REGION
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
East Oregonian
A3
Pendleton loses ‘pillar of the community’
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — One of
Pendleton’s longest tenured
residents, Elnor Alkio, died
Dec. 12. She was 105.
Don Potter, her friend
and caretaker, said she had
suff ered a stroke in July that
left her prone to seizures, one
of which led her to fall and
hit her head. When doctors
told her she would never
fully regain her health, Potter
admitted her to a hospice. She
died early Dec. 13, he said.
Potter said he’s been
friends with Alkio for 26
years and her caretaker for
16.
“She was a great person,”
he said. “She was a pillar of
this community.”
Living to 105 years old
and having spent most of it in
Pendleton meant Alkio was a
major historical resource for
residents and visitors alike.
According to an East Orego-
nian story published near her
100th birthday, her grandpar-
ents arrived in the Northwest
on the Oregon Trail, and after
settling in Pendleton, her
grandfather sold buggies and
wagons prior to the automo-
bile era. Her father ran a laun-
dry service before switching
to farming after World War
I, growing wheat and canola
in the area where Wildhorse
Resort & Casino is now.
Alkio followed in her
mother’s footsteps by attend-
ing Oregon State University
— which was Oregon State
College in Alkio’s time and
Oregon Agricultural College
in her mother’s.
Alkio spent 30 years
teaching home economics
to Pendleton’s middle and
high schoolers and even-
tually started a business of
her own with a friend, an art
gallery named the Collector’s
Gallery, 223 S.E. Court Ave.
She eventually took over the
business herself and turned
it into an antique store. In
1991, Alkio bought the build-
ing housing the Collector’s
Gallery, a structure histor-
ically known as the LaDow
block.
Completed in 1884, the
building was one of the
town’s main commercial
hubs. When Alkio took over
the deed, she became only the
third owner in the building’s
history.
Potter said Alkio loved
talking about Pendleton
history with customers and
visitors, sometimes spending
hours going over the life and
E.J. Harris/East Oregonian, File
Pendleton resident Elnor Alkio on Nov. 21, 2016, sits in her
antique shop, the Collector’s Gallery, in Pendleton. Alkio
turned 100 that day. She died Dec. 12, 2021, at the age of 105.
times of the town.
“She was a wealth of
knowledge,” he said. “She
knew everything about every
building in this town, the
Bank robbery suspect out of prison on compassionate release
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — The man Herm-
iston police arrested Friday, Dec. 17,
following a bank robbery was out of
federal prison on compassionate release.
Cliff ord Uptegrove, 58, of Yakima,
remains in the Umatilla County Jail,
Pendleton, on charges of fi rst-degree
robbery, fi rst-degree theft and felony
fl eeing and unlawful use of a weapon.
State court records show Circuit Judge
Christopher Brauer on Dec. 20 set Upte-
grove’s bail at $1 million.
The robbery occurred Dec. 17 just
before 3 p.m. at Umpqua Bank, 450
N. First St., Hermiston, according to
Hermiston police Chief Jason Edmis-
ton.
He said preliminary information
showed that moments after the robbery,
a Umatilla County sheriff ’s deputy spot-
ted the suspect in a vehicle in the area
of Northwest Geer Road west of Home
Depot. That led to a vehicle chase on
Theater Lane and eventually to North-
east Harley Lane. The deputy tried to
stop the suspect, but he took off driv-
ing again.
Hermiston police took the lead in the
chase, Edmiston said, and police video
shows the suspect pulled over, and to
prevent him from fl eeing again, a Herm-
iston offi cer in a pickup parked against
the driver’s door and pinned him in.
“They they took him out at
gunpoint,” Edmiston said.
While no one was injured in the
robbery, according to Edmiston, it was
an “incredibly traumatic situation for
the employees at the bank.”
Records show Uptegrove has a
history of robbing banks.
The United States Attorney’s Offi ce
for the Western District of Washing-
ton in 2005 issued a press release about
Uptegrove, then 41, going to federal
prison for more than 20 years plus fi ve
years probation after he pleaded guilty
to armed bank robbery and using a fi re-
arm during a crime of violence.
According to the press release, police
caught Uptegrove in March 2004 after
a robbery at the Riverview Community
Bank in Hazel Dell, Washington, and
during questioning he admitted to nine
robberies of credit unions from 2001-
04, including twice hitting the Kenne-
wick Community Federal Credit Union,
Kennewick, and robbing the Oregon
Central Credit Union in Portland three
times.
Federal court records show Upte-
grove was serving time at the Federal
Correctional Institution, Otisville, a
medium-security prison near Otisville,
New York, and had a release date of
March 17, 2022. But Uptegrove in 2020
sought compassionate release.
Uptegrove suff ered from asthma,
according to court documents, and
was at an increased risk of developing
COVID-19.
