Page 10A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Saturday, January 6, 2018
MARIER: Sitz plans to retire soon himself
Continued from 1A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Chef Diwash Neupane checks on some tandoori chicken cooking in a traditional
Indian tandoor oven Friday at Indian Kitchen and Steakhouse in Hermiston.
BUFFET: Will do some painting
and minor changes to the restaurant
Continued from 1A
been asking. People wanted
healthy food in town,” he
said. Bhatia and his wife also
own the Eastside Market in
Hermiston and the Irrigon
Mini-Mart.
Bhatia said he and his
family first discussed the
idea about three months ago,
and moved quickly when
an opportunity arose to buy
Stockman’s.
He admitted that Indian
food and a steakhouse are an
uncommon mix, but said it
came down to an opportunity.
“It was a space in town
we could get into, and it was
a good location,” he said. “I
know it’s a different type of
combination, but hopefully it
will work out.”
Though there will still
be steaks and traditional
American fare available,
Bhatia said there will be a
heavy focus on introducing
customers to different types
of Indian food — both vege-
tarian and non-vegetarian.
He said so far, the recep-
tion has been positive on
social media and in person.
“People wanted to try
new stuff,” he said, referring
to the recent growth of food
options in Hermiston. “They
wanted to try Chinese, Thai,
Japanese — and Indian, too.”
He said so far, the most
popular dishes have been
chicken
tikka
masala,
Tandoori chicken, lamb
curry, and spinach pakora —
spinach dipped in batter and
deep-fried.
Customers at lunch on
Friday were eager to try the
food — some for the first
time.
“Growing up here, all we
had was Chinese, pizza and
Mexican food,” said Dan
Schulz, who visited the lunch
buffet with his friends. “This
is a great addition.”
Schulz had never tried
Indian food prior to Friday,
but loaded up his plate
anyway with things he
thought looked good. Later,
he was spotted going back
for seconds.
Hermiston residents Mo
Aguilar and Otey Muniz
said it had been more than
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The new Indian Kitchen and Steakhouse is a family affair
run by Gaurav Bhatia, wife Rosy Sidhu, father Suresh
Bhatia and cousin Raman Singh Malhi in Hermiston.
college student, he studied
chemical engineering at
Manhattan College, then
got accepted to medical
school at New York Univer-
sity where tuition cost him
$2,400 annually.
He dove into his chosen
profession with gusto and
good humor. Sitz describes
Marier as his highly intel-
ligent and hyperkinetic
partner.
“There was never a dull
moment,” Sitz said. “I’ll
miss having Dan to bounce
ideas off of.”
Marier
saw
plenty
of change during his
Pendleton career. In early
years, access to specialists
such as cardiologists was
limited unless one drove to
Portland, so local physicians
performed treadmill tests,
echocardiograms and other
noninvasive tests. Hospi-
talists didn’t exist yet, so
doctors admitted patients to
the hospital and did rounds.
“We’d
follow
our
patients,” he said. “We’d go
see patients in the morning
before office hours and after
office hours and sometimes
at noon.”
Marier found certain
developments frustrating.
One was a federal push in the
last decade for doctors to use
electronic medical records
to track their patients. He
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
a decade since they’d eaten
Indian food, but they were
excited to have the option in
Hermiston.
“As of lately, I’ve seen
more variety,” Muniz said.
“Especially with this place
and the Hibachi place — I
think people want more.”
The restaurant’s chef is
from Oklahoma, but many
of the servers and chefs
cooking American food are
staff from the original Stock-
man’s restaurant. The owners
of the former restaurant,
Chuck and Karen Fontaine,
were also there, helping out
and spending time at the
restaurant.
Bhatia and his family live
in the Tri-Cities, and moved
to the area about two years
ago from Bellingham, Wash-
ington.
He said they get supplies
from a restaurant depot in
Portland, an Indian store in
Auburn, Washington, and
from Cash and Carry.
Bhatia said they will do
some painting and minor
changes, but their focus will
be on the food. Sidhu was
busy restocking clean glasses
and plates, and taking fresh
naan to people as they ate.
