East Oregonian : E.O., April 13, 2017, Page Page 8A, Image 8

Page 8A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Thursday, April 13, 2017
LINDSAY: Current
MONTWHEELER: State psychiatrist
concluded he was mentally fit to stand trial term expires in 2019
Continued from 1A
while fleeing from police Jan.
9. He is scheduled to plead
to the charges next week
in Malheur County Circuit
Court.
The records don’t fully
explain how a man with a
high school education could
for decades maintain a façade
of mental illness before a
series of psychiatrists and
psychologists. They do
show medical professionals
considered him potentially
dangerous and warned he
needed close supervision if
released into the community.
The Security Review
Board, however, said it
had no authority to impose
supervision or any limits on
Montwheeler when he was
freed in December.
Officials at the Security
Review Board and the Oregon
State Hospital have declined
to discuss Montwheeler,
citing patient confidentiality.
But the documents chron-
icle the struggle of medical
professionals treating Mont-
wheeler as mentally ill when
he exhibited no symptoms.
In some instances, they gave
him the wrong medications
and at the wrong dosages.
Professionals
at
the
state hospital subsequently
concluded that Montwheeler
wasn’t ill and had been
“improperly” put under
the control of the Security
Review Board, according to
the state documents.
With Montwheeler, the
public is getting a rare glimpse
into how the state handles
someone who successfully
asserts an insanity defense to
criminal charges. The Secu-
rity Review Board historically
has maintained that its files
are confidential and not open
to the public, but was ordered
by the Oregon Attorney
General Ellen Rosenblum
and Governor Kate Brown
to turn the files over to the
Malheur Enterprise.
Montwheeler ended up
in state jurisdiction after a
1996 standoff with police in
Baker City. Police reports say
Montwheeler kidnapped his
then-wife and 3-year-old son,
threatening to kill them and
himself.
After his arrest, the state
records show, a state psychi-
atrist concluded Montwheeler
was mentally fit to stand
trial. Montwheeler’s attorney
retained Salem psychiatrist
John Cochran to provide a
second opinion.
Cochran recounted how
Montwheeler was raised by
an aunt and uncle in Halfway
after his mother was murdered
by his father in 1974. He
married in Guam while in the
Marine Corps, a marriage he
said lasted just weeks. It was
a pending separation from his
second wife that led to the
Baker City standoff.
Cochran said Montwheeler
“does meet the test for being
guilty except for insanity”
and that he “does not appear
to be malingering.”
In his April 30, 1997,
evaluation, Cochran noted
Montwheeler’s statements
that he heard voices,
including that of his murdered
mother and of a friend he said
he watched die in the Marine
Corps. (Contacted recently,
Cochran said he did not recall
the case.)
Montwheeler testified last
December none of that was
true.
The recently released
records quote Montwheeler’s
statements explaining how, he
said, his attorney orchestrated
that second opinion, which
was relied on by a state judge
to put Montwheeler under the
Security Review Board.
“He said his defense
attorney had an assessment
done because ‘she said
the state hospital is safer
than going to prison.’ Mr.
Montwheeler said that the
first assessment ‘said there
is nothing wrong with me.’
Then his attorney told him not
to worry because she would
find another psychologist,”
according to an Oct. 26, 2015,
memo by a social worker.
State hospital employees
said Montwheeler told them
his attorney gave him a
medical reference book and
“coached him well on how
to act as if he had a mental
illness,” according to a
risk review dated last Oct.
25. Montwheeler said his
attorney told him he would
be out of the state hospital in
six months instead of facing
seven years in prison.
A state psychiatrist wrote
in December 1997 that Mont-
wheeler remained a danger
because he couldn’t explain
the kidnapping.
Dr. Charles Faulk said
there was a “reasonable
medical probability that the
patient may have simulated
symptoms in order to avoid
the prison system,” according
to his report.
Faulk said there were no
symptoms of mental illness,
making it “difficult, if impos-
sible, to find just what and
how to treat.”
The Security Review
Board had that report at
a January 1998 hearing
involving Montwheeler, its
records show.
Seven years later, another
psychiatrist wrote that Mont-
wheeler’s “unusual course
of illness does open the
possibility of malingering.”
That report contains no
recommendation to act on
that possibility.
By
2016,
hospital
professionals
concluded
Montwheeler wasn’t bipolar
as diagnosed. A hospital
psychologist wrote in July
15, 2016, that Montwheeler
“repeatedly” asserted that he
wasn’t mentally ill.
“This is consistent with the
opinion of multiple members
of his treatment team,” the
psychologist wrote.
A hospital risk review
team report last October
said that Montwheeler was
“misdiagnosed with bipolar
disorder and had never
received appropriate treat-
ment for bipolar disorder.”
Dr. Mukesh Mittal, a
hospital psychiatrist, sepa-
rately said in patient progress
notes dated last Nov. 8 that
Montwheeler’s bipolar diag-
nosis “has not been validated
in a clinical setting.”
