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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 12, 2025)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 12, 2025 -- THREE ~ Letters to the Editor ~ 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 $15 Email to editor@rapidserve.net or upload to Heppner.net. Greenups great choice for St. Pat’s grand marshals To the editor: The Greenup family, what a great choice for St. Pats day. Don and Col- leen’s home only began with their six kids. They had an open-door policy. You came through the door, you were part of the family, especially when it came to elk hunting. There was always room in the pickup, meaning the back of the pickup bed. My job was to get Bill and Greg out of bed. Don would let us out of the truck and point the direction we were to head. We never got lost. We just followed the shooting (Don, Tag, Susie, Dick Meador, Butch Laughlin) of the elk we bird-dogged out. I brought my college buddy Rick Steber (western author) one time. He got lost. The Greenups hunt elk, not lost hunters. Fortunate- ly, we picked him up on the way home. One time we went to Ukiah and stopped for breakfast at the old Battle Mountain café. Being a struggling college student, I was very hungry but also very broke. Don paid for everybody that filled the restaurant. Another time, on a cold blizzard night coming out of Johnson Creek, I rolled my dad’s pride and joy, his ‘54 Ford station wagon. Billy Snyder started to get out to check how close we were to the embankment. Fortunately, he got back in before we started rolling. First roll was slow motion, but by the third roll we were pretty shook up. Rifles were damaged but I was the only one (of six, mostly Gree- nups) needing stitches. No problem. Dr. Colleen could fix ‘most everything. Oh, there are more sto- ries to tell—ice skating on the pond, paragliding on the hay field, chili feeds to die for. What a great time. What a generous and lov- ing family. Stuart Dick Irrigon, OR Grow Up Sometimes you need to just state the obvious… over and over and over again. How many times do we need to deliver the truth before the Left notices? Smarter than a fifth grader? I think not. Determined to be sheep? Yep. I’m not easily embar- rassed. Raising seven chil- dren tends to do that to you. But watching half a room full of people sit on their hands while some very deserving people were honored was over-the-top on the shameful scale. And it was embarrassing. These people are elected repre- sentatives, and the world was watching them act like two-year-olds who had their lollipops taken away. If I acted like that, my mom would have sent me to the woodshed. At least send them to bed without dinner, please. Or better yet…send them home…permanently. I would say maybe let them think about what they’ve done but I fear that ship has sailed. Common sense and decency have given way to the “Hate Trump at Any Cost” agen- da. And that cost is getting a little pricier. Now it in- cludes activities like trash- ing Tesla dealerships… because working for Trump makes you worthy of vio- lence? Come on man. Some people just need to grow up. But maybe stating the ob- vious one more time won’t hurt. So here we go…again. 1) Trump is not Hitler, and you don’t need to hate everyone he likes. 2) Disrespecting some- one isn’t good, especially if you want money from them…and apologies are usually a good thing. 3) Borrowing money means you have to pay it back. When you have no intention of paying it back, it’s called “stealing.” 4) Sometimes when you’re trying to negoti- ate (especially to save lives), you have to talk to bad guys. It doesn’t mean you’re buddies. And yes… Putin is a bad guy. 5) You shouldn’t spend money on stupid stuff when you can’t pay your bills. 6) If someone informs you that your tax dollars are being flushed down the toilet…you should be grate- ful…and the richest man in the world doesn’t need your money. 7) There’s a difference between immigrants and illegal immigrants, and se- cure borders are important. 8) Putting criminals and terrorists in jail is a good thing. 9) If you help someone commit a crime, you’re a criminal, too. 10) Men and women are different; men are usu- ally stronger, and dress- ing them up like women doesn’t change that. 11) Babies are babies, even when they’re in the womb. 12) The universe didn’t create itself. 13) Evil is real and shouldn’t be excused as “mental health.” 