OFF PAGE ONE
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
East Oregonian
WWII:
Continued from Page A1
a more urgent issue with
construction of the Radis-
son Hotel on a portion of
the nearby Eastern Oregon
Regional Airport parking lot.
Opinions differ in Pendle-
ton as to their fate. Commer-
cial banker Mike Short
served on the Eastern Oregon
Regional Airport Commis-
sion until last year. He said,
“I’ve heard gossip that some
people would just like to
eradicate the guardhouses.
There might be more traffic
now, with the hotel.”
Retired Army aviator Col.
Tim Kelly, board member of
Pendleton Air Museum, said
the guardhouses need to be
protected until they can be
restored.
“They’re in dilapidated
condition, almost falling
down,” he said. “The airport
commission has talked about
fixing them up for years, but
nothing has been done. The
chain link fence surrounding
the hotel project is leaning on
one. Elvis’s (Bar & Grill) has
stored things in one of them.”
Another Pendleton resi-
dent concerned for the
historic structures is Kate
Dimon, chair of Pendle-
ton Urban Renewal Grants
Committee and vice chair
of the Historic Preservation
Landmarks Commission.
“A long lorry could hit
Tim Kelly/Contributed Photo
Tim Kelly/Contributed Photo
The construction site of the Radisson Hotel on March 21,
2022, abuts the World War II guardhouses at the Eastern
Oregon Regional Airport, Pendleton. Some are again calling
for the preservation of the historic structures.
Fencing from the construction site of the Radisson Hotel
encroaches March 21, 2022, on one of the World War II
guardhouses at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport,
Pendleton.
them,” the Irish native said.
Her solution is to move
the guardhouses to the west
end of the airport, near
the National Guard’s B-25
bomber.
“It would be brilliant,”
she said. “The vacant space
next to the plane is a shared
government and city owned
property, so that is a possi-
bility. The gates are in Walla
facility, I asked if they would
move them down to our loca-
tion,” he said. “Of course
they said it couldn’t be done
because of their historic
value. What we ended up
with at the facility is a poor
replica of one of the guard-
houses.”
Kelly said he thinks they
should stay where they are
but with a small park or view-
Walla. We could probably
get them back. My husband’s
family has been in this
community since the 1870s,
so Pendleton’s history holds
a place in our family.”
Kelly said he considers
moving the guardhouses to
be more trouble than they are
worth.
“When we were building
the new (National Guard)
ing area around them.
“Besides, they’ve been
there over 80 years and
haven’t been hit by a semi
truck yet,” he said.
Army veteran and mili-
tar y vehicle collector
Anthony Bowman, Pend-
leton, also favors leaving
the gatehouses in place, but
adding a little park with
benches. To solve the traffic
Rescue:
Omicron:
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
But the loosened restric-
tions also came as the BA.2
“subvariant” arrived in
Oregon. Beginning last week,
OHA has started tracking
BA.2 cases, which have been
small but rising. Analysis of
waste water around the state
has shown traces of BA.2.
Nearly all states have been
showing a rapid decline in
cases. The BA.2 infections
are seen as the main reason
nine states are now showing
a reversal in the trend.
BA.2 has spread rapidly
in Asia and Europe. Twice
as contagious as its already
superspreading cousin BA.1,
the BA.2 virus has caused
a tsunami of new cases in
China, which is reporting its
highest infection rate of the
29-month pandemic, which
began in Wuhan at the end of
December 2019.
The World Health Organi-
zation reported 18 European
countries are seeing a rise in
new cases.
The WHO said March 25
that BA.2 was able to spread
because of what it called
premature removal of mask
and other social distancing
rules.
But the mixed messag-
ing from medical and polit-
ical sources continues.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has
announced the state of emer-
gency that’s been in place
since March 2020 will end
on April 1.