According to the order for his
release, the court found Uptegrove
took “commendable strides to grow
and change while in prison, completing
a number of self-help and educational
programs in anticipation of his eventual
release and maintaining a clean disci-
plinary record for the last nine-plus
years.”
The court also ordered him to live
with his sister in Yakima, where he
could “rehabilitate in a smaller commu-
nity with family nearby, while off er-
ing his sister, who is struggling with
lymphoma, the help she needs.”
U.S. Senior District Judge Marsha J.
Pechman signed the release order Nov.
17, 2020, freeing Uptegrove from prison
14 days after and immediately placing
him under supervised release.
Edmiston said as far as the Herm-
iston robbery goes, police were plan-
ning on obtaining a search warrant for
the vehicle Uptegrove drove to look for
money from the bank and the gun he
may have used.
Uptegrove next court hearing is Dec.
28 at 8:15 a.m.
older ones. Everything about
all the old families.”
The LaDow block started
to show its age in recent
years, its windows boarded
up on its second fl oor. Alkio
long desired to restore the
building’s facade and second
story, and even obtained a
grant from the city’s urban
renewal district, but city offi -
cials said she never had the
fi nancial situation to utilize
it.
Potter said he didn’t
know what would happen to
the property because it still
needed to go through the
probate process.
Alkio was preceded
in death by her husband,
George Alkio, who died at
52. She is survived by two
daughters and several grand-
children and great-grand-
children. Potter said he is
in the process of organizing
a remembrance service for
Alkio at the First Presbyte-
rian Church of Pendleton.
Hermiston police
arrest man after
deadly shooting
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — A Herm-
iston man is in jail after a shoot-
ing early Sunday, Dec. 19, left
another man dead.
Hermiston police at about
1:24 a.m. responded to a report
of a man who may have been
shot in the parking lot of Metro
Mart, 1120 W. Highland Ave.,
according to information Herm-
iston police Capt. Travis Eynon
posted on the department’s
Facebook page. Offi cers arrived
and found Kevin James Hines,
27, of Hermiston, unresponsive
and not breathing.
Umatilla County Fire District
No. 1 medics arrived shortly
after and “worked valiantly” on
Hines, according to the post, but
he died at the scene.
The local major crimes
team responded with detectives
from Boardman Police Depart-
ment, Morrow County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce, Umatilla Police Depart-
ment, Umatilla County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce, Pendleton Police Depart-
ment and Umatilla Tribal Police
Department. Those detectives
and Hermiston police detectives
and offi cers worked through the
night investigating the crime.
Police at about 8:05 a.m.
arrested Ethan Matthew Bowe,
23, at his Hermiston resi-
dence and booked him into the
Umatilla County Jail, Pendeton,
for fi rst-degree murder, unlaw-
ful use of a weapon and tamper-
ing with evidence.
“This was not random,”
according to Eynon’s post, “and
there is no reason to believe
anyone else is in danger.”
Eynon also stated the
Umatilla County District Attor-
ney’s Offi ce will be the point of
contact for any further press
releases.
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DIAMONDS • GEMSTONES
14K GOLD • STERLING SILVER
JEWELRY REPAIRS
LIGHT UP
A LIFE
FUNDRAISER
Vange John Memorial Hospice
Invites the community to support your local hospice through this
fundraiser which takes place during the month of December.
Your contribution to Vange John Memorial Hospice will illuminate a
symbolic light in a window display area provided by Victory Baptist
Church on Main Street. You may dedicate your light in honor of someone
you admire or in memory of someone you miss.
All memorials and honoree names received during the campaign will be read
January 9, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. on our local radio station, KOHU 1360 AM and will
be shared on Good Shepherd Health Care System’s Facebook page. An MP3
recording is available upon request.
A meaningful gift, your contribution will help you celebrate the life of loved ones
during the holiday season and help us meet the needs of our hospice patients and
their families all year long.
Join us for the Light Up A Life
Memorial/Honoree Reading of the Names
Broadcast on KOHU 1360 AM or
@gshcsnews
January 9, 2022 | 6:00 p.m.
*Also, join us this spring for a Community Memorial Service in the park!
Loftus Jewelers
Open Monday through Friday at 10am
INCLUDING CHRISTMAS EVE
541-276-3715 • 257 S Main Street
Enclosed is my tax-deductible contribution of $ ____________________________
Name ______________________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________________
City/State/Zip ___________________________ Phone ______________________
* Suggested donation for each memorial/honoree: $15
Please mail check payable to: Vange John Memorial Hospice
645 W. Orchard Ave., Suite 500 | Hermiston, OR 97838 (541-667-3543
Your canceled check will be your receipt. (A Division of Good Shepherd Health Care System)
Please place a light & ornament in the window display to celebrate the life of:
1. __________________________________________________________________
Send acknowledgement of this gift to: Name ______________________________
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2. __________________________________________________________________
Send acknowledgement of this gift to: Name ______________________________
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