14) Hating Jews be- cause they’re Jews is evil. 15) If Trump really wanted to destroy America, he would become a Demo- crat. While this is only a par- tial list, I realize it’s a lot for some folks to digest, so I’ll stop here. Maybe if we all repeat the obvious enough, we’ll start seeing some positive changes, and more grownups in the room… who can figure out when to sit and when to stand. “Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment” (Proverbs 9:10). Susie Crosby Prineville, OR Spiritually Speaking Father Thankachan Joseph Listen & Be Transformed On the first Sunday of Lent, we reflected on the theme of temptations with which we are faced. On this second Sunday of Lent, we are invited to have the same desert experience as Christ went through. This Sunday’s scripture reading invites us to trans- figurations; i.e., we need to move from our present state to a spiritual state. The word “transfiguration” means a complete change of form or appearance into a more spiritual state, which the desert experience leads us to. Similarly, in the transfiguration scene on Mount Tabor, the Heavenly Father reveals the Son Jesus as His beloved. The season of Lent is an invitation to move from our old nature to a new way of living—to have that wonderful experience like the disciples. In Genesis (15:5-12, 17-18, 27), The Lord makes a covenant with Abraham. A new covenant of love and providence. This relationship with the Lord increases his trust in the Lord. Abraham was willing to give everything, and he obeyed everything God asked of him. Is it true with you and me? Are we willing to give up everything for the Lord? Abraham’s faith was firm. The season of Lent invites us to pause and to ask this question: “Please Lord, what must I do to make You happy?” The answer is simple: We must be ready to listen to God and to do what He asks us to do, as Abraham did. Our second reading is encouraging because it is full of good examples and models. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians (3:17- 4:1), offers us three models to practice this season of Lent. “Keep your eyes fixed on those who act according to the examples you have from me.” He is exhorting the community to follow his warning seriously. Some people who are destined to be doomed don’t follow their track and fall into the pit of damnation. The Gospel for this second Sunday of Lent is always one of the accounts of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Lk 9:28-36). The transfiguration scene begins with Jesus climbing the mountain with the selected apostles Peter, James and John, and He is miraculously changed: His clothes become white and His face radiant. Christ is revealed through His transfiguration as the Son of God. The only thing that God demands from us is to “Listen to him!” If we listen to Christ, we shall be successful in our journey with Him this season. On my first snow experience in Oregon, I had a pleasure trip to Penland Lake with the Wolff and Murray families. It is genuinely nice to witness all those areas in the intense winter season. The first thought that came to my mind was the scene of transfiguration, Jesus with His three apostles who had the wonderful experience on Mount Tabor. It is surely good for us to have this mountain experience; to draw close to one another and to Christ. Once we spend that time in communion with the Heav- enly Father, when we listen to Christ and experience Him there up on the mountain, it will be like that of Peter, who forgets himself and thinks of others only. Though Peter tells the Lord it is nice to be there up on the mountain, He brings them down the mountain to live a life of heavenly call, like Abraham. Once we listen to Him, the Transfiguration should give us inspiration and hope. In our daily life we encounter problems, difficulties, tribulations, and trials of various things. But in the midst of all these, we are reminded that the Lord we are following is a victorious Lord, the beloved Son of the Father. All our troubles in this world are momentary. Our final destiny is glory, victory and eternal happiness. It is like reading a novel in which the happy ending is already known. No matter how difficult the problems that the main characters encounter, we are not discouraged because we know the story will have a happy ending. We know that with Jesus, our happy ending is certain. So, Paul said, “The sufferings of the present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18). Sufferings are part of our life, especially as we closely follow the Crucified Lord. The zeal with which we have begun these Lenten observances will take us forward to achieve our final destiny of defeating temptation and to always be led by the Spirit of the Lord. The Irish who settled in Oregon, including Morrow County and the town of Heppner, crossed oceans and plains in a journey shaped by hardship and hope, starting in the 1840s and growing through the late 19 th century. Hailing from Ireland’s struggling rural counties— places like Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Clare, Tip- perary and Donegal—they arrived in waves, first as land-seekers and later as laborers, leaving a last- ing imprint on places like Heppner through their grit and