A program that brought about 30 people, most of them homeless, to Baker City earlier this year so they can be driven regularly to a Pendleton facility to receive methadone for addiction treatment is ending, and local officials are working to help the patients return to their home communities.

New Directions Northwest of Baker City, the local addiction treatment provider, was not involved in the program.

But the current “crisis” has brought New Directions into the situation to try to help the methadone patients, CEO Shari Selander said on Wednesday, Oct. 9.

“My team has been working very hard for the last 24 hours,” Selander said. “This is very upsetting. We will do everything we can to help get these people back to where they need to go.”

Marji Lind, clinical director for New Directions, said the majority of the people in Baker City were homeless residents in the Medford and Eugene areas.

Some are from Portland, California and the Tri Cities, Washington, she said.

The goal, Selander said, is to make sure the patients have a ride back to their home communities, ideally later this week, and that they have housing, food and if needed medical care before they leave.

Selander said she has “lots of questions” about how the situation happened, and why people with addiction problems were driven hundreds of miles to Baker City, even though the nearest methadone clinic is in Pendleton, 95 miles away.

Lind said that in her opinion the situation is “inappropriate.”

She said there are methadone clinics in Medford, Eugene and Portland, so bringing people from those areas to Pendleton doesn’t make sense to her.

Moreover, Lind pointed out that even if the patients were using the Pendleton clinic, Baker City is not the logical place to house them, since there are more motel rooms in Umatilla County than in Baker County.

Umatilla County’s population is nearly 82,000, compared with Baker County’s nearly 17,000.

Selander said she’s concerned that patients “were being taken advantage of.”

Harlan, a 57-year-old man from Susanville, California, who is staying at the Motel 6 in Baker City and traveling to Pendleton for methadone treatment, said on Wednesday morning that he does not pay for lodging, travel, treatment or other expenses.

Owner of company that transports patients responds

Robert McBride is the CEO and owner of Divine Right Transportation, the company that drove patients to and from Pendleton.

McBride said he started the company six years ago in California and expanded to Oregon. He lives in Eugene.

McBride said he had a contract with Greater Oregon Behavioral Health Inc. (GOBHI) of The Dalles to transport the patients to and from Pendleton. He said his company was reimbursed by Medicaid, the federal insurance program for low-income residents, through GOBHI.

He declined to say how much his company received for each trip between Baker City and Pendleton.

McBride said he learned on Monday, Oct. 7, with “12 hours notice,” that GOBHI was canceling the contract.

“We are going to be pursuing a legal action against them,” McBride said.

An email from Ann Ford, GOBHI’s CEO, to McBride at 12:35 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7 stated that the contract with Divine Right was being terminated as of Oct. 8, and that “all member rides have been transferred to another. … provider.”

The email cites section 3.3.7 of the contract as the reason for the termination.

That section reads: “A determination by GOBHI that contractor’s continued participation in provider networks could reasonably result in harm to members.”

McBride said he is also a board member for the Golden Wings Organization (www.thegwo.org/), a nonprofit that helps homeless people, in particular those addicted to opioids.

He said donations to Golden Wings paid to bring methadone patients to Baker City and also paid for their motel rooms, food, clothing and other needs.

He said that during a meeting with GOBHI officials on Oct. 3, they made it “100% clear” that they didn’t want Golden Wings to continue bringing homeless residents to Baker City.

McBride defended the program, saying he believes it is helping people who were formerly homeless as they try to overcome addiction.

He contends that the cost to house those residents with donations is substantially less than the costs to society, through the legal system, law enforcement and medical needs such as emergency room visits, if they remained homeless.

McBride said he chose Baker City because it “seemed like a good spot.”

He said he is not familiar with Eastern Oregon.

McBride said he met many of the people who are in methadone treatment while spending time in parks and other public places in Medford and other cities. He said many of the homeless drug addicts he met were “really desperate,” but that a lack of housing options made their situation difficult.

The Golden Wings Organization, Inc., was registered as a nonprofit corporation in North Carolina in January 2024, according to state records. The corporation has an address in Garner, North Carolina.

McBride provided a letter from the Internal Revenue service, dated Feb. 22, 2024, stating that the agency had assigned an Employer Identification Number for Golden Wings Organization, but had not, as of that date, granted it tax-exempt status.

The Golden Wings website lists New Directions Northwest as a partner. But Andi Walsh, grants and public relations manager for New Directions, said that was done “without our knowledge.”

Patients describe program

Harlan, who didn’t want to give his last name, said he is benefiting from the methadone as he tries to overcome addiction to fentanyl and prescription drugs.

Harlan said a different company has apparently taken over the transportation from Divine Right.

McBride said Golden Wings “offered every client who was discharged a bus ticket to their city of origin,” but that in the “confusion” after the contract was canceled, “those opportunities were not taken advantage of.”

On Wednesday morning there were six vehicles parked at the Motel 6 in Baker City with Divine Right Transportation stickers on their doors.

Jeff Walthers of La Grande said he has worked as a driver for Divine Right for almost a year.

Walthers said he’s worried about the patients he had driven from Baker City to Pendleton.

