Page 10A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Photo courtesy Debi Green
Pendleton Rhythmic Mode won the 2018 OSAA Dance and Drill State Championship March 17 in the state’s 5A division. In addition, Pendleton dancers Paige Skinner,
Terika Christensen and Kacey Robbins were named to the all-state team. It is Pendleton’s eighth state championship. Hermiston Stardust finished third in the same
division, and its dancer Makena Royer was also named to the all-state team.
Hamley’s: ‘We have two partners
who can’t agree on anything’
Continued from 1A
Pearce’s
attorney,
Timothy DeJong of Port-
land, opposed the request
in a March 9 response. The
two owners were in court
Monday in Pendleton where
their lawyers did the talking
in front of Judge Lynn
Hampton.
The Hamley’s assets are
between $1.1 million and
$1.3 million in debt, Joseph
said, and made just $5,000
last year.
Woodfield in court filings
claim the steakhouse made
a $140,000 profit in 2017,
but the Western store lost
$135,000. The steakhouse
increased gross revenues
more than $800,000 since
2010, he also 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.
“We have two partners
who can’t agree on anything,”
Joseph told the court, and
the lack of communication
jeopardizes the Hamley’s
operations. Receivership, he
said, “would put an adult in
control of the situation.”
Joseph said he was ready
to have Richard Hooper,
president of Pivotal Solutions
Inc. of Renton, Washington,
act as the receiver. He also
asked Hampton to seal the
details of the Pivotal offer,
which she ordered.
Hooper in a declaration
he filed with the court in
February stated his company
has taken control of dozens
of businesses in Oregon
and Washington, including
a plywood manufacturer in
Vancouver, a commercial
driving school in King
County, Washington, and
many apartment complexes.
The paperwork lists no
restaurant or retail stores,
however.
DeJong told the judge
Pivotal lacks the experi-
ence to run the Hamley’s
businesses and Woodfield’s
purpose for a receiver is to
sell the company. He also
argued Hamley’s was not in
“an emergency situation that
required the intervention of
the court.”
That was because Pearce
secured a new lender to take
on Hamley’s heavy debt.
DeJong said HIPO, a Boise
limited-liability company, is
willing to negotiate a deal on
the large loan.
Willamette View Funding
of Portland carried Hamley’s
loan of almost $1.2 million.
Court documents show
Howard Aaronson, principle
of the company, warned
Woodfield and others the
money was due by Feb. 28
and there would be no exten-
sions.
“Again I hope it does
not come to be in default,”
Aaronson said in a Dec. 26
email.
DeJong said Pearce
prevented that foreclosure.
Joseph, however, contended
Pearce acted unilaterally in
getting a “buddy” lender
and violated terms of the
partnership agreement with
Woodfield.
Judge Hampton said she
would review the arguments
and did not make a ruling.
The next court date in the
case is July 2, three weeks
before it is set to go to trial.
DeJong and Joseph were
back at it Tuesday morning
on the phone in Hampton’s
courtroom to argue a matter
stemming from Woodfield’s
second lawsuit.
Woodfield and Pearce
are equal partners in Pearce
Woodfield
Development,
a holding company Wood-
field sued for not paying
the balance on more than
$872,000 in loans. Court
records show Hampton
in February found Pearce
Woodfield
Development
was in default. However, the
company is broke.
Woodfield also claimed
Pearce
was
personally
responsible for the debt,
and any entity operating
under the umbrella of Pearce
Woodfield Development is
also on the hook for paying
any loans.
DeJong asserted the
loans of Pearce Woodfield
Development belong to the
company alone, that Pearce
himself is not responsible, nor
can the company shift its debt
to other companies. Hampton
agreed and dismissed those
ends of Woodfield’s claim.
Pearce sat through that
hearing and afterward said
he hopes Hampton also
rules against receivership.
Hamley’s employ around 75
people, he said, and he would
like those jobs to stay. But if
a receiver takes control and
sells, Pearce said he would
buy Hamley’s.