She said the buffet, which
is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., will
feature different dishes every
day.
The buffet will include
dishes from north and south
India, she said. They will
also add Indian dishes to the
menu.
“Business has been pretty
steady,” she said. “We’re
glad people are liking it.”
The restaurant is open
from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on
weekdays, and until 10 p.m.
on weekends. The buffet
starts at 11 a.m.
single payer system and tort
reform to heal our hobbled
health care system. Health
care, he mused, is unlike
any other commodity.
“Market forces don’t
apply to medicine the way
they do to the auto industry,”
Marier said. “When you
walk into a dealership and
you don’t like the deal, you
walk out. When you walk
into an ER, you don’t get to
say, ‘Well, I’ll think about it
overnight.’”
Marier worries about
the nation’s worsening
shortage of primary care
physicians. His partner,
already stretched, can’t take
on Marier’s patients. It gets
worse. Sitz plans to retire
soon himself.
“I’m going to retire at
the end of June,” Sitz said.
“There’s going to be a lot
of people trying to find
doctors.”
Marier doesn’t miss the
irony of he and Sitz having
to doctor shop.
“Norm and I wonder
who’s going to take care of
us,” Marier said.
Marier’s list of retire-
ment goals includes playing
more guitar, singing with
the Pendleton Men’s Chorus
and traveling with his wife,
Connie.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or 941-966-0810.
BOUNDS: Letters of support were sent to
Merkley and Wyden from 15 Oregon senators
Continued from 1A
Rosy Sidhu, right, offers customers fresh baked nan,
Indian flatbread, on Friday at the Indian Kitchen and
Steakhouse in Hermiston.
found the software clunky,
complex, time-consuming
and distracting. In the exam
room, Marier found himself
gazing at the computer
screen typing information
into a database and missing
non-verbal clues from his
patients. Finally, both he and
Sitz opted to hire scribes so
they could concentrate on
patients. Eventually, Marier
said, “I reverted back to
what I was doing 30 years
ago. I had a pen, a pad and
a dictaphone.”
Another
frustration,
he said, was doctors’
decreasing clout with insur-
ance companies. In order
to have negotiating power,
physicians are selling their
practices to health care
companies. Marier and Sitz
did that three years ago
when they sold to the Praxis
Medical Group.
He also commented on
the rising cost of medication
such as the price of an
EpiPen for allergic attacks,
which surged 535 percent
from 2007 to 2014. Marier
finds this type of spike ethi-
cally troublesome.
“The cost of meds has
gone through the ceiling —
it’s insane,” Marier said. “I
think it’s immoral.”
America doesn’t seem
destined to return to the days
of Marcus Welby anytime
soon,
though.
Marier
believes the country needs a
Democrats, because they
said Bounds had not gone
through
a
bi-partisan
review process. Senators
have the ability to withhold
“blue slips,” a Senate rule
that essentially allows the
minority party veto power
over judicial nominees.
If his nomination is
approved this time around,
Bounds would require
a confirmation hearing
from the Senate Judiciary
Committee before joining
the Circuit Court.
Merkley and Wyden
didn’t dispute Bounds’
credentials, however, and
he has support from Rep.
Greg Walden and attorney
associations down to local
mayors.
Walden, a Republican,
wrote in September that
Bounds would represent a
conservative, rurally-rooted
voice on the court which
holds great power on
federal decisions in the
Second
Congressional
district.
Letters of support were
sent to Merkley and Wyden
from 15 Oregon senators
including Bill Hansell, the
Oregon Criminal Defense
Bar, the Oregon Wheat
Growers League and both
Hermiston Mayor Dave
Drotzmann and Pendleton
Mayor John Turner.
Bounds has been a
federal prosecutor for the
District of Columbia, an
assistant to the President
on domestic policy and a
deputy assistant attorney
general in the U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice’s Office of
Legal Policy.
Earlier in his career
Bounds was a law clerk
for O’Scannlain, one of the
most conservative judges
on the 29-member Ninth
Circuit court. Bounds has
a B.A. in psychology and
political science from Stan-
ford University and a J.D.
from Yale Law School.