“We figured we were doing a really good job for them, and that it was a really good program,” Walthers said on Wednesday morning.

Walthers said many of the clients he drove to Pendleton were homeless in Medford, Eugene or other places in Oregon. He said the purpose of the program was to move those people away from the places where they were abusing drugs.

Walthers said he believes most of the patients are trying to recover and benefiting from the treatment in Pendleton.

“There are a few bad apples,” he said.

Harlan is sharing a room at Motel 6 with Brian Carter, who is also from Susanville.

Carter said he has been in Baker City since early July. He said the Pendleton program is helping him. He said he doesn’t want to return to California, where he was homeless.

Harlan said he learned about the treatment program from Carter. Harlan said he has been here for about two months.

Harlan said that after his wife of 28 years died about two years ago, he “fell apart.”

He said he would like to continue methadone treatment and eventually get a job as a welder, a trade he was worked in before, either in Baker City or Pendleton.

“I don’t want to be a stick in the mud,” Harlan said. “I’m planning to move forward.”

Carter said he is also a widower.

Christina Witham, a Baker County commissioner, said on Wednesday that she is aware of the situation with the methadone patients and New Directions Northwest’s efforts to help the people return to their communities.

Witham said she wants to ensure that the patients get the help they need and that their presence in Baker City doesn’t overwhelm the local resources available.

On Thursday morning, Oct. 10, employees from New Directions Northwest were at Motel 6, meeting with patients and making arrangements for them to leave Baker City.

One of the patients, Ryan Coble, said he and his girlfriend, who are fentanyl users, arrived in Baker City on Monday from Medford, where they were living in a campground in the city.

Coble said he was approached in Medford by someone, apparently from Divine Right, who told him about the methadone program in Pendleton.

“We came up here to get clean,” Coble said.

Then, soon after he was driven to Baker City and after a single visit to Pendleton for methadone, Coble said he learned that the program was ending. He said and his girlfriend were told they would be driven to Pendleton, where they would stay for four or five days before being driven back to Medford.

Police involvement

Baker City Police Chief Ty Duby said in an interview earlier this year that police officers became aware of the program when patients were staying at a different motel in Baker City this summer.

Duby said he researched Divine Right Transportation but wasn’t able to learn much about the company.

According to the Divine Right website, the company offers “non-emergency transportation (NEMT), we transport individuals to appointments, therapy sessions, methadone treatments, pharmacy visits or other locations approved by the local service definitions.”

The company offers services in these counties, according to the website: Baker, Deschutes, Douglas, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Lake, Malheur, Umatilla, Union, and Wasco.

Duby said police have been called to several incidents, including trespassing and suspicious persons calls, involving methadone patients staying at local motels.

An employee at Motel 6 who requested anonymity said as many as 18 patients have stayed at the 40-room motel recently.

The employee said some patients have been helpful, including sweeping the motel’s parking lot.

But there have also been problems, including apparent drug deals, the employee said.

Patients have also caused significant damage to several rooms, including smoking tobacco and marijuana even though smoking is not allowed in any rooms.

The employee said at least one patient staying at the motel was arrested recently.

According to court records, a Baker City Police officer arrested Cody Christopher Benton, 37, on Sept. 18, on charges from Cowlitz County, Washington, including second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a stolen vehicle.

The Motel 6 employee said patients have been staying in at least two other local motels.

Lind, the New Directions clinical director, said employees confirmed on Tuesday that methadone patients were staying in at least two local motels.

Amy Bacher, health policy communications offer for the Oregon Health Authority’s health coverage transformation team, wrote in an email to the Baker City Herald that there are multiple organizations statewide that offer methadone treatment, and “many local entities provide transportation and other services for people seeking access” to such programs.

Greg Baxter, Baker County district attorney, submitted the following statement on behalf of himself, law enforcement, New Directions Northwest and Baker City Manager Barry Murphy, following their meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 8, to discuss the situation:

“Over the last several months, a program called Divine Rights has relocated dozens of individuals to our community from around the Pacific Northwest. Those individuals, who have no ties to Baker County, are living in local hotels and are being bused to Umatilla County for methadone shots. No one from the county or city leadership was consulted prior to these individuals being brought to Baker County.

Today’s article in the Baker City Herald did a good job of articulating the struggles that these individuals are going through as they fight their addictions. Despite the desires of some participants to live a clean and sober lifestyle, the Divine Rights Program has been a disaster.

These individuals have become a drain on our local resources, because Baker County is not equipped to handle the large amount of people that are now in our community. The Baker City Police Department, which is already understaffed, has spent countless man hours responding to calls including assault, disorderly conduct, drug dealing, trespass, etc. The Baker County Sheriff’s Office has also had to dedicate their time to responding to calls involving these individuals. New Directions Northwest and the Emergency Room have been overwhelmed with crisis calls for people that are having mental health crises, overdoses, and other issues.

In the last few days, the Divine Rights organization has stated that they are leaving Baker County. Crisis workers from New Directions Northwest are assisting these individuals to return to their hometowns, if they so choose. In the meantime, law enforcement and our local treatment providers will continue to work to help the individuals who are now stuck in Baker County, while still striving to help Baker County citizens stay safe.”