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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Saturday, January 5, 2019 Dr. Kent Walker shuts Pendleton practice without notice By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Osteopathic physician and surgeon Kent Walker shut down his Pendleton practice Monday without notifying patients. The door is locked and the lights off at the office at 202 S.E. Dorion Ave. Staff taped a message on Walker’s let- terhead inside the glass front. “It is with heavy hearts, the staff here at Pendleton Family Practice and Sports Medicine have to inform you of Dr. Walker’s decision to close his family practice immediately,” the messages states. “It is short notice for all of us, and we all know how slim the provider avail- ability is in Pendleton.” A call to the office received a similar response: “If you have reached this messages, Dr. Walker has closed his family prac- Staff photo by Phil Wright Dr. Kent Walker shut down his Pendleton medical practice Monday with no notice to patients. Staff at Pendleton Family Practice and Sports Medicine posted this message near the front door stating the closure was immediate but did not provide any reason for Walker’s decision. tice immediately. It is short notice for all of us.” Both the phone and the paper notices let patients know how to request their medical records, and both thanked patients for their years of patronage. But no one is explaining what led to the closure. Walker in early 2017 faced losing his Ore- gon medical license in the wake of an Oregon Medical Board review of his practice. According to the board’s Oregon U.S. attorney’s office seeks case delays in shutdown payments would be in jeopardy for jurors, court reporters, public defenders and pro- bation officers and likely would force changes in court operations. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Asphaug says Oregon’s U.S. Attorney’s Office has furloughed a little over one-third of its approximately 130-member staff. Federal prosecutors and support staff who are showing up to work in Oregon aren’t getting paid, except for U.S. Attor- ney Billy J. Williams. PORTLAND (AP) — The U.S. Depart- ment of Justice has sought to delay some high-profile civil cases in Oregon — includ- ing a lawsuit filed by the widow of refuge takeover spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Fin- icum — as the federal government shut- down continues. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports fed- eral courts in the state remain open and operating, with court funding available through Jan. 11. After that date, if funding isn’t restored, Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY Cloudy Cloudy A thick cloud cover and breezy A shower in the morning; cloudy Mostly cloudy and breezy 46° 38° 48° 34° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 44° 31° 48° 37° 41° 35° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 43° 36° 49° 34° 47° 30° 44° 35° 39° 33° OREGON FORECAST ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Seattle Olympia 47/39 42/34 43/33 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 49/40 Lewiston 48/40 42/37 Astoria 48/39 Pullman Yakima 44/36 46/38 47/38 Portland Hermiston 49/41 The Dalles 43/36 Salem Corvallis 44/38 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 40/34 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 47/39 46/32 43/32 Ontario 39/31 Caldwell Burns 53° 33° 40° 27° 64° (1989) -4° (1942) 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Albany 46/40 Boardman Pendleton Medford 48/35 0.00" 0.01" 0.16" 0.01" Trace 0.16" WINDS (in mph) 41/32 34/22 0.00" 0.02" 0.24" 0.02" Trace 0.24" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 39/30 47/40 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date HERMISTON Enterprise 46/38 45/35 53° 40° 40° 26° 69° (2012) -9° (2004) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 48/37 Aberdeen 41/33 38/31 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 51/41 Today Sun. NNE 4-8 SE 6-12 SSW 4-8 S 7-14 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 43/29 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 7:36 a.m. 4:25 p.m. 7:16 a.m. 4:22 p.m. New First Full Last Jan 5 Jan 13 Jan 20 Jan 27 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 87° in Sebring, Fla. Low -29° in Waverly, Colo. order, Walker did not pro- vide patients with risk notifi- cations about medication he prescribed and he prescribed “controlled substances with- out a legitimate medical purpose or without follow- ing accepted procedures for examination of patients or for record keeping.” The order noted Walk- er’s patient charts created the impressions of thorough physical examinations, but in reality the chart notes were “a cut and paste from previ- ous clinical encounters, cast- ing the veracity of the notes into serious doubt.” Those charts also did not “ade- quately describe” Walker’s process for treating patients with chronic pain “with a long term regimen of opioid and benzodiazepines [drugs for anxiety and other condi- tions].” Among the litany of infractions, Walker also did not consistently use urine tests to verify if patients fol- lowed their treatment plan. The board stopped shy of revoking Walker’s license to practice and placed him on probation for five years, which included limits on prescribing opioids and ran- dom audits of his practice. He also had to pay a $5,000 penalty. Walker also is a defen- dant in the wrongful death lawsuit from the family of Scott Graber of Pendleton. Graber died July 8, 2015. He was 42. The lawsuit in Uma- tilla County Circuit Court accuses Walker of knowing Graber had a history of trou- ble with alcohol and narcot- ics yet prescribed opioids and muscle relaxants for him anyway. The lawsuit alleges Gra- ber visited Pendleton Family Practice and Sports Medicine the day before he died and showed up “visibly intoxi- cated,” and Walker gave him a prescription for hydroco- done/acetaminophen. Hours after filling the prescrip- tion, according to the plead- ing, Graber consumed alco- hol and approximately 45 of the tablets and died from an overdose of both. The lawsuit seeks about $1.8 million, including $1 million in non-economic damages for the loss Gra- ber’s mother, Bonnie