FROM PAGE ONE
SATURDAY, JULY 3, 2021
BUSINESS
Continued from Page A1
The Observer, File
Eddie Cascio, shown in his La Grande home in 2015, owned a Las Ve-
gas restaurant, Pizza Roma, frequented by Elvis Presley. He died on
June 17, 2021, at 80 years old.
CASCIO
Continued from Page A1
The Cascio family
moved to Long Island,
New York, in 1956,
where they ran a motel
and restaurant. Although
he did not graduate high
school, Cascio learned
English and earned his
GED while working at the
pizzeria. It was there that
he developed a love for
food and serving others,
which he never stopped
pursuing.
“He loved making food,
cooking and catering to
people, that was where he
was the happiest,” Colleen
Cascio said. “It was always
elegant, never sloppily put
together. He had a lot of
pride in the food that he
put out, whether we were
in Las Vegas or California
or La Grande.”
In New York, Cascio
and his siblings worked at
the family restaurant and
enjoyed holiday vacations
to Upstate New York and
the surrounding area.
“He was a lot older than
me, so he was almost like
a parent to me. He would
take me to the park and
he helped me learn how
to cook,” Claudio Cascio,
the youngest Cascio sib-
ling, said. “Every summer,
we would go on hunting
trips and pick cherries and
spend every Fourth of July
on the Hudson River.”
In 1972, the family
moved to Las Vegas,
where Eddie and his father
owned a motel and restau-
rant. Within months,
Cascio became a small
celebrity with his pop-
ular guests and frequent
appearances at the casinos
around town.
“I would say that would
be the best years of my
life, as far as having a
good time,” Cascio said in
a 2015 interview. “Because
in Las Vegas, you know
how it is, Elvis said if you
see it once, you’ll never be
the same again.”
Las Vegas celebrity on
screen and streets
In Las Vegas, Cascio
fi lmed several commercials
and would go out wearing
his Elvis suit, greeting
pedestrians and always
saying yes to pictures. He
also had minor roles in sev-
eral fi lms, but his love was
always his restaurant.
Pizza Roma didn’t just
introduce Cascio to celeb-
rities and their fans — he
met his wife when she
walked in looking for a job.
“I was a teenager and I
went in there one day for
lunch after school and I
asked him if he had any job
openings,” Colleen Cascio
recalls. “I started washing
dishes and I worked my
way up, and I got to know
him very well.”
Colleen Cascio looks
back on the memories of
her husband with a fond-
ness for his “bigger-than-
life” personality, which she
believes was the reason he
found friends wherever he
went.
In 1983, the couple
moved to a farmhouse in
Elgin, and they owned the
Cock & Bull restaurant
in La Grande. According
to Colleen Cascio, Eddie
Cascio was tired of the
fast pace of Las Vegas
and had wanted a simple
place to retire, but he fell
in love with the La Grande
restaurant.
Although Cascio was
raised Catholic, he was
never particularly religious
until he started studying
with Jehovah’s Witnesses
around the time the couple
moved to Elgin. After sev-
eral years of being involved
in the church, Cascio was
baptized in 1991. From this
point forward, religion was
a big part of his life.
“I was very happy when
I saw he had found his
calling through religion,”
Claudio Cascio said. “We
didn’t always agree, but I
think it was really good for
him and made him a better
person.”
Eddie and Colleen
moved back to Las Vegas
for four years following
Cascio’s father’s death,
but they decided to return
to La Grande, where they
owned Palermo’s, a restau-
rant in Island City, between
1997 and 2004.
Enjoying a quiet life
in Eastern Oregon
In 2004, the stress of
the restaurant became
overwhelming, and Cascio
unoffi cially retired. For
several years, he was
able to enjoy a quiet life
working on classic cars
and attending services
at the Jehovah’s Wit-
nesses Kingdom Hall. He
also drove cars all over
the Pacifi c Northwest for
Legacy Ford and ran a
painting business for sev-
eral years in La Grande.
However, Cascio’s sep-
aration from the restau-
rant industry was cut short
when the couple bought the
Sugar Shack in La Grande
in 2019. Unfortunately, the
business became too much
of a hassle and closed after
three months.
