REGION
Saturday, June 23, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 3A
HERMISTON
Naturopathic physician steps into mentor’s shoes
Hermiston native
returns home
to practice
natural medicine
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
As a Hermiston High
School student interested
in medicine, Anton Alder
once dreamed of becoming a
neurosurgeon.
Then he got an after-
school job as a filing clerk at
the Peterson Clinic in Herm-
iston. The teenager came
into the orb of naturopathic
physician Kenneth Peterson
— Dr. Ken — who eventu-
ally introduced him to a dif-
ferent approach to healing.
Peterson, who started the
clinic in 1953, coupled tradi-
tional medicine with alterna-
tive practices such as nutri-
tion, herbs and chiropractic
manipulation.
Alder, now 32, recently
returned to Hermiston as a
licensed naturopathic physi-
cian to step into his mentor’s
big shoes.
Peterson, who retired
in 2017, was honored in
2010 as the longest contin-
uously practicing naturo-
pathic physician in Oregon.
He received the Living Leg-
end award, given
by the National
University of Nat-
ural Medicine and
the Oregon Asso-
ciation of Naturo-
pathic Medicine.
In the early days,
he also provided
primary care and Alder
delivered a number
of babies.
After Alder earned a
biology degree at Brigham
Young
University-Idaho,
he returned to Hermiston to
work as Peterson’s assistant
and help with the clinic’s
neurofeedback program, led
by Peterson’s son, Kris Peter-
son. He grew more intrigued
as he assisted Dr. Ken.
“I saw people get better
with really simple treatments
and thought that is really
cool,” he said. “The more
I followed him around, the
more I realized that I really
have to figure out what he’s
doing.”
He attended the Univer-
sity of Bridgeport’s College
of Naturopathic Medicine.
The first two years, he said,
were comparable to conven-
tional medical school with
classes on microbiology,
anatomy, physiology and
other subjects. The next two
years were largely clinical.
His dreams of becom-
ing a neurosurgeon
faded into the rear-
view mirror.
“The more I
got into neurology,
the more I realized
you do not want to
cut into that intri-
cate system unless
it’s absolutely nec-
essary,” he said.
“There are times when it’s
an absolute necessity, but if
there’s any other way, it’s
worth exploring.”
Alder prefers to concen-
trate on prevention and heal-
ing with less invasive meth-
ods. He said patients should
expect long visits at least ini-
tially as he learns about phys-
ical condition, environment,
eating habits and other rel-
evant factors. He may order
lab tests to provide additional
information.
“We have very distinct
therapeutic order that we fol-
low,” Alder said. “We con-
sider the least invasive tech-
niques first and work our
way up.”
That could mean nutri-
tional changes, supplements,
spinal manipulation, biofeed-
back, counseling, homeopa-
thy or another technique.
“In school, we are given
a very large array of ideas,”
he said.
Alder said naturopathic
physicians look for trends
in the data as a way to pre-
vent health problems from
occurring.
“Say someone’s blood
sugar is going up and up. It’s
not in the danger zone yet,
but the trend is worrisome,”
he said. “Let’s not wait until
you are pre-diabetic or dia-
betic to treat it if it can be
prevented in the first place.”
Alder knows his profes-
sion has its critics. Much of
the criticism comes, he said,
because of unlicensed natu-
ropaths who haven’t attended
four-year
naturopathic
schools or passed licensing
exams, but practice anyway.
Oregon requires licensure.
Peterson expects his pro-
tege to flourish as he launches
his career.
“I’m very proud of him,”
Peterson said. “I’m very con-
fident in him. He’s going to
be a great doctor.”
Alder who lives in Herm-
iston with his wife, Patri-
cia, and three children, will
start seeing patients on July
16. He joins clinic owner
Kris Peterson, a chiroprac-
tic internist, and Trent Tee-
garden, who specializes in
sports medicine.
____________
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0810.
Hermiston to discuss $4.5 million North First project
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
The Hermiston city coun-
cil will consider an intergov-
ernmental agreement Mon-
day for a $4.5 million project
to upgrade North First Place.
The legislature’s 2017
transportation package spec-
ifies the city won’t get the
money until 2022, however,
so assistant city manager
Mark Morgan said it’s a case
of “hurry up and wait.”
The agreement with the
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation will pave the way
for the city to receive the
funding to widen North First
Place, add a sidewalk to the
west side, add a parallel bike-
ped path along the east side,
install curbs, gutters, street
lights and other improve-
ments. The city hopes to also
add a turn lane at the intersec-
tion of North First Place and
Elm Avenue.
All of the improvements
will be designed to encourage
more vehicles and pedestrians
to use North First Place as an
alternative north-south route
through Hermiston instead of
Highway 395, where traffic
congestion has increased as
the community grows.
Morgan said in a news
release that he knows once the
project is publicized people
will likely ask why the city
didn’t focus on other projects
instead, like a traffic signal by
the high school. He said the
city presented $39 million in
street projects to the legisla-
ture’s transportation package
committee when they were
crafting the bill, and this is
simply the project they chose
to fund.
“The good news is that
receiving these funds which
are dedicated to this specific
area will help the City keep
other funding options open to
tackle those other areas in the
future,” he wrote.
Many Oregon cities —
including Pendleton — did
not receive any earmarks
for their projects at all, and
Morgan said the city was
extremely grateful to Rep.
Greg Smith and the rest of the
legislature for the funding it
did receive.