New York ended its
vaccine mandate for athletes
and performers. Los Angeles
Help arrives
Midmorning July 3,
Postma heard voices above
him. His voice was hoarse
from yelling back and forth
to Watson, but he grabbed a
stick and banged it loudly on
the ground to attract atten-
tion. About half an hour
later, Postma’s father Adam
Otteson appeared along with
Carter, who had decided to
return despite his injuries
because of worry about his
friends. Otteson rushed to
the site after learning about
the fall. Postma couldn’t
see Watson from where he
lay, but he and Carter soon
learned their friend was
gone.
“It was pretty terrible,”
Postma said.
Paramedics reached the
spot and attended to Carter’s
and Postma’s injuries. A U.S.
Forest Service fire crew from
Ukiah dug trail to the bottom
and created a helicopter
landing zone. Another team
devised a system of ropes
in case a helicopter rescue
wasn’t possible. A National
Guard Black Hawk hoisted
the two men from the canyon
bottom and flew them to St.
Charles Medical Center,
Bend.
Saying goodbye
Postma spent almost two
weeks in the hospital while
Carter was released to heal at
home. Holli Hill postponed
her son’s memorial service
several weeks until both
friends could attend.
On that day, three
busloads of soldiers from
Watson’s National Guard
unit in the Willamette
Valley arrived in their dress
blues, bringing with them
a Howitzer with the name
Cody imprinted on the
barrel. Postma, a helicop-
ter mechanic with the avia-
tion unit in Pendleton, said
members of his unit also
attended. Many had gotten
to know Watson, who was
planning on joining the unit
after flight school.
Those who knew Watson
can’t quite believe he is gone.
“Cody was an exceptional
young man,” said Sharon
Gaines, his grandmother.
“Truly. He was our corner-
stone.”
It’s been a rough year for
the family. Holli’s husband
Kyle Hill died in Septem-
ber 2020. The day of Cody’s
accident was Holli and Kyle’s
first wedding anniversary
since Kyle’s death.
“It was a beautiful hot
summer day,” she said. “We
were supposed to be camp-
ing in the mountains. All
three of those boys were
supposed to be going to my
Drone:
Continued from Page A1
Sharon Gaines/Contributed Photo
Cody Watson sports a sharpshooter medal he won in March 2020, while deployed in Qatar.
camp for the weekend.”
Sharon’s husband Gene
died this fall. As a boy,
Cody and his grandfather
spent a lot of time tromp-
ing around in the woods
together, Sharon said. “I’m
sure they’re in a duck blind
somewhere in Heaven telling
stories.”
Gratitude to
responders
Gaines, an insurance
agent and member of the
Blue Mountain Insurance
Professionals, which recently
donated $5,000 to Umatilla
County Search and Rescue,
thanked the people who
responded to the fall.
“What most people don’t
understand is that these
people are volunteering
their time to put themselves
in harm’s way to help our
fellow citizens when they’re
in a bad situation,” she said.
“It’s a huge county that goes
from the desert to the moun-
tains and everywhere in
between.”
Carter and Postma also
expressed gratitude to first
responders.
“Search and rescue did a
really great job,” Carter said.
“They worked as a team. It
took a while for them to
get down there, but that’s
because of how hairy it was.
They assisted us all the way
through.”
“It was very challenging,”
said SAR Supervisor Dwight
Johnson, who organized
much of the rescue opera-
tion. “It was a narrow area,
very hazardous.”
Not being able to rescue
Watson still bothers John-
son even though he knows
responders did all they could.
“It wasn’t the outcome I
wanted,” he said.
Carter still grapples with
guilt about not getting to the
pickup faster despite his inju-
ries and lost glasses. Gaines
rejected that notion.
“The first time he saw me
(after the fall), he said, ‘I’m
sorry I failed,’ “Gaines said.
“He didn’t fail in any way. He
was heroic.”
Postma has returned to
work and recently started
running again. But even
as his body heals, his mind
often strays to Watson.