In spite of the legal battle,
Pearce said the Western store
is looking to the future. While
it lost money last year, he
said that was because they
invested heavily in setting
up the new saddle academy,
which has garnered plenty
of interest. The store is also
revamping its website to
offer more goods and better
compete online, Pearce said,
and Hamley’s now has a deal
to sell Pendleton Woolen
Mills products online as well.
And he said he does not
want to sell to the tribes,
primarily out of concern for
employees.
Woodfield’s court docu-
ments include an email he
sent Jan. 26 to Pearce telling
him the offer from the tribes
remains good, and Pearce can
make a counter.
But, Woodfield continued,
“I know they will pay more.”
Opioids: Hope out there for people addicted
Continued from 1A
and recovering opioid addict
Alena Davis, Eastern Oregon
prescription drug overdose
prevention coordinator Mike
Stensrud and Pendleton
Police Chief Stuart Roberts.
Opioids include illegal
drugs like heroin and
synthetic fentanyl as well as
prescription pain relievers
including
oxycodone,
hydrocodone, codeine and
morphine.
People who become
ensnared by opioids don’t
fit a particular profile. The
drug ensnares homeless
people, soccer moms and
people from every ethnic
and educational level.
“Not only does it affect
the poor, but high society and
middle class,” said Davis, a
nurse who was addicted to
prescription pain pills after
hurting her back on the job.
Holeman is a Pendleton
native and pain management
expert who serves as the
clinical lead pharmacist at
the Mid-Columbia Medical
Center in the Dalles. He also
struggled with an addiction
to pain pills in the late
1990s. Holeman described
the opioid epidemic as
extremely complex.
“We have three-headed
monster,” he said. “We
have prescription opiates,
synthetic opiates and heroin
on the street.”
Recent efforts to rein
in prescription practices
have curbed opioid abuse
somewhat, but inadvertently
fueled an equivalent rise in
heroin addiction. Addicts
who can’t access opioids
sometimes turn to heroin in
desperation.
Holeman gave a quick
history lesson to explain why
the problem has exploded.
Decades ago, doctors
were urged to deal with
chronic pain more aggres-
sively.
With
increased
prescribing, deaths from
unintentional opioid over-
doses increased dramati-
cally. In the late 1990s and
early 2000s, opioids such as
hydrocodone and oxycodone
were marketed as having a
low risk of addiction.
Opioids, however, are
incredibly addictive.
Rice, who helps addicts
kick opioids, grabbed a dry
erase marker and made a
line drawing of the brain
to explain why. He pointed
to a cluster of cells under
the cerebral cortex that he
called the brain’s pleasure
center. Addiction actually
hijacks the brain, he said.
Drugs stimulate a flood of
dopamine and the amyg-
dala creates a conditioned
response.
That’s the Reader’s
Digest version.
The point? It’s incredibly
hard to break away without
help.
“It’s desperation,” said
Davis, who said she made an
attempt on her life to escape
the misery of withdrawal.
That’s where Suboxone
comes in. Rice combats
addiction for his patients
using the drug, which he said
is overdose-proof for adults.
Hoffman does the same in his
Baker City clinic. Though
Suboxone is also an opioid,
neither worries about trading
one opioid for another. The
drug, with active ingredi-
ents buprenborphine and
naloxone, allows addicts
to clear their brains and go
back to normal thinking. As
they steadily withdraw, they
can simultaneously rebuild
their lives.
Especially
in
rural
America, there aren’t enough
doctors who have taken the
eight-hour class required
to prescribe Suboxone.
Even when they get the free
training, they are limited in
the number of prescriptions
they can write. The limit
rises over time. Rice can
write prescriptions for 275
patients at any one time,
but he is always bumping
up against his limit. More
doctors are coming around
and as of 2017, nurse
practitioners and physician
assistants are eligible to
prescribe, too. But there is
still a shortage.
“We’re trying to get other
physicians interested in
prescribing,” Rice said.
There is some hopeful
news. Oregon is starting
to turn a corner. Change in
direction comes slowly like
a cruise liner making a wide
U-turn, but it’s happening
nonetheless.
“In Umatilla County,
we’ve come down quite
a bit,” Holeman said. “In
Eastern Oregon, we’re
making progress.”
