OFF PAGE ONE
Friday, June 28, 2019
East Oregonian
A7
Hero: Korean War veteran will lead Pendleton’s Fourth of July parade
Continued from Page A1
ics appears on his Bronze
Star citation. Sergeant Rich-
ard D. Allstott, it reads, “is
cited for heroism in action
against an armed enemy near
Tumyong-dong, Korea, on 12
June 1952. Sergeant Allstott
had set up his machine gun
on hill 191 in support of his
unit which was intrenched
(sic) on the hill. Exception-
ally heavy mortar and artil-
lery fire rained on the entire
area and communist aggres-
sors launched three succes-
sive counter attacks on the
positions. Sergeant Allstott
stalwartly remained at his
post and poured deadly accu-
rate fire at the foe.”
When injured Ameri-
can soldiers were trapped by
heavy fire, the citation con-
tinues, “Sergeant Allstott
provided immediate protec-
tive fire for them, and as a
result of his quick thinking
these casualties were suc-
cessfully evacuated. When
it became necessary for the
unit to move into a new posi-
tion, Sergeant Allstott boldly
moved his machine gun to a
new location and again laid
down a curtain of cover fire
for his comrades.”
It is pretty heady stuff, but
Allstott, 90, just waves it off
and refuses to elaborate.
A photo from that time
shows Allstott as a robust
21-year-old dressed in Army
fatigues, his hand resting on
his gun. Now 90, the veteran
agreed to talk a little about his
time in the military. He sat on
the couch in the living room
of his Pendleton home with
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Richard Allstott was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism
during the Korean War when the machine gunner remained
at his post during heavy enemy mortar and artillery fire.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Richard and Dorothy Allstott married shortly after Richard returned from fighting in Korea.
his cane handy and his wife,
Dorothy, nearby. Tangney
listened from a chair.
Allstott described grow-
ing up on a wheat farm
between Heppner and Con-
don as the second oldest of
six children. At age 14, his
older brother left to fight
in World War II. Richard
got a special license to take
over driving the 25 miles to
Heppner for school. After
graduation, he worked at
McNary Dam and was pre-
paring to travel to India
to work on a construction
crew there when he got his
draft notice.
“I got a letter from Uncle
Sam that said he needed me
worse,” Allstott said, grin-
ning. “I went to work for
him.”
He enlisted in the Army
and spent several months
stateside before heading to
Japan and then Korea. All-
stott and his fellow soldiers
climbed off their ship onto
a landing craft and went
ashore. He remembers the
bitter cold that assaulted
them as they rode in trucks
for several hours until stop-
ping around midnight.
“We pawed out space in
the snow and put our sleep-
ing bags in the holes,” he
said. “Not too many of us
undressed.”
This was no Shangri-La.
The temperature dipped as
low as minus 40 degrees.
Allstott took to wearing
three pairs of socks. The
outer pair, he said, froze to
his boots.
As Allstott spoke, Tang-
ney went back in time, too,
remembering not only the
bitter cold, but the sorrow
Newspapers: Purchase of
Observer, Herald becomes final
of losing his brother there
during the Battle of Heart-
break Ridge. The battle was
one of the major engage-
ments in the hills of North
Korea, near the pre-war
boundary between North
and South Korea.
It was on Heartbreak
Ridge where Allstott was
injured trying to evacuate
an injured comrade. The
soldier was a big man who
had gotten his legs blown
off. Allstott and another sol-
dier named Joe laid the man
on a stretcher and carried
him up a hill to a trench.
About then an enemy gre-
nade landed in the trench.
“It rolled right under the
stretcher and exploded,”
Allstott said. “Joe and I both
got blown out of the trench
about 40 feet. The guy on
the stretcher was killed.”
La Grande Observer Photo/Ronald Bond
The EO Media Group’s purchase of The Observer and Baker City
Herald from Western Communications was authorized Thurs-
day. The sale becomes final July 1.
at. It’s that unyielding pas-
sion that got us through
some incredibly stressful
days.”
Brogoitti
said
she
believes there are brighter
days ahead with new owner-
ship in place and a renewed
sense of optimism in both
locations.
“Now, we get to reap the
benefits of that hard work,”
she said. “The EO Media
Group saw a smart and prof-
itable investment and a ded-
icated, loyal staff.”
According to court docu-
ments, the EO Media Group
bought the two community
newspapers from West-
ern Communications for
$775,000.
Rush said EO Media
Group is only buying the
newspapers and business
equipment, not the real
estate in La Grande. The
Herald is in a leased space
in downtown Baker City.
The Observer will likely be
relocating from their current
home on Fifth Street to new
office space in La Grande
sometime this summer.