“Nothing will ever
replace him,” he said. “Part
of Kyler and I died up there
with him. That’s just how it’ll
always be.”
leton, the Oregon Legisla-
ture passed a law that allows
Oregon UAS ranges from
disclosing any records that
might cause a “competitive
disadvantage” for the testing
facilities. Pendleton is given
wide discretion over what a
disadvantage entails.
Speaking more broadly,
Abling said range customers
usually are required to “stand
down” after a crash, keeping
their drones grounded until
they can determine the root
cause of the crash and fix the
issue.
This isn’t the first time
a drone has crashed at the
Pendleton range. In 2018, a
drone belonging to defense
contractor PAE crashed in a
wheat field and also caused a
fire. No one was hurt in the
incident.
Abling said test ranges
exist so companies can test
out their technologies in a safe
environment, and crashes
A9
issue, he suggested an alter-
native.
“Just slightly reroute
Airport Road, to a smooth
curve instead of the hard
left turn past the gatehouses
now,” he said.
Kelly said if the city spent
$2 million to resurface the
runways, “there should be
room in the budget for a little
historical restoration.”
Other suggested sources
of funding include dona-
tions from Radisson, the
National Guard and military
and commercial users of the
Pendleton Unmanned Aerial
Systems Test Range.
Air por t Commission
Chair Jeff Guenther, owner of
Web’s Rod and Gun, said he
expects the issue of what to
do about the guardhouses to
come up at the commission’s
April meeting.
“We may form an opinion
and pass it onto the city coun-
cil for action,” he said. “I value
the history of that airport, but
we haven’t formally discussed
it. I’ve heard some behind the
scenes talk.”
His fellow commissioner,
Pendleton High School
Assistant Principal Curt
Thompson said this issue
comes up every few years. He
said he was in favor of restor-
ing them in place.
The April 5 commission
meeting will come 13 days
before the 80th anniversary
of the Doolittle Raid, whose
volunteers passed through
those gates in 1941.
schools have ended mask-
ing. The U.S. Capitol will
reopen for public tours this
week. Hawaii was the last
state to end indoor masking
mandates earlier this month.
The rate of people getting
a first shot of vaccine has
dropped off since early in the
year.
While President Joe Biden
continues to ask Congress for
an increase in COVID-19 aid,
the White House Easter Egg
Roll is on for the first time
since 2019.
All omicron variants so
far have proven to be signifi-
cantly more contagious than
previous COVID-19 spikes,
with the latest OHA statis-
tics showing 61.9% of new
infections were in unvacci-
nated people, while 37.7%
were vaccine “breakthrough
cases.” Of those, 52.7% were
fully vaccinated and boosted.
Most federal, state and
local political leaders across
the country have said they
won’t impose new restric-
tions unless a more viru-
lent variant appears. In the
United States, the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration
and Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention are
considering a request from
vaccine-makers Pfizer and
Moderna to approve a second
booster shot for either the
elderly or all adults. The shots
have already been approved
for immuno-compromised
people and some foreign
nations, including Israel, are
offering the fourth shot to the
general public.
A federal advisory panel
is meeting April 6 to discuss
vaccination policy, but action
could come earlier.
are occasionally a part of the
process. As drone operations
continue to shoot up across
the U.S., Abling said more
crashes are a natural effect.
“There’s always going to
be a risk in aviation,” he said.
Amazon is testing in Pend-
leton as a part of its Prime Air
program, which aims to use
drones to deliver packages to
customers who order prod-
ucts on their website. Amazon
joins Verizon and other large
companies who are testing
out unmanned vehicles for
commercial purposes.
But not all companies
follow through with prod-
ucts that go to market. PAE
was one of the drone range’s
most prominent customers in
its early years, but the Virgin-
ia-based company pulled up
its stakes in 2020 and sold its
assets to a smaller company.
Amazon itself is facing
questions over the future of
its drone program. Business
Insider reported Amazon
Prime Air has struggled
since launching in 2013
and has yet to complete a
commercial delivery.