SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Spiritually Speaking
Father Thankachan Joseph
Has No One Condemned You?
On the fourth Sunday of Lent, we read and reflected
on the parable of the Prodigal Son, wherein we experience
the mercy and unconditional love of the Heavenly Father.
Which of the two sons can we compare to Saul, who later
became the Apostle Paul?
Many of us will quickly answer, “the younger son.”
Paul lived a rebellious life and then experienced a total
conversion to the ways of God, right? Wrong.
Paul never lived a wayward life. Right from his youth,
he lived a strict religious life. He was like the elder son,
who was always law-abiding and intent on doing his
father’s will.
In this fifth Sunday of Lent we have the story of the
woman caught in adultery, who encounters Christ and
experiences his unconditional forgiveness and mercy, and
turns into a new person.
We read in the Gospel of John (8: 1-11) the immortal
words of Christ to the woman caught in adultery: “Has
no one condemned you? Neither will I condemn you. Go
in peace and sin no more.”
Therefore, we can see that we have no need to be
afraid to let Christ see our sins. We have nothing to obtain
from Christ except forgiveness. Let us pause to call to
mind our sins, especially the harsh and unfair judgements
we sometimes pass on others, like the crowd did in this
parable of the woman caught in adultery.
We have an innate stone-throwers tendency. We can-
not tolerate the sinner. Sin stinks when it is committed by
others, and we want to clean it up.
But not so when it is committed by ourselves. We need
to look at our own house before we start throwing mud
at others. It is impossible to throw mud without some of
it sticking to your hand. This means that the very act of
condemning others involves a sin on our part.
The first letter of John says, “If we say we are without
sin, we deceive ourselves.” If Jesus, the One without sin
(Jn 8:7), can forgive sinners, how much more should we
sinners forgive each other?
When the accusers had left, Jesus turned to the
woman and asked, “Is it true what these men said?” She
nodded her head. “That means you were in sin then,” He
continued.
Once again, she nodded her head. “To be in sin is
to be in darkness. You were not made for darkness but
for light,” Jesus said and then paused for some time and
asked, “Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, Sir,” she replied.
“Well then, neither will I condemn you. Go in peace,
walk in the light, and do not enslave yourself again.”
A faint smile appeared on her tear-stained face. She
was dismissed with infinite gentleness and the most del-
icate of reproofs. How differently it might have ended
but for the compassion of Jesus. The empathy of Christ
really made her turn over a new leaf. She left her sinful
ways and became an ardent follower of Christ.
In the same way, He is waiting for all of us to return
to Him with a repentant heart. Surely, He will encircle us
with His love and affection, and knows that we all need
His forgiveness. He will be there to rescue us from our
stone throwers, and the same words will be repeated to us:
“….well then, neither will I condemn you. Go in peace.”
The comforting words of Christ. According to the
Law of Moses, Lev 20:10, an adulterer should be stoned
to death. They used this occasion to trap Jesus.... If Jesus
allowed her to be stoned to death, He could not be called
the merciful teacher. If He forgave her, He would be
accused of infringing on the Law.
The story is told of a young French soldier who
deserted Napoleon’s army but whom, within a matter
of hours, was caught by his own troops. The penalty for
desertion was death.
The young soldier’s mother heard what had happened
and went to plead with Napoleon to spare her son’s life.
Napoleon heard her plea but pointed out that because of
the serious nature of the crime, her son clearly did not
deserve mercy.
“I know he doesn’t deserve mercy,” the mother an-
swered. “It wouldn’t be mercy if he deserved it.”
That is the point of mercy; nobody deserves it. Ev-
eryone deserves true justice. Mercy, on the other hand, is
a sheer gift. In the story, Jesus is asking us all to be like
Him, to be compassionate and empathetic towards our
fallen brothers and sisters.
Morrow County Public Transit
-Continued from PAGE ONE ing in the Port of Morrow
ity and access. These routes
link Boardman, Lexing-
ton, Heppner, Hermiston,
Umatilla and Irrigon, run-
ning opposite directions to
ensure convenient travel
options throughout the day.
All three routes offer
deviations up to three-quar-
ters of a mile from their
regular path to assist riders
facing barriers in reaching
a designated stop.
In addition to expanded
community service, stu-
dents are now able to ride
MCPT buses to secondary
schools in both Irrigon and
Boardman, further enhanc-
ing access to education for
local youth.
To further improve ac-
cessibility, first/last-mile
accommodations can be
pre-arranged by calling
MCPT at 541-676-5667 be-
tween 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
This service is also avail-
able for individuals work-
industrial area, providing
transportation directly to
work sites.
