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Volume LII • Number 13
‘City
of
Roses’
Summer of
Sound
Historic Journey
Begins
Celebrating
the music and
the musicians
Ketanji Brown
Jackson seated on
Supreme Court
See A&E, page 10
See story, page 6
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • July 06. 2022
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Columbia
River
Tragedy
Kevin McDowell
Man feared drowned
after hero rescue
Clark County is asking voters in Vancouver and the surrounding area to increase the sales tax to pay for police body camer-
as in an attempt to bring greater transparency to law enforcement actions. The proposal has drawn cautious support from
the Vancouver NAACP. (AP archive photo)
Cautious Support for Body Cams
Clark County sends
measure to voters
By Beverly Corbell
The Portland Observer
Voters in Vancouver and Clark County
will decide this summer if it backs a very
small increase in the sales tax to provide
police body and dashboard cameras for
its sheriff’s deputies. The proposal, Prop-
osition 11 has drawn cautious support
from the Vancouver NAACP and will
appear on the ballot Aug. 2 during Wash-
ington’s Primary Election.
Karen Bowerman, chair of the Clark
County Council, led a recent discussion
of the proposition where different mem-
bers of the justice system outlined the
effects of using the cameras.
Primarily, the cameras would make
the sheriff’s office more accountable to
the public, Clark County Sheriff Chuck
Atkins said.
“It would allow us to be more trans-
parent. Our community clearly wants
that,” Atkins said. “We’ve been work-
ing on this for a couple of years so it
won’t be hard for us to implement.”
If passed, the tax will increase county
sales taxes by 0.1 percent, an increase
of one penny for every $10 spent. Coun-
ty finance director Mark Gassaway said
the tax would yield about $12,000 per
year in added revenue.
Other areas of law enforcement could
benefit from the funding over the long
run, such as providing new revenue to im-
prove jail conditions, add diversion pro-
grams to lesson incarceration needs, or
hire more sheriff’s deputies, officials said.
Jasmine Tolbert, president of NAACP
Vancouver, told the Portland Observer
she believes that using police body and
Continued on Page 12
On Sunday June 26, Kevin McDowell
was boating in Portland on the Columbia
River near Lemon Island when a woman
was struggling to swim. In his heroic final
act, McDowell, 35, jumped in to help her
swim to safety while he tragically lost his
life in the life-saving action.
McDowell was well known in the com-
munity and the owner of the Capitol Bar.
Back in February, the establishment was in
the news when it was struck by an SUV
which forced the bar to temporarily close.
Although this was a big loss to McDowell
and his partner Dessiree Guy, they were
determined to get the establishment back
up and running and support staff members.
McDowell's mother Rhonda Jackson
shared a description of her son after the
swimming tragedy with KPTV news, de-
scribing him as “eloquent, loving, giving
and patient.” He would often tell her, 'Mom
it's everything, it's all love.'”
A gofundme has been created by one of
McDowell’s sisters, Trayanna Enriquez,
to help with her brother’s funeral expens-
es. You can visit gofundme.com/f/tq2w-
pz-kevin-mcdowell to make a contribution.
A body was recovered in the Columbia
River, and on Tuesday, it was confirmed to
be Kevin McDowell.