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Thursday, August 5, 2021
East Oregonian
Sunset:
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ence seven-and-a-half years
ago and was in the hospital
for 10 months.
“Once I was discharged, I
wasn’t fully functional,” Bent
said. “I had pretty serious
cognitive impairments and
then I went through a recov-
ery cycle of doing a lot of
different alternative therapy.”
This experience changed
his perspective, and he said
he became more opportu-
nistic about what could help
people. He said this led him
into executive and life coach-
ing and a desire to help others.
He wasn’t looking to get
involved with senior hous-
ing but was introduced to
Sun Ridge through its listing
agent, Haven Senior Invest-
ments, where Bent serves as
partner and chief operating
officer.
“The more I looked at
Sun Ridge and the more I
got educated on Pendleton, I
felt very comfortable that it
would be a good place for me
to support,” Bent said.
While Haven Senior
Investments will be over-
seeing and managing Sun
Ridge, according to Bent the
daily operations will mostly
be handled by Kelly Parker,
who has already been filling
in for the Bieglers whenever
they’ve left town and will
become general manager on
Aug. 16.
While this is Bent’s first
retirement community,
Rolly Biegler said he felt
good about the transition
and Bent’s abilities. Biegler
said the new company has
been trying to keep them
Farmer:
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fighters asking if he could
bring his bulldozer to help
them in the fight.
For more than a week,
he said he was positioned at
the heart of the fire, where
the embers hopped over
the roads and smoke trails
ran up the hills among the
steep canyons. But when
he arrived, he realized most
bulldozers were attached
with more safety equipment
than his. He felt somewhat
out of his league, he said,
but he added there were
plenty of men around his
age driving tractors.
“It’s a job for loggers,”
Piercy said, “not farmers.”
One night, he got the
opportunity to push a trail
with his dozer through what
he described as a hotspot.
“It was exciting,” he
said. “I felt protected
because of everyone around
me, but I also know there’s
a level of protection they
can’t offer you in a fire. A
lot of smoke.”
Piercy said he was
fascinated by the way
firefighters used science,
weather patter ns and
other strategies to curb the
spread of the blaze.
East Oregonian, File
Don Carter, left, a Portland attorney representing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, auctions the Sun
Ridge Retirement Community on Aug. 17, 2005, on the steps of Umatilla County Courthouse, Pendleton. Principal Bidders
Dan Pinkos, of Illinois, and Rolly Biegler, of Pendleton, are side-by-side in the middle of the sidewalk. Biegler won.
as close to it as possible and
they will continue to help run
the community for the next
month or so.
Additionally, there also
will be two assistant manag-
ers who have been there
for about 15 years and will
continue in their roles as
assistant managers. Because
of this, Bent said there will
be good continuity from
Rolly and Carol’s leadership
because the team mostly is
staying the same.
Bent said he had one
He also said he was
pleased with the efficiency
of supporters, noting
the large meals his team
received throughout the
day, which he estimated
to be thousands of calories
daily. Each morning they
received fresh coffee, hash
browns, eggs, sausage,
cold cereal, milk and juice.
During the day, they ate
sandwiches, vegetables,
apples, canned tuna, bags
of nuts and chips. Every
night they received a salad
and a warm meal.
“It’s logistically amaz-
ing,” he said.
Restaurants in towns
up to two hours away over
windy gravel roads fixed
meals for the firefighters.
Schools received funds
for allowing firefighters to
camp in their yards. Every-
body in town who wanted
to work and help out could
get a job, he said. They were
serious about saving their
forests.
“It’s an industry,” he
said. “It energizes those
towns.”
Although he enjoyed the
experience, Piercy said he
doubts he’ll ever fight a fire
like the Elbow Creek Fire
again.
“I’ve realized,” he said,
“this is probably a young
man’s work.”
goal: to take the culture the
Bieglers developed and make
it similar but, if possible,
better.
“Rolly and Carol did an
exceptional job,” Bent said.
Rolly Biegler did not
disclose the sale price.
Umatilla County records
show it has an assessed
value of about $2.4 million.
It’s completely self-con-
tained and has independent
apartments with kitchens,
along with six more private
cottages. When it went up for
auction in 2005, the Bieglers
outbid Dan Pinkos of Glen
Ellyn, Illinois, for $572,000
in 2005, according to East
Oregonian archives.
The facility went up for
auction in 2005 after the U.S.
Department of Housing and
Urban Development fore-
closed it due to the owner’s
debts to HUD, which did not
release the amount of debt.
According to Debbie
McNeal, the manager at the
time, only about one-third
of the apartments had been
filled and HUD had prohib-
ited renting more apartments
after it had been foreclosed.
But, since buying the
business, Rolly Biegler said
he and his wife have been
able to keep it about 90-92%
full for the most part. And
the number hasn’t really
changed during the COVID-
19 pandemic, where they
haven’t had a single case in
the facility.
Bent is planning on
putting in a new roof on the
main building because it is 50
A9
years old and then spruce up
the place a little further. But,
while the new owners are
trying to keep the Bieglers
close, “To say it’s gonna be
exactly the same as before
is kinda impossible,” Rolly
Biegler said.