In addition to the fixed
routes, Keely says MCPT
will continue to operate a
van service that prioritiz-
es medical transportation
within Morrow County
and Hermiston, and for ap-
proved veterans’ services.
This service operates
on a first-come, first-served
basis, with medical trips
receiving priority. Veter-
ans requiring treatment at
facilities in Walla Walla,
Pendleton or the Tri-Cities
will also be eligible for
van service, provided the
appointments are approved
through Veterans Services.
Full route maps and
schedules are available on-
line at https://www.co.mor-
row.or.us/theloop. For more
information, contact MCPT
at 541-676-5667.
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
MONDAY 5:00 P.M.
Mosquito control more than spraying for
vector control district
While Morrow County mosquito populations are under con-
trol, high water levels on the Columbia have been sending
buzzing invaders across the river. -Contributed photo
By Andrea Di Salvo
Controlling mosquitoes
is about far more than bug
spray, North Morrow Coun-
ty Vector Control District
(NMCVCD) Manager told
the Morrow County Board
of Commissioners March
19.
Barron reported a rela-
tively mild mosquito season
in 2024. He said the mos-
quito season was “fairly
routine,” except for low-
er-than-usual cases of West
Nile Virus.
“Maybe that was be-
cause we didn’t have a lot
of moisture, we didn’t have
a lot of standing water,” he
said.
“We really didn’t have
too much of a winter in
2023, so it didn’t have a real
impact on the mosquitoes as
far as any natural control.”
The season was marked
by low temperatures, with
only 12 days over 100° F,
minimal rain and no signif-
icant wind, which helped
prevent a major West Nile
outbreak.
NMCVCD identified
three West Nile positive
mosquito pools during
the 2024 season. Morrow
County reported no human,
horse or bird cases of WNV.
Barron said one of the
main areas of concern is al-
ways the Umatilla National
Wildlife Refuge between
Boardman and Irrigon. All
three positive pools were on
the wildlife refuge.
NMCVCD was al-
lowed to go on the refuge
and spray for adult mosqui-
toes. Barron said that was
a huge step, since wildlife
refuges usually only allow
larvicide.
“Its just a really big
deal for me to make sure we
keep that line of commu-
nication, that relationship
open,” he added.
In Oregon there were
15 positive mosquito pools
and no positive cases in
humans, horses, or birds
across Malheur, Baker,
Jackson, Morrow, and
Umatilla counties.
While Barron said the
district has disease-spread-
ing mosquitoes in check,
other biting mosquitoes
can come from the Wash-
ington side of the river,
where there is no mosquito
control.
Last year, Corps of En-
gineers work caused the
Columbia River water lev-
els to rise in both May and
September, which caused
an influx of mosquitoes
from Washington’s Pater-
son Slough and Whitcomb
Island, especially affecting
the Boardman area.
“These were Aedes
mosquitoes, real biters,”
said Barron.
He said people notice
biting mosquitoes even
though they’re not neces-
sarily disease carriers.
“But mosquitoes in
sheer numbers are a hu-
man health threat,” Barron
added. “There’s no doubt
about it.”
The fall mosquito infes-
tation from Paterson Slough
and Whitcomb Island led to
attempts to use aerial spray-
ing in the fall, but Hurricane
Helene pulled the district’s
aerial contractor, VDCI, to
the east coast.
“And they were gone,
and we were on our own,”
he said. “We’re talking
hundreds of thousands of
mosquitoes. They’re all
hungry.”
The district had to re-
sort to ground fogging for
two weeks to manage the
population.
“It’s not our preferred
method of controlling mos-
quitoes, but we have that
available to us,” said Bar-
ron.
The vector control
district has three trucks
outfitted with foggers but
will soon add a fourth, so
there will be two fogging
trucks each in Boardman
and Irrigon.
Morrow County Com-
missioner Gus Peterson
asked if there was any way
to approach Washington’s
Benton County and encour-
age them to conduct more
mosquito control.
“Based on your report
and what you’re saying,
you’re doing everything
right and then it almost
doesn’t seem to matter be-
cause it’s just coming over
anyways,” said Peterson.
Barron agreed and told
the commissioners that the
vector control district had
taken county health de-
partment workers to Wash-
ington to lay out a case for
better control.
“Basically, we were
told by the commissioners
over in Benton County that
the folks that live in and
around on the Washing-
ton side have to want the
mosquito control,” Barron
said. “Well, there’s not very
many people who live over
there.”
He did say that he
had been communicat-
ing with U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Dept., which said
they might allow Morrow
County to cross the river
and spray. Barron warned
there would probably be no
federal funding but said it
might be worth the money
anyway.
“If we could do one ap-
plication over there, like in
the fall, or one application
over there in the spring,
we possibly could control
that situation a lot better,”
Barron said. “Because right
now there’s no control.”
