Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 12, 2025 -- THREE
~ Letters to the Editor ~
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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.
Call us for all your plumbing, heating and water
system needs. Serving all of Morrow County
Farm Water System! Submersible Pumps!
Drain Cleaning!
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