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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2018)
Spring SPRING SPORTS GUIDE Sports 2 018 NATIONAL AG WEEK PAGES 3A, 4A, 8A INSIDE/1C WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2018 142nd Year, No. 110 WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD One dollar SADDLED WITH DEBT Staff photo by Kathy Aney Dr. Joel Rice speaks about opioid addiction Tuesday at the Eastern Or- egon Forum at Blue Mountain Com- munity College. Subduing the opioid monster Tide starting to turn in Oregon, experts say By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian Staff photos by E.J. Harris A pedestrian walks past the Hamley’s store on Court Avenue on Tuesday in Pendleton. Co-owners of Western shop and restaurant still at odds By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian H amley’s businesses in downtown Pendleton are more than $1.1 million in debt and faced foreclosure March 1, until co-owner Parley Pearce struck a last-minute deal with a new lender. Blair Woodfield, the other owner of the historic saddle shop and adjoining restaurant, is suing to oust Pearce from the Hamley companies. Woodfield also wants to sell the operations to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation for more than $3.1 million, according to docu- ments he filed Friday with Umatilla County Circuit Court. The documents included an email Gary George, CEO of the tribes’ Wildhorse Resort and Casino, sent Nov. 10. 2016, referring to a letter of intent between CTUIR and Hamley’s. “As we have previously expressed, the CTUIR/WRC will maintain Hamley’s brand and tradition that the current owners (and past owners) have carried forward over the last 110 years!” wrote George. Pearce, however, said he wants to keep Hamley’s, and court documents show he has offered to buy out Woodfield’s interest in the businesses for $950,000. Woodfield’s attorney, Steven Joseph of La Grande, in court filings described the offer as “low ball.” Woodfield’s latest legal maneuver in the case came a month ago when Joseph filed a motion asking the court to appoint a receiver to take control of the iconic Western store and steakhouse. According to request, that third party would have the power to sell Hamley’s. See HAMLEY’S/10A The Hamley’s brand is stamped into the concrete side- walk in front of the store in downtown Pendleton. Hamley’s by the numbers The numbers are disheartening. Someone dies from prescription opioids every 20 minutes in this country. The Oregon Health Authority reports that more Oregonians die from prescription opioids than any other drug — including alcohol, methamphetamines, heroin and cocaine. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 42,000 Americans died in opioid-related deaths in 2016. Oregon ranks sixth nationally for non-medical use of prescription pain relievers like Percocet and OxyContin, In short, many of our fellow Americans are addicted to prescription painkillers. A slate of experts discussed the epidemic of pill popping at Tuesday night’s Eastern Oregon Forum — “This is Our Opioid Crisis” — at Blue Mountain Community College. Each one deals with prescription painkillers in one way or another. The panel included Dr. Joel Rice, pharmacist and pain management expert Eric Holeman, Dr. Chuck Hoffman, nurse See OPIOIDS/10A $1.1M — $1.3M in debt And Hamley’s made just $5,000 last year, according to attorney Steven Joseph. $140K profit For the steakhouse in 2017, according to Blair Woodfield in court filings, but the Western store lost $135,000. $800K gross revenues Increase since 2010, Woodfield stated, while the store’s gross sales declined $678,336, its inventory dropped by more than $300,000 and it has debt exceeding $100,000. RHYTHMIC MODE: CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION Photo courtesy Debbi Green Pendleton’s Rhythmic Mode dance team won the school’s eighth state championship last weekend. From left: Kacey Robbins (in blue), Emily Gilsdorf (in blue), Hannah Rasmussen, Paige Skinner (in blue), Giliana Adams and Terika Christensen perform in their winning routine in the OSAA’s 5A division. ‘Make Oregon Great Again’ GOP candidate faces skepticism Carpenter gets pushback from Hispanic Advisory Committee By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Gubernatorial candidate Sam Carpenter ran into some stiff criticism for his views on public employee unions, immigration and President Donald Trump when he visited Hermiston’s Hispanic Advisory Committee on Monday. Carpenter, a Bend-area Republican who owns a telephone answering service called Centratel, is one of 17 people running for Oregon governor. On Monday he touted his business capabilities, prom- ised to get Oregon’s economy growing at a faster pace and criticized Oregon’s “out of control” bureaucracy and government spending. The group at Hermiston City Hall was more interested in talking about his views on immigration, particularly a line in the brochure he handed out promising to end Oregon’s sanctuary status for “illegal aliens.” Carpenter stated that he was only talking about removing people who had committed other crimes besides immigra- tion-related ones. “I’m sorry, they need to go away. Those folks are giving the Hispanic community a horrible reputation,” he said, adding that they were “probably more of a danger to you than to the native Americans here.” See CARPENTER/10A