“We’re protecting our
citizens by going over there
and doing that work,” he
added.
He said he currently
has mosquito management
plans with both U.S. and
Oregon departments of fish
and wildlife, but he may
need to send one to the
Army Corp of Engineers.
“I don’t want to kick
the sleeping dog,” he said,
“but we need to make them
aware of the situation for
us.”
“In the meantime,
we’re going to continue to
do our work,” he added.
As far as identifying the
threat, Barron said the vec-
tor control district routinely
traps mosquitoes from both
the Boardman and Irrigon
areas. Seasonal lab techs
then go to work identifying
them.
“(They) will take those
mosquitoes and they will ID
them down to species, and
they will count every single
mosquito in those traps,
and then they will package
those mosquitoes in pools
of 10-50 and they will send
those to Oregon State Veter-
inarian Diagnostic Lab for
PCR testing,” Barron said.
A PCR (polymerase
chain reaction) test is a
lab technique that creates
more copies of DNA. It is
commonly used to test for
infectious diseases.
Barron said turnaround
for testing from the state lab
is usually three days.
The vector control dis-
trict uses information on
density and species to de-
termine where to conduct
night-time fogging in the
area.
“If we’re getting a high
density of mosquitoes, that
already triggers me to say,
‘We’re sending trucks
out,’” he said, adding that
they have specific threshold
levels. “If we capture 10 of
those mosquitoes in town,
we’re fogging.”
That threshold isn’t as
low outside of the cities, but
Barron said it’s a different
story when it comes to dis-
ease control, when control
becomes more aggressive.
The vector control dis-
trict also has plans to im-
plement drones in spraying.
On the horizon, though
not yet a huge concern, is an
emerging new disaease—
Oropouche. Outbreaks of
the virus have been reported
since late 2023-2024 in
several countries in South
America and the Caribbe-
an. The disease is usually
spread by infected biting
midges, but some mosqui-
toes can also carry the virus.
Travel-related cases
have been reported in U.S.
residents, but so far no local
transmission has been de-
tected in the United States.
Barron said it is a con-
cern because it is an emerg-
ing virus in the Americas,
spreading outside the Ama-
zon Basin into areas where
it hasn’t been previously.
It’s also potentially deadly,
as well as associated with
miscarriages and birth de-
fects.
Also at the March 19
meeting, the Morrow Coun-
ty commissioners approved
the appointment of two
members, Jake Case and
Smokey Joe Wightman, to
the North Morrow Coun-
ty Vector Control District
Board of Trustees.
The North Morrow
Vector Control District
Board of Trustees has an
unexpected opening with
the recent passing of Lenn
Greer, who held position 5.
“He was a good board
member. He always made
my guys think,” said Bar-
ron.
Jake Case of Irrigon
has been recommended to
serve the remainder of the
term, which expires July
12, 2025.
Position 2 expires
May 31, 2025. Smokey
Joe Wightman of Boardman
currently serves in position
2 and would like to serve
another four years on the
board. He has been on the
board since 2001.
The Gazette Puzzle Pop
Sharpen your mind with our Gazette Puzzle Pop!
Weekly math, word, and local trivia from our five
towns—no internet or phones allowed. Answers in
next week’s edition—grab a pencil and show off!
Math Challenge: Operation
Station Showdown!
All aboard, Gazette math fans!
Equations:
An easy ride to get your engine running!
1.
4 + 3 x (5 - 2)
A hard climb for your mental coal car!
2.
14 - 6 ÷ 2 + 5 x (7 - 4)
A really tough tunnel—can you make it through?
3.
20 ÷ 4 + 9 x (12 - 3 x 2) - 15 ÷ 3
Wordplay Whiz
The Riddle:
I’m a sly, three-letter word that means a small
number—just a smidge, really. But here’s the twist:
tack on two more letters, and I morph into a five-letter
word that means a number even smaller than before.
What word am I?
Hint:
The word shrinks in meaning as it stretches in size!
Morrow County Trivia
Challenge
The Question:
Lexington’s Political Star: What Lexington local
climbed the Oregon political ladder to become
Speaker of the House in 1929?
Lunch
& Dinner
Menu
4/3 - 4/9
Thursday - Grilled Turkey and avocado
sandwich with jojos
Friday - Tuna Melt with macaroni salad
Saturday - Flatbread breakfast sandwich
with hashbrown patties
Sunday - closed
Monday - Reuben with potato salad
Tuesday - Italian Sausage pasta with salad
Tuesday Night - 6-9pm $2 hard shell tacos
Wednesday - Buffalo chicken slider with
side of apple sauce