toil. The story begins in Ire- land, where many of these immigrants came from a patchwork of counties hit hard by the Great Famine of 1845-1852. In the south and west, Cork and Kerry sent tenant farmers fleeing as potato crops rotted, while Gal- way and Mayo, along the rugged Atlantic coast, lost thousands to starvation and eviction. Clare, with its rocky fields, and Tipperary, a fertile inland county turned barren by blight, saw fami- lies pack up too. Up north, Donegal’s remote hills pushed its poor toward America’s shores as well. These were mostly Catholic farmers, crushed by hunger and British land- lord rules that seized their land when rent went unpaid. Over a million left Ire- land in that decade, board- ing “coffin ships”—leaky, crowded boats—to cross the Atlantic, landing in East Coast ports like New York, Boston and Philadelphia. By the 1840s, some of these Irish—or their children—looked beyond the crowded cities of the East. Hearing tales of free land in Oregon, they joined the Oregon Trail, a 2,000- mile trek from jumping-off points like Independence, Missouri, or Council Bluffs, Iowa. They traveled in cov- ered wagons pulled by oxen, enduring months of dust, river crossings, and disease alongside thousands of other pioneers. Historical records from the 1850 Oregon Donation Land Claim Act list 139 Irish immigrants claiming land in this period, often af- ter a stint in states like Ohio or Illinois to earn money for the trip. These early arrivals Get ready to see the Critters with Attitude 4-H Cloverbuds and take away a yummy treat this St. Pat- rick’s Day weekend. Critters with Attitude has grown a lot this year, and now has 22 regular 4-H members and 21 Cloverbud (five- to eight-year-old) members. If you or someone you know could use this blessing, please share or come by. Everyone is welcome! The Cloverbuds of Critters with Attitude 4-H club will be hosting a bake sale on Saturday, March 15, during the St. Patrick’s Day weekend. They will be stationed next to the Ewe- Do Bingo set up next to the Bank of Eastern Oregon. “We look forward to seeing you there!” says leader Kelsie Worden. aimed for the Willamette Valley, settling between the Long Tom and Willa- mette rivers or near Marion County’s St. Paul, where Catholic missionaries wel- comed them. They reached Oregon by rolling west in wagon trains, their belongings rattling in wooden carts, drawn by the promise of 320 acres for single men or 640 for married couples. The journey shifted by the 1870s, when a new wave of Irish reached plac- es like Morrow County and Heppner. These later immi- grants often hailed from the same famine-scarred coun- ties—Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Clare, Tipperary and Donegal—but also from urban slums in Dublin or Limerick, where poverty lingered after the famine’s peak. Instead of the Ore- gon Trail, many sailed to San Francisco first, taking steamships up the Pacific Coast to Portland after the 1860s Gold Rush opened that route. From Portland, they spread inland, some catching stagecoaches or early rail lines eastward to Morrow County. In Heppner, they found work as shepherds and cat- tle hands, drawn to the open ranges of eastern Oregon. Local histories note Irish families tending flocks in Morrow County’s hills, arriving on foot or horse- back after short hauls from Portland or The Dalles, where Columbia River boats dropped them off. Unlike the Scotch- Irish—Protestant settlers from Ulster who came ear- lier—these Catholic Irish carried their faith and re- silience. The 1840s brought the first land-seekers via the Oregon Trail, while the 1870s saw laborers from Ireland’s south, west and beyond reach Heppner’s plains, spurred by rail and sea travel as Oregon’s pop- ulation climbed to 413,000 by 1900. Some rose from hired hands to landowners, their ranches dotting Mor- row County. Today, Heppner’s quiet strength reflects those Irish who sailed from Cork’s harbors, trekked from Mis- souri’s plains, or steamed up from San Francisco—a slow march west that began in the 1840s and found a home in Oregon’s rugged heart. Lunch & Dinner Menu Cloverbud Critters plan Saturday bake sale Hopeful Saints will be distributing free food boxes from their back door on March 23rd, from 2 PM – 3 PM. No sign-up required—just stop by and receive a helping hand. 460 N Gale Street Heppner The Irish Road to Oregon: From Ireland’s fields to Heppner’s ranges 3/13 - 3/20 Thursday - Corned beef Reuben with fries Friday - Bangers and Mash Saturday - Ham & Swiss sandwich with a cup of poblano & potato soup Sunday - closed Monday - chicken tortilla soup and salad Tuesday - Grilled chicken sandwich with ham & Swiss, Potato salad on the side. Tuesday Night - 6-9pm $2 hard shell tacos Wednesday - 1/4lb Rodeo burger with macaroni salad. 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