Rooting HTC Hero GSM 2.1-update-1 (3.41.61.31)
It sounds like no one has cracked the latest version of your firmware to allow for root access so you will have to downgrade to an earlier version of your stock ROM.  You may have already seen all this in your travels but if not, it may help.  

Warning, this is by no means a definitive guide, but it's my best shot:

Downgrade your firmware:


Here is an old guide on how to downgrade, but it still should be relevant.
Here are old ROMs for your phone.


Root:

This guide over at XDA is pretty comprehensive.  It was last updated in August, but it looks like it was edited just two weeks ago so it should still be good info.  I'd read through the thread and to see how it's been working for people.  There may actually be more relevant instructions later on in the thread.  

Again, I have no idea if this will work, so proceed at your own risk.