On Nov. 23, 2020,
Cascio was driving along a
highway when he collided
with a log truck, which
caused damage to his
health for the next several
months. Along with a phys-
ical disability, his mental
health began to suff er, but
he never let the accident
aff ect his positive attitude.
“After his accident,
things changed for him. He
became closer to God, and
he grew much deeper in
his faith,” Colleen Cascio
said.
Cascio died on June 17,
from complications from
a gallbladder disease. He
is remembered as the larg-
er-than-life personality
who was willing to help
anyone with any problem,
no matter the size.
“If anyone ever needed
help, he would fi nd a way
to help, no matter what,”
Claudio Cascio said. “A lot
of people loved him, and
his legacy is the guy who
put his most into every-
thing, no matter who he
was with or what he was
doing.”
A service will be held at
a later date. Arrangements
are by Daniels-Knopp
Funeral & Cremation
Center in La Grande.
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required’ sign up and
are making masks avail-
able, but we haven’t been
enforcing it so much,” Sean
Lerner, a barista at La
Grande’s Liberty Theatre
Cafe, said. “Employees here
are still going to be wearing
masks, maybe until the vac-
cine rates go up more.”
The cafe opened in Feb-
ruary and does not have
indoor seating options, par-
tially because the tables
have not been built. Lerner
has noticed a wide variety
of reactions from customers
regarding their lack of
indoor dining options.
“We’ve had some angry
people, some have been
mad about it, but most
people have been pretty
understanding,” Lerner
said.
Some residents think
the restrictions should have
been lifted months ago.
“The restrictions should
have been taken back six
months ago,” Shari Webb,
THE OBSERVER — A5
of Summerville, said. “I
believe in herd immunity.
I’m old, I have medical
issues, but if I get it, I get
it. If you’re old, and you get
it, who says you’re going to
die?”
Experts seem to
disagree.
A 2020 study from the
Glenn Center for Biology
of Aging Research at Har-
vard found that adults older
than 65 represent 80% of
COVID-19 hospitalizations
and have a 23 times higher
chance of death than those
younger than 65.
However, with Union
County now averaging only
two new cases per day,
many residents are eager to
leave their houses with less
fear, and business owners
are ready to welcome them
back.
Another change with
the new state laws is that
bars can stay open until
2:30 a.m. Since the onset of
the pandemic, Oregon bars
have not been open past
midnight.
“We can stay open later,
now until 2:30, and it makes
a huge diff erence because
a lot of the time, younger
people are coming out at
11 or so, so they’re able to
spend more time in here,”
Patsy Davidson, a manager
at Longbranch Bar and Eats
in La Grande, said.
Longbranch has been
operating at half capacity
for most of the pandemic,
which can be inconvenient
for business.
“It’s nice to be able to
have full capacity because
people by themselves aren’t
going to be taking up a
whole table or part of the
bar,” Davidson said.
Archie Hook, pastor
at First Christian Church
in La Grande, says he is
looking forward to having
services at full capacity.
“It’ll give us a sense of
well-being, and we won’t
have to be so afraid,” Hook
said. “I think if this pan-
demic has done anything,
it’s taken away our fellow-
ship, and we’re looking for-
ward to getting that back.”
A local church was con-
nected to one of the biggest
COVID-19 outbreaks over
the past year. Last spring,
more than 240 COVID-19
cases were linked to the
Lighthouse Pentecostal
Church in Island City.
The First Christian
Church has required masks
since it reopened in the
summer of 2020, but has
now lifted that rule.
“We’ve had social dis-
tancing, masks and lim-
ited capacity, but it feels
relieving to not require
masks anymore,” Hook
said.
Armando Robles,
owner of La Fiesta Mex-
ican Restaurant & Lounge,
La Grande, agrees that
the updated rules create a
better experience for cus-
tomers. For several months
the inside dining room
was closed, but it has now
opened back to its normal
capacity.
“It’s great having cus-
tomers back in here,”
Robles said. “Without our
customers, we are nothing.
We are only here because
of them. So it’s great being
able to see people’s faces
again.”
WEATHER
Continued from Page A1
Carman described it as
a “train wreck.” Still, he
spoke like he felt more for-
tunate than rattled.