Oregon has traditionally
had two seats on the circuit
court, which is directly
beneath the U.S. Supreme
Court. It guides federal law
in nine Western states.
Walden secretly settled disabled vet’s complaint
PORTLAND (AP) —
Records show Oregon
Congressman
Greg
Walden paid $7,000 in a
secret settlement with a
staff member to resolve
the man’s complaints that
Walden unfairly cut his
hours because of health-re-
lated problems.
The Oregonian/Oregon-
Live reported Thursday
that Walden of Hood River
settled with Cody Standi-
ford in 2013.
Standiford
provided
the newspaper with the
settlement and complaint
documents.
Walden said in a state-
ment to KTVZ he has never
discriminated against an
employee, and the case was
settled to avoid expensive
litigation.
Standiford
started
working for Walden in
2010 after being discharged
from the Army because of
an improvised explosive
device in Iraq.
Standiford’s complaint
says he worked as a veteran
outreach coordinator but a
promotion was rescinded
after he missed two weeks
of work for chest pains.
He said Thursday that
he broke the settlement’s
nondisclosure agreement
not to disparage Walden
but to shed light on the fact
that members of Congress
spend taxpayer funds on
settlements.
Oregon Attorney General Settlement Notice
The Attorney General’s Settlement Could Benefit You!
Did You Buy a TV, Monitor, or Laptop Computer That Contained an
LCD Flat Panel Screen, During the Years 2002 to 2006?
Or Did You Buy a TV or Computer Monitor That Contained a Cathode
Ray Tube (“CRT”), During the Years 1995 through 2007?
You May be Entitled to Compensation.
Please read this notice carefully as your legal rights are affected whether you act or do not act.
PARA UNA NOTIFICACIÓN EN ESPAÑOL, LLAMAR O VISITAR NUESTRO WEBSITE.
Center For Medicare and Medicaid Services
5 Star Facility Rating
We Are Your 5-Star Hospital
Based on Quality Measures for Care.
• Safety, Timeliness & Effectiveness of Care
• Patient Experience, & More!
Go on-line: Medicare.gov/hospitalcompare
See the results for yourself!
We are very proud of the Service,
Commitment and Quality of Care
we are able to offer.
Virtual Care
2801 St Anthony Way
Pendleton, OR. 97801
www.sahpendleton.org
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has resolved two lawsuits she brought
on behalf of Oregon natural persons against certain manufacturers of liquid crystal
display (“LCD”) flat panels and cathode ray tubes (“CRTs”). The lawsuits allege the
manufacturers illegally agreed upon the pricing of LCD flat panels and CRTs.
Oregon has settled with all defendants for a total of $36,900,000 (“Settlement Fund”),
and you may be entitled to a portion of the Settlement Fund.
Who Is Included?
Natural persons who indirectly purchased at any time during the years 2002 to 2006,
for their own use and not for resale, LCD panels incorporated into flat panel TVs,
computer monitors or laptop computers; or who indirectly purchased at any time during
the years 1995 to 2007, for their own use and not for resale, CRTs incorporated into
TVs or computer monitors. A purchaser must have been an Oregon resident at the time
of the purchase. An indirect purchaser is someone that purchased products containing
LCD flat panels or CRTs from someone other than the company that manufactured
the LCD flat panel or CRT component, such as from an electronics retailer or a device
manufacturer other than one of the Defendants. “Natural persons” means a human, not
a business.
How Do I Get Settlement Funds?
File a claim: Consumers need to file a claim to obtain benefits in this settlement.
Claims can be completed online at www.OregonScreenSettlement.com or by mailing
the claim form, available for download, to the Settlement Administrator. The deadline
for filing claims is April 2, 2018.
How Do I Get More Information?
More information about the lawsuits, settlements, and the claims process can be
found at www.OregonScreenSettlement.com, by calling 1-877-940-7791, or writing to:
Oregon Screen Settlement, c/o GCG, P.O. Box 10240, Dublin, Ohio 43017-5740.
This Notice is an official legal notice of the Oregon Department of Justice
1-877-940-7791
www.OregonScreenSettlement.com