A lot of scrutiny is being
placed on the prescription
pad. Northeast Oregon
physicians are writing fewer
narcotic prescriptions than
they were several years ago,
prescribing fewer addictive
drugs or opioids and in
smaller quantities. They
are exploring other ways of
managing pain.
“Research is showing
that opioids are not any
more effective for pain than
non-opioids,” Hoffman said.
Roberts worries about the
influx of fentanyl, a potent
synthetic painkiller that is
100 times more potent than
morphine. Simply touching
or inhaling extraordinarily
small quantities of fentanyl
can cause an overdose.
An Ohio law enforcement
officer overdosed in May
after he got deadly fentanyl
powder on his uniform.
“Fentanyl
poses
a
significant risk to law
enforcement,” Roberts said.
“Most agencies have said (to
officers) you will not handle
the pills.”
Rice offered hope for
the thousands of addicts out
there.
“The people I know who
have beaten addiction are the
deepest, richest, most spiri-
tual people on the planet,” he
said. “They’ve had to fight
the devil.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0810.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Sam Carpenter speaks to the Hispanic Advisory
Committee while members Manuel Gutierrez and
Hector Ramirez look on during a meeting Monday
night.
Carpenter: Pushback
at Hermiston Hispanic
Advisory Committee
Continued from 1A
He repeatedly stated
that under Trump, fami-
lies are not being broken
up and people are not
being deported solely for
their immigration status.
When audience members
contradicted him, he said
they should not get their
information from the news
media, which he called
corrupt. When someone
brought up a recent, local
instance they knew of
where a man was taken into
custody during a routine
traffic stop, Carpenter said
he wasn’t there and neither
was the person bringing it
up so they didn’t know for
sure what happened.
Carpenter said his two
children from a previous
marriage are Puerto Rican
so he is sympathetic to the
Hispanic community. He
said the country needs to
stop focusing on divides
between races, genders,
sexual orientations and
religions.
“I believe in small
government and I believe
individual rights are the
ultimate minority, which
means if you can’t respect
an individual’s rights you
can’t respect anybody’s,”
he said.
As audience members
continued to pepper him
on immigration issues,
he said it was a federal
issue anyway and what he
could do was get Oregon’s
economy growing, which
would cause a lot of other
problems in the state to
take care of themselves.
But the audience kept
on.
“You’re
trying
to
distance yourself from the
federal government, but
you’re embracing a slogan
from someone who ran for
federal government and
is in a federal position,”
committee member Roy
Barron said, referencing
Carpenter’s
campaign
slogan “Make Oregon
Great Again.”
“No I’m not,” Carpenter
replied.
“That’s
my
slogan.”
Carpenter did say he
supported Trump and
praised him multiple times
throughout the night,
stating that the economy
was doing “things it’s
never done before” and
that ISIS is now “gone”
thanks to Trump.
When Barron and
committee member Carlos
Gallo said that Carpenter
was making his support of
Trump clear, and Trump
had been very “blatant” in
stirring up racial tensions
and criticizing Latinos,
Carpenter asked, “What
has he said that is very
blatant?” drawing laughter
from the audience and
committee.
Carpenter touched on
a number of other issues
Monday night. He said
he is in favor of school
vouchers, which would
improve schools by encour-
aging competition between
public and private schools,
and said the state needed
to stop wasting money on
things like the failed Cover
Oregon exchange and
address serious problems
like mental health, drugs
and the “horrible” state of
Child Protective Services
in Oregon.
Many in the audience
disagreed with his stance
on unions, asking what
it meant in his campaign
literature that he wants to
“stand up to public unions.”
Carpenter said govern-
ment employees are work
for taxpayers and therefore
it is a “conflict of interest
against the people” for
those employees to collec-
tively bargain against the
government. He said he
wouldn’t break up the
unions but he disagreed
with them.
Despite
heated
exchanges on issues like
unions and immigration,
at the end of the evening
Carpenter asked the group
to read his website with an
open mind and remember
the important thing was
what he could do for the
state’s economy and its
efficiency.
“The forests are burning
down, PERS is going to
bankrupt the state. A lot
of what’s been going on
is bad management. I’m a
manager,” he said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.