Rae Graber, has suffered. That case has a status check on Jan. 25. Walker also practices at Sound Family Medicine clinics in Bonney Lake and Puyallup, Washington. Staff there reported he was seeing patients Friday. He did not return a call seeking com- ment. Walker is on probation in Washington, according to the Washington Department of Health, because of his dis- cipline in Oregon. Chronic offender Price behind bars in Multnomah County By JADE MCDOWELL AND PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Jerome Martel Price of Hermiston faces his second criminal case in federal court in four years. He took a plea deal in 2015 for trespassing on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, according to federal court records. This time, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office of Oregon charged Price, 33, with one count of felon in possession of a firearm. The charge stems from Hermis- ton police arresting Price on Dec. 10, 2018. Umatilla County District Attorney Dan Primus said his office proceeded to pros- ecute Price on charges of felon in possession of a fire- arm, second-degree criminal trespass and criminal tres- pass while in possession of a firearm until the federal prosecutors stepped in. But Primus said this is not a case of the feds stepping on local toes. “They really wanted to reach out and help Uma- tilla County,” he said. “They know Umatilla County is a rural county with a volume of cases they can help with.” Primus said his office has a good relationship with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and he sees its assistance as a means to help make rural communities safer. He also said while it is hard as a prosecutor to give up a case, he has full confidence in the capabilities of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Hermiston police officer Riley Studebaker on Dec. 10 arrested Price on charges of second-degree criminal tres- pass and felon in posses- sion of a firearm. According to the probable cause affida- vit, a woman called about 2:40 a.m. to report her hus- band was holding an intruder at gunpoint in the alley behind their East Gladys Avenue home. Studebaker arrived to find Price and the caller’s husband in the alley. The man told the officer he heard his cellar door rattle and saw a motion-activated light turn on in his backyard. When he grabbed his pistol and went to investigate, he told Studebaker he saw the suspect in the alley near his travel trailer and pointed the gun at him, ordering him to lay down until police arrived. He also alleged that a gun on the ground at his feet, a loaded Springfield XDM 40 caliber semi-automatic pis- tol, had been handed to him by Price. Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said differ- ent states have different laws regarding their rights when someone intrudes on their property and Oregon’s is “all based on reasonableness.” “What would a reason- able person think was rea- sonable force for a citizen to apply or an officer to apply in that case?” he said. “I can’t speak for the property owner, but it’s dark out, and the property owner doesn’t know yet if they’re missing anything.” Studebaker wrote in the affidavit that Price claimed the gun on the ground was the homeowner’s. Price claimed he had been out for a walk when he knocked on the door of the home because he thought a friend lived there. When no one answered, he said, he entered the backyard through a gate and knocked on the cellar door before exiting the yard. The affidavit states secu- rity cameras at the home show Price entered the backyard, walked around and then entered the alley to inspect a travel trailer belonging to the homeown- ers before the confronta- tion. Studebaker also states in the document the footage showed Price handing a pis- tol to the homeowner. Edmiston said Price is well-known to police in the immediate area, and had 36 arrests and 63 cita- tions by local law enforce- ment including the Hermis- ton Police Department and the Umatilla County Sher- iff’s Office. He said while it is “frus- trating” dealing with the same person over and over again, and citizens ask why a chronic offender hasn’t been taken off the streets for lon- ger, Edmiston said real life police work isn’t as simple as crime shows on televi- sion. Police face everything from uncooperative wit- nesses to an increasing num- ber of restrictions coming from rulings by the 9th Cir- cuit Court of Appeals. “This job is getting more and more difficult to present rock-solid cases to the DA,” he said. Price on Friday had a detention hearing in federal court in Portland, and Mag- istrate Judge John V. Acosta ordered Price to remain as an inmate of the Multnomah County Jail, Portland. The court also set a two-day trial for Price starting March 5 in Portland. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Hayes criticized for ‘bad faith’ in bankruptcy SALEM (AP) — The Oregon Government Eth- ics Commission has accused former Oregon First Lady Cylvia Hayes of using her bankruptcy proceeding to drag out a resolution of her ethics case months longer than needed. The Statesman Jour- nal reports that Carolyn Wade, a senior assistant attorney general represent- ing the commission, made the claim in a Dec. 31 fil- ing in Hayes’ bankruptcy proceeding. Hayes filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in July 2018. In addition to up to $110,000 in possible civil penalties from 22 eth- ics violations, Hayes has a more than $124,000 judg- ment against her for a pub- lic records lawsuit The Ore- gonian won. Wade said the bankruptcy proceeding is meritless. The ethics commission ruled in January 2018 — six months before Hayes filed for bankruptcy — that she violated state ethics laws by using her position for the financial benefit of herself and her business. Many of the violations centered around Hayes’ work on environmental consulting contracts while also involved as an unpaid adviser who did energy policy work in Gov. John Kitzhaber’s office. Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -10s -0s 0s showers t-storms 10s rain 20s flurries 30s snow 40s 50s ice 60s cold front E AST O REGONIAN — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. 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