Still, medical professionals
treated Montwheeler for
years, the records show. At
one time, he was prescribed
medication that, according
to hospital records, “is not
a recognized treatment for
bipolar disorder.”
———
Republished with permis-
sion from Malheur Enter-
prise.
CLUB: Cumulative giving will amount to $1M by end of the year
Continued from 1A
raised money by selling
baked goods, pizza and raffle
tickets. Club president Abby
Rinehart sent emails and
letters to organizations that
fit the mission.
Eleven proposals came
back, asking for $500 to
$5,000. The majority of the
organizations help the home-
less in some way, while the
others focus on scholarship
opportunities. This month,
as club members conducted
interviews and site visits,
their minds were blown.
“It’s
been
very
eye-opening
for
the
students,” Gregg said. “It’s
been eye-opening for me.”
The scale of homelessness
in Pendleton shocked the
students as they listened to
applicants talk about needs
of the people they serve.
“What surprised me the
most was seeing just how
many homeless people are
in our community,” said
Annalie Oertwich, the club
publicist. “Driving around,
you might see a person
standing on the corner and
think they’re the only one in
town, but there are hundreds
of them all over Pendleton.”
Many youth also expe-
rience homelessness and
hunger, they learned.
“I didn’t realize how
many students here in our
school are homeless,” said
Kale’a Broker, the club’s
vice-president.
Club president Abby
Rinehart feels that homeless-
ness needs to come out of the
shadows.
“I feel like if more people
were aware that there is such
a big homelessness problem
in our community, they’d be
more willing to help,” she
said.
As the club’s advisor,
Gregg has a history with
nonprofits, serving as exec-
utive director of the Chil-
dren’s Museum of Eastern
Oregon for several years and
currently as a Pioneer Relief
Nursery board member.
It’s interesting to be on the
funding side of the fence, she
said.
On Tuesday, Gregg and
three of the teens (Rinehart,
her sister Emily Rinehart
and Dania Larios) visited
the Pendleton Warming
Station. The facility offers
a warm place to sleep on
nights when the mercury
dips below freezing. Pastor
Chris Clemons, volunteer
coordinator of Neighbor 2
Neighbor which runs the
warming station, led the
students around the facility,
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pastor Chris Clemons talks about the needs of the
Neighbor 2 Neighbor Warming Station with members
of the Pendleton High School CommuniCare club, from
left, Abby Rinehart, Emily Rinehart, Dani Larios and
advisor Jill Gregg, an improvised collection system for
a leak in the roof at the on Tuesday in Pendleton.
showing them the sleeping
areas, kitchen, intake area,
dining room, laundry room
and storage area. The little
group listened intently,
soaking in the place and
noticing the tarps hanging
from the ceiling to collect
rainwater that seeps through
a leaky roof. The water
flowed through plastic tubing
to buckets below.
The warming station has
applied for funding from
a larger grantor that could
finance a new roof. Bunk beds
are coming soon, courtesy of
CAPECO. Those bunkbeds
need sheets, though, and the
teens will ponder whether
the club will fund the $700
needed to buy fitted and flat
sheets for the new beds.
Deciding which grant
proposals to fund won’t be
simple.
“Going into this, I thought
wow, $8,000, that’s a lot
of money,” Oertwich said.
“But then we started looking
at proposals and doing site
visits. It’ll be hard to choose
which people need it the
most.”
“Everyone needs help,”
Broker said.
The
CommuniCare
program started about 20
years ago, spearheaded
by the Harold and Arlene
Schnitzer CARE Founda-
tion’s Barbara Hall, the foun-
dation’s executive director.
Starting in Portland’s Grant
High School, the program
ramped up to 12 schools this
year. Most are in the Portland
metropolitan area, but there
are now programs in Pend-
leton and Astoria.
“The Schnitzer family has
strong connections in these
areas,” Hall said.
Hall said she originally
championed the program as
a way to “encourage young
people to give back.” She also
realized that most teens with
whom she talked had little
knowledge of nonprofits,
which she considers the third
leg of a societal stool that
also includes business and
government.
“They don’t understand
the card that nonprofits play,”
Hall said. “The third leg fills
the gaps. When the students
get this, they experience this
aha moment.”
According to Hall, cumu-
lative giving by the student
foundations will amount to
$1 million by the end of the
year.
Gregg hopes the lessons
of this foundation work will
stick with her students.
“My goal in running this
club is to expose students
to the nonprofit community
in hopes that they’ll want to
get more involved with local
organizations and be positive
contributing citizens of their
community after they grad-
uate high school and enter
adulthood.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
LENT
April 14th from 5 to 7:00 p.m.
@ the St. Anthony Hospital Blue Mountain Cafe
Cedar Wrapped Salmon - $7.50/Adults
- $7.00/Children & Seniors
with Rice Pilaf & Buttered Green Beans
Baked Potato Bar - $4.00/with toppings
All you can eat.
