. He asked
whether those minutes are
ever passed through legal
counsel to see whether they
are detailed enough.
“Because I know that
the minutes become part of
the record,” he said.
Nelson said he didn’t
believe they did go through
such screening. He also said
the audio recording will
often be used as the meet-
ing record, but the written
minutes are still important.
“The minutes are an
important part,” Nelson
said. “I can see the value
of that (screening) and it
makes sense to me.”
Wenholz said his only
concern was that the record
adequately reflects what
happens at meetings.
“I just wanted to make
sure that Daniel Kearns
was happy with what was
reflected and reported in
the minutes,” Wenholz said
of the county’s land-use at-
torney, “if he wanted more
detail or not.”
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