As for the structure for
residents and activities,
everything will be kept simi-
lar except when they find
“further services or activi-
ties that would be beneficial,”
Bent said.
“Last thing I want is
anybody going into a senior
housing facility feeling like
they’re being tucked away
there to wait to pass away,”
Bent said. “I want to help
them feel purposeful and
connected to the commu-
nity.”
And, for Rolly and Carol
Biegler’s transition into
retirement, Bent said he was
“honored to have the oppor-
tunity to be a support of
them to move on to that part
of life.”
Rolly Biegler said he has
never made a decision that’s
affected so many people in
his life.
“It’s sad because it’s a new
change in their lives,” he said.
“A new change in our life.”
He said they were looking
forward to their own retire-
ment and the community has
been supportive of their deci-
sion — especially as they’re
all retired themselves. Addi-
tionally, he wanted to thank
the community for their
support over the years, the
people who have helped with
maintenance, their vendors
and the people of Pendleton
for their support.
“Without them,” Rolly
Biegler said, “we couldn’t
have done it.”
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acquired Mountain West
Moving & Storage, another
La Grande business.
Once a steadfast presence
through Eastern Oregon,
PGG methodically sold its
assets after the dissolution
vote in 2015. In the years
that followed, PGG sold its
energy division, upcountry
elevators and terminals to
other companies. The co-op’s
Umatilla County retailers all
were sold into private hands
and repurposed.
But PGG’s Pendleton
properties took a little longer
to move. The former PGG
Energy building was sold in
2020 to Hines Meat Co., a La
Grande butchery that now
uses the facility as a store
and restaurant. The McGre-
gor Co. of Colfax, Washing-
ton, completed acquisition of
the PGG grain division and
the McKennon Station seed
processing center, which will
continue to operate under the
Pendleton Grain Growers
banner.
But the centerpiece of
PGG’s once extensive hold-
ings was its headquarters at
1000 S.W. Dorion Ave. The
facility includes the co-op’s
former retail showroom,
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A sign in the parking lot of the former headquarters of Pendleton Grain Growers advertises
job openings on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, for drivers with commercial licenses at EO Rentals.
The building in Pendleton sold at auction to Braseth Properties, of La Grande, on July 23, for
roughly $1.8 million. Braseth Properties does business as Eastern Oregon Rentals & Storage
in La Grande, and the family also owns Eastern Oregon Rental & Sales and Mountain West
Moving & Storage.
automotive service center
and warehouse.
The PGG building has sat
mostly empty as the cooper-
ative sold assets elsewhere.
The city of Pendleton consid-
ered the PGG building when
it was trying to decide a new
location for its fire depart-
ment in 2016, but ultimately
opted to build a new facil-
ity on bare land at 1455 S.E.
Court Ave. In 2019, PGG
commissioned renderings
of concepts that could fit the
building, including a a van or
RV conversion business or a
Goodwill-like operation with
retail and workforce training.
By the time the building
went up for auction with a
reserve price of nearly $2
million, PGG had lowered
the asking price from
$2.1 million. When PGG
completed the sale of the
building on July 23, Braseth
Properties bought the prop-
erty for roughly the same
amount as its assessed value.
to a case rate
COVID-19: amounting
that was the highest in the
Continued from Page A1
Boyle said the gover-
nor’s office and OHA have
“been in communication
with Umatilla County
about what assistance or
additional resources they
may need” and added that
the state “will continue to
reach out and stand ready
to assist.”
Re p or t e d COV I D -
19 hospitalizations have
spiked statewide as the
highly contagious delta
va r ia nt r ips t h roug h
communities, infecting
huge swaths of unvacci-
nated people. As of Aug.
3, nearly 380 people were
hospitalized with COVID-
19, the highest total since
January, The Oregonian/
OregonLive reported.
And Umatilla County
has been at the epicenter
of the infection, which
health off icials attri-
bute to the county’s low
vaccination rates. The
county reported 745 cases
during the past two weeks,
state and more than eight
times higher than Mult-
nomah County. More than
22% of all tests conducted
in the county came back
positive during that time
period, the second high-
est in Oregon, according
to state data.
Good Shepherd Medi-
cal Center in Hermiston,
however, is not seeing the
same uptick in hospital-
izations as St. Anthony.
As of Aug. 3, the hospi-
tal had reported just five
COVID-19-related hospi-
talizations during the past
two weeks, according to
Caitlin Cozad, spokesper-
son for Good Shepherd.
But the number of tests
coming back positive at
the hospital has more than
tripled since mid-July,
Cozad said.
Nearly 9,900 people
have contracted COVID-
19 in Umatilla County
since the pandemic began,
according to the county
health department. In all,
the county has reported 94
COVID-19 deaths.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Rochelle Packer assembles COVID-19 testing kits Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, during a free testing event at CHI St. Anthony Hos-
pital, Pendleton. The free testing events will continue each Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through the end of August. Those
tested can expect to receive their results in two to five days, said Steve Hardin, the hospital’s emergency department manager.