Continued from 1A
irrigation came along, was
nothing more than a speck of
desert along the Columbia
River.
The Port of Morrow was
established in 1959, the same
year Lindsay graduated
from the University of Port-
land and was commissioned
by the U.S. Air Force. From
there, Lindsay went on to
study at Georgetown Law in
Washington, D.C., where he
planned to go into military
intelligence.
That all changed the night
his father, Alex, suffered a
heart attack and died at the
age of 44. It was Lindsay’s
first night back home after
his first year in law school.
“That changed every-
thing,” he said.
Though Lindsay did go
on to serve a year of active
duty in the Air Force, he
ultimately decided to return
to Morrow County to run
the family ranch south
of Boardman. He was
later appointed to the port
commission and has been
elected 12 consecutive times
since then.
Lindsay can recall
the early days when port
officials fretted over paying
back $500 loans, as opposed
to luring multi-million dollar
developments. He attributes
much of their success to
hiring Neal as general
manager.
“I can assure you we have
the best port manager in the
United States,” he said.
Fellow commissioners
Jerry Healy and Marv
Padberg described Lindsay
as relatively quiet, but when
he does speak, everyone
stops to listen.
“There’s only one way
to get that kind of wisdom,
and that’s to pay your dues.
And he has paid his dues,”
Padberg said.
Don Russell, a former
port commissioner and
Single Cup $1.25
— Marv Padberg,
port commissioner
current county commis-
sioner, said the county’s total
value has doubled from $2
billion to $4 billion over the
past two years, largely due
to the port hitting its stride as
an industrial engine.
“There are a lot of jobs
in Morrow County thanks
to the port commission,”
Russell said. “That’s only
going to continue into the
future.”
Lindsay also received
letters of congratulations
from Republican state
Rep. Greg Smith and
U.S. Congressman Greg
Walden, praising his ability
to find middle ground and
common-sense solutions.
Lindsay’s son, Dan, who
also works at the family
ranch, said the success of the
port has been a huge source
of pride for his dad.
“It’s been a huge part of
his life,” he said. “I known
it’s given him a great sense
of accomplishment.”
Not everything has gone
the port’s way, Lindsay said.
Most recently, he lamented
the loss of the Coyote Island
coal export terminal, which
he said could have been
their best project to date.
However, he said the port
has always seemed to come
out ahead.
“He’s not done yet either,”
Neal added with a smile.
Lindsay’s current term
expires in 2019.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
Russia vetoes U.N. resolution to
condemn Syria chemical attack
UNITED
NATIONS
(AP) — Russia vetoed
a Western-backed U.N.
resolution Wednesday that
would have condemned
the reported use of chem-
ical weapons in a town
in northern Syria and
demanded a speedy inves-
tigation into the attack that
killed nearly 90 people.
The vote on the Security
Council resolution drafted
by Britain, France and the
United States was 10 in
favor, Russia and Bolivia
against, and China, Kazakh-
stan and Ethiopia abstaining.
Russia’s U.N. Ambas-
sador Vladimir Safronkov
told the council before
the vote that during talks
in Moscow Russia asked
for an independent inter-
national investigation to
examine the April 4 attack
on Khan Sheikhoun. He
said U.S. Secretary of State
Rex Tillerson is considering
the request.
Russia has criticized
previous
investigations
carried out by the Organi-
zation for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons and
the United Nations which
blamed the Syrian govern-
ment for at least three
chemical weapons attacks.
Safronkov has repeatedly
called for an independent
investigation with experts
drawn from a much broader
group of countries.
H AMLEY S TEAK H OUSE
Sunday A PRIL 16 10am 2pm
-
Featuring
SLOW ROASTED PRIME RIB CARVING STATION
HONEY MAPLE HAM
ROASTED RED POTATOES
FRESH GREEN BEANS WITH BACON & BUTTER
CHICKEN BUNKHOUSE PENNE PASTA
WHISKEY MEATBALLS
FESTIVE SCRAMBLED EGGS
APPLEWOOD SMOKED BACON AND SAUSAGE
HAMLEY BISCUITS AND SAUSAGE GRAVY
CHEESE BLINTZES WITH BERRY SAUCE
SEASONAL FRESH FRUIT SALAD
HAMLEY CAESAR SALAD
HAMLEY CRANBERRY SPINACH SALAD
HOT ROLLS & BUTTER
ASSORTED DESSERTS
o
Salmon/Potato Bar Combo - $11.50
Clam Chowder Bread Bowl - $4.25
“There’s only one
way to get that
kind of wisdom,
and that’s to pay
your dues. And he
has paid his dues.”
$
ALL YOU CAN EAT
$
1 6
26
o
per
person
kids
5-12
CALL TODAY FOR RESERVATIONS
2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR 97801
541.278.1100 OPTION 2
COURT & MAIN, PENDLETON