Hermiston’s appropria-
tion was only one line long
in the legislation, so Mor-
gan said the intergovernmen-
tal agreement the council will
be asked to approve Monday
is just helping ODOT and the
city get “on the same page”
about the scope of the project
and how payment will work.
The city will be responsible
for any cost overruns beyond
the $4.5 million.
Monday’s regular city
council meeting starts at 7
p.m. at city hall, 180 NE
Second St., with a work ses-
sion listed at 6 p.m. to get
an update from Hermiston
Energy Services.
Confederated Umatilla Journal sweeps up national awards
MISSION — The Confed-
erated Umatilla Journal won
20 awards for work it pub-
lished in 2017.
The Native American
Journalists Association on
June 12 announced its 2018
National Native Media
Award winners. The CUJ
was second in general excel-
lence and second in best lay-
out and design, and its staff
won 18 individual awards,
including seven first-place
awards.
The journal is the monthly
newspaper for the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation. Chuck
Sams, CTUIR communi-
cations director, said in a
written statement about the
awards he was proud of the
CUJ and communications
staff as a whole.
“We work together to pro-
duce a 50-plus page paper
monthly,” he said. “This
takes a strong team effort.”
The journal competes in a
category for newspapers with
a circulation between 5,000
and 10,000. The CUJ prints
about 8,000 copies a month,
which it distributes to tribal
households, a subscriber
list and are distributed free
around the community.
Eric Quaempts, interim
executive director for the
tribes, said the individual
awards speak well of “staff’s
journalistic skills and work
ethic to produce good stories
and reporting.”
Accepting New Patients
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
A truck enters the newly-opened festival street in
Hermiston.
Hermiston’s festival
street officially open,
ribbon cutting July 14
Hermiston’s
festival
street is officially open.
The updated section of
Northeast Second Street
street is located between
Main Street and Gladys
Avenue in front of city hall.
The street has been raised to
the same level as the side-
walk and the city added
low walls, bollards, trees,
decorative lamp posts and
brickwork.
The roughly $1.5 mil-
lion project, paid for by the
Hermiston Urban Renewal
Milton-Freewater reassigns
transportation duties
East Oregonian
Following the impend-
ing retirement of Teresa
Dutcher, human resource
officer and public trans-
portation coordinator, the
city of Milton-Freewater
is reassigning administra-
tive duties for the trans-
portation program to City
Planner Laurel Sweeney
and planning assistant Lisa
Wasson.
The city runs a door-to-
door taxi ticket program
for seniors and disabled
residents and a fixed-route
program that provides
three daily trips to College
Place and Walla Walla.
6/22 - 24
6/25 - 26
Cineplex Show Times
$5 Classic Movie • 6/27 • 12:00 PM
$5 Classic Movie • 6/27 • 12:00 PM
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde
$5 Children’s Classic Movie • 6/27 • 10 AM
Shrek 2
Free Small Popcorn & Small Soda
$5 Children’s Classic Movie • 6/27 • 10 AM
Shrek 2
Free Small Popcorn & Small Soda
INCREDIBLES 2 (PG)
12:50* 1:20* 6:50
3D 4:10 9:40
TAG (R)
12:40* 2:50* 5:00 7:10 9:20
McEntire Dental
OCEANS 8 (PG13)
2:20* 4:50 7:20 9:50
1100 Southgate, Suite 3
Pendleton OR 97801
541.276.5272
Authors!
Meet other local authors
and sell your books at the
Blue Mountain Book Fair
Sponsored by the Juniper Arts Council
August 18 12:00-4:00pm
Canyon City Community Center
Canyon City Oregon
Contact Dave Driscoll
phone:248-719-2122
email:driscolldg@gmail.com
http://grantcountygazette-oregon.com
Funded by a grant from the Grant County Transient Room Room Tax fund
64135
Sweeney and Wasson
will take over for Dutcher
on June 29.
The pair won’t be the
only
Milton-Freewater
employees that will soon
see a shift in duties.
Mike Watkins will be
promoted to electric super-
intendent on July 1, suc-
ceeding the retiring Rick
Rambo.
Over his 23 years with
the city, Watkins has
worked as a lineman and
a community development
supervisor.
Watkins will now lead
City Light and Power, the
oldest municipal electric
utility in Oregon.
Cineplex Show Times
JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN
KINGDOM (PG13)
1:00* 3:30* 6:30 7:00 9:30
4:00 10:00
We are open from
7:30am - 4:30pm M-Th
Agency, was to help revi-
talize downtown by draw-
ing foot traffic there during
events hosted by the city or
other groups. The street will
be open to traffic and park-
ing most of the time but can
be blocked off during events
and during the Christmas
season, when the city places
a giant tree by city hall.
While the street opened
to traffic Friday, an offi-
cial ribbon-cutting will take
place at 1 p.m. on July 14
during Funfest.
JURASSIC WORLD:
FALLEN KINGDOM
(PG13)
3:30* 6:30 7:00 9:30
3D 4:00 10:00
INCREDIBLES 2 (PG)
6:50
3D 4:10 9:40
TAG (R)
5:00 7:10 9:20
OCEANS 8 (PG13)
4:50 7:20 9:50
* Matinee Pricing
* Matinee Pricing
wildhorseresort.com • 541-966-1850
wildhorseresort.com • 541-966-1850
Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216
Pendleton, OR I-84 - Exit 216