“I can replace all this,
but I can not replace a
son,” Tom Carman said.
Shortly after the wind-
storm hit something else
remarkable happened —
four men with chain saws
off ered to help cut up
the fallen tree and other
wooden debris in the yard.
The men waited patiently
for two hours until Oregon
Trail Electric Cooperative
representatives indicated
that it was safe to proceed.
The volunteers then worked
feverishly for close to two
hours to clear the Carmans’
front yard of its debris.
“Even people I didn’t
know were helping. They
just jumped on it,” Tom
Carman said. “It is amazing
how people come together.”
The thunderstorm’s
strong winds also hit the
portion of V Avenue that
runs directly across the
south side of Greenwood
Elementary School hard.
One falling tree seriously
damaged the rear portion of
a Toyota owned by Cindy
Willcoxon, a V Avenue
resident.
Willcoxon was terrifi ed
when she saw clouds from
the thunderstorm coming in
because they had a funnel
type look and she said they
behaved like those of a tor-
nado. She instantly tried to
get her son into one of the
safest places one can be
during a tornado.
“I told my son to get into
the bathtub,” Willcoxon
said.
Willcoxon understands
tornadoes well because her
father grew up in Nebraska,
where tornadoes are
common, and told her a lot
about their behavior.
Willcoxon said she
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Bev Carman walks out of her La Grande home on Thursday, July 1, 2021, after a severe windstorm and
thunderstorm uprooted a massive spruce tree next to her home the night before, damaging her car
and collapsing the porch awning and roof. The tree, according to insurance inspectors, showed no
signs of rot and was otherwise healthy.
remained rattled after the
storm.
“I was so scared I could
not sleep,” she said.
Wind readings at La
Grande/Union County Air-
port indicate that there
were gusts of up to 42 miles
per hour on Wednesday,
according to the National
Weather Service offi ce in
Pendleton. The wind which
hit north La Grande was
likely much higher.
“The wind must have
been blowing at least 50 to
60 miles per hour to create
as much damage as it did,”
said Roger Cloutier, a fore-
caster for the National
Weather Service in
Pendleton.
was restored before or just
after midnight and most
homes and businesses in
La Grande had their elec-
tricity back on by 2 a.m. on
Thursday, July 1. All OTEC
members in Union County
had their power restored by
10 a.m. Thursday.
Union County OTEC
crews, assisted by linemen
called in from Baker
County, worked for 13 to 14
straight hours to get power
lines running again.
“It was an all-hands-on-
deck situation,” Hathaway
said.
Two power poles blown
down by the high winds
had to be replaced.
Power outages
The thunderstorm coin-
cided with the outbreak of
about 27 small wildfi res in
Northeastern Oregon and
Southeastern Washington.
Lightning strikes from the
storm ignited six of the fi res
and the causes of 10 are
unknown, according to the
Blue Mountain Interagency
Dispatch Center’s website.
All of the wildfi res were
one-tenth of an acre or less
except for the three-acre
The high winds dam-
aged a number of elec-
trical lines, leaving many
homes without power. A
total of 1,700 Oregon Trail
Electric Cooperative mem-
bers lost electrical power
in La Grande and 1,000
members lost their elec-
tricity in the Elgin-Im-
bler area, according to Joe
Hathaway of OTEC. Power
in the Elgin-Imbler area
Wildfi res ignited
Clear Fire 19 miles west of
North Powder, whose cause
is unknown. The Clear
Fire today is contained and
all of the others are con-
trolled, according to Renae
Crippen, manager of the
Blue Mountain Dispatch
Center.
High heat
The June 30 thunder-
storm struck after another
day of extreme heat. The
high temperature for La
Grande on June 30 was
104 degrees according
to a reading at the Union
County airport. At another
La Grande area site the
high temperature was 108
degrees according to an
observer for the National
Weather Service. Both read-
ings topped La Grande’s
previous June 30 record of
99 degrees.
The 108-degree mark
ties La Grande’s all time
record, fi rst set July
18, 1960, according to
data from the National
Weather Service cited in
The Observer at the time.
The record was tied four
decades later on July 13,
2002.
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