Rush, who will add La
Grande and Baker City to
his role as regional pub-
lisher of the Eastern Ore-
gon group, said for the near
term there are no signifi-
cant operational changes
planned.
“The EO Media Group is
hiring all current employees
in both the La Grande and
Baker City operations,” he
said. “Readers and adver-
tisers will have the same
printing, publishing and
delivery schedule for both
newspapers.”
Brogoitti will remain in
charge of day-to-day opera-
tions in both locations as the
publisher.
The papers officially
become part of the EO Media
Group July 1.
Homes: City considers urban renewal
Continued from Page A1
more focused on paying for
projects that will improve
the health or safety of a
homeowner.
Additionally, previous
city programs like Restore
Pendleton would make a
financial effort to fix up
a home, only to see it fall
back into disrepair.
To avoid duplication or
previous pitfalls, the advi-
sory committee is consid-
ering a five-year forgiv-
able loan program that can
be applied toward external
renovations.
Under the program,
homeowners would be
able to give their houses
a facelift on the commis-
sion’s dime, as long as
they can pass a series of
inspections.
With
each
passed
inspection, the home-
owner would get 20% of
their loan forgiven. If the
owner passes all inspec-
tions after five years, they
owe nothing.
Denight said the pro-
gram could also be avail-
able to renters, but they
likely wouldn’t be able to
access a fully forgivable
loan.
If
the
commission
moved forward with the
loan idea, it wouldn’t lack
the funds to sponsor it.
If they relied on tax
revenue alone, the urban
renewal district could
spend another $5.9 mil-
lion on projects. But if they
decided to access their full
line of credit, that number
expands to $33.5 million.
local post, he won the state-
wide “Mr. VFW” award in
1970. At a recent state con-
vention, he received a life-
time achievement award.
Allstott is a patriotic
man. He flies a flag year-
round in his yard, near the
porch swing where he likes
to sit every day. He said he
feels no ill will against his
country for his hearing loss,
which eventually required
cochlear implants.
“I felt that I was pretty
lucky to get by like I did,” he
said. “Uncle Sam treated me
pretty good.”
The parade, kicking off
at 10 a.m. on July 4, starts at
the Pendleton City Hall, fol-
lows Dorion Avenue to Main
Street, turns onto Court Ave-
nue and ends at the Pendle-
ton Convention Center.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0810.
Demonstrators: Urge Republican
senators to stay away for rural Oregon
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
The two new acquisitions
join the East Oregonian,
Hermiston Herald, Wallowa
County Chieftain and Blue
Mountain Eagle as the EO
Media Group’s properties in
Eastern Oregon.
“The joining together
of these outstanding news
and advertising operations,
with four of them located
along the I-84 corridor, will
mean greater resources and
opportunities for both local
and regional news report-
ing. And that’s a good thing
for readers in all markets,”
EO Media Group Regional
Publisher Chris Rush said.
Western Communica-
tions, which also owns
the Bend Bulletin, filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection in January. The
company first sought to
restructure, then decided
to liquidate its assets. This
was the second bankruptcy
for Western Communica-
tions in the past 10 years.
It emerged from another
bankruptcy in 2012.
The Observer and Baker
City Herald Publisher Kar-
rine Brogoitti said to finally
reach this milestone was
something she couldn’t
fathom a year ago.
“When things were their
toughest or looked incred-
ibly bleak, the thing that
kept me, and everyone else,
going was that commitment
to what we do,” she said.
“The pride and passion that
these staffs have for their
papers, their communi-
ties, their readers and their
advertisers is something
that I continue to be amazed
The concussion affected
Allstott’s eardrums and he
headed home with profound
hearing loss.
Back in Oregon, Alstott
shook off the war. He mar-
ried Dorothy, started a fam-
ily and worked on a ranch.
Later, they moved to Pend-
leton where he worked for
the county road department.
Over the years, he never
talked much about his war
experiences, Dorothy said.
Tangney knew about
them, though. He said he
didn’t have to push hard to
get Allstott selected as grand
marshal for Pendleton’s
Fourth of July parade even
though there were several
other good nominees.
“He won on the first bal-
lot with 85 percent of the
vote,” Tangney said of the
local VFW committee that
selected Allstott.
This isn’t Allstott’s first
VFW honor. Active in the
just saying that to get the
senators to come back.”
The disbelief high-
lighted a tension that’s
also occurring within the
Senate. Though the cham-
ber’s leaders have given
assurances they will not
seek to pass HB 2020 this
year, Republicans have so
far been unwilling to take
them at their word. And
while the ongoing boycott
initially started as a way
to block the bill’s passage,
GOP senators have since
floated other concessions
they’d like to see.
Still, at the same time as
demonstrators were cheer-
ing lawmakers’ absence,
there were signs it might
not last much longer.
Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-On-
tario, told OPB on Thurs-
day afternoon that he’d
returned to Oregon from
Idaho, where he’d stayed
since June 20.
Bentz said negotiations
were still fluid, but that
he’d heard Oregon state
troopers had been told to
stand down from orders to
find Republicans and bring
them to the Capitol. He
said lawmakers might be
making an announcement
Friday morning.
“I wouldn’t recommend
it, how’s that?” Bentz said,
when asked about his time
away. “When it comes to
political tools in the tool-
box, you don’t want to use
that one very often and
the challenge is quite dif-
ferent than anything I’ve
experienced.”
The situation left law-
makers and Capitol staff
uncertain Thursday. If
Republicans returned, they
planned to attend mara-
thon floor sessions over the
weekend as the Legislature
hammered out remaining
policy and budget bills.
If Republicans held out
until after adjournment at
midnight on Sunday, they
wondered when Gov. Kate
Brown would call a special
session, as she has vowed
to do.
In a release Thurs-
day, Senate Minority
Leader Herman Baertsch-
iger Jr., R-Grants Pass,
didn’t address ongoing
negotiations.
“The amount of sup-
port for the Senate Repub-
licans is unprecedented,”
Baertschiger
said
of
demonstration. “The peo-
ple have rallied in soli-
darity to have their voice
heard at the Capitol. We
encourage the press to
go out and talk with the
people.”
While those in Thurs-
day’s crowd were united
in their support for Repub-
licans and dismay for the
particulars of climate leg-
islation, there was also
clear confusion about some
of the bills they’d come to
oppose. In particular, log-
gers voiced strong fears
about House Bill 2007, a
bill aimed at addressing
older diesel engines in the
state.
Loggers with whom
OPB spoke almost uni-
formly believed their
machines would be out-
lawed under the bill, since
it sets a phase-out period
where the state will not
issue titles or registra-
tions for vehicles that have
diesel engines of a cer-
tain age. But, as it stands
currently, logging trucks
and off-road vehicles are
exempt from that regu-
lation, and only owners
who live in Clackamas,
Multnomah and Washing-
ton counties are subject to
regulation.
Cunningham, whose
husband works for a Phi-
lomath logging company,
cited HB 2007 as a central
reason she traveled to the
Capitol.
“This bill would abso-
lutely impact and affect
his livelihood in the most
negative way,” Cunningh-
mam said. “It would put
a lot of guys out of busi-
ness because most of their
equipment is really old.”
Loggers at the rally
also voiced concerns about
House Bill 2020, which
is expected to raise fuel
prices and would allow
companies to offset their
pollution by ensuring that
some forested areas are
not logged. A late amend-
ment to the bill attempted
to ensure that loggers and
mills did not lose busi-
ness due to those offset
provisions, but the impact
of that amendment’s lan-
guage has been debated.
“They’ll end up selling
carbon credits instead of a
timber sale, which puts me
out of work,” Poetter said.
“If this bill goes through,
our jobs are gone.”
The
rally
spurred
heightened police pres-
ence in the Capitol, with
state troopers patrolling
every floor of the build-
ing. And with no Legis-
lation being taken up, it
tipped the statehouse’s
typical aesthetic of drab
businesswear toward fluo-
rescent shirts and camou-
flage hats.
Rep. Shelly Boshart
Davis, R-Albany, has a
background in farming
and trucking, and was a
member of the commit-
tee that crafted HB 2020.
After addressing dem-
onstrators on Thursday,
Boshart Davis acknowl-
edged that there was some
misinformation in the
crowd. She attributed that
up to an opaque legislative
process, where changes
to bills can be difficult to
track.
House Bill 2007 “has
definitely been a source of
misinformation and truly
the focus of these indus-
tries’ concern is definitely
House Bill 2020,” Boshart
Davis said. She said rising
fuel and natural gas costs
under the cap-and-trade
program proposed by the
bill would hurt the entire
state.
“A lot of people talk
about the rural-urban
divide,” she said. “Defi-
nitely that is a concern, but
really truly this is going
to be costly for all Orego-
nians when you talk about
energy prices going up.”
An analysis of the cap-
and-trade proposal com-
missioned by the Legisla-
ture has suggested the bill
could lead to an increase
in jobs and the state’s gross
domestic product.
Boshart Davis, a key
opponent of HB 2020, said
she wasn’t sure whether
Democratic
assurances
to kill the bill were trust-
worthy. But she was non-
committal when asked
if Republican senators
should remain scarce until
the session adjourns.
“I’m concerned about
what a special session
looks like, so all of that has
to be weighed,” she said.
“But them staying away
has made this possible.”
———
OPB reporter Lauren
Dake contributed to this
report.