NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, April 7, 2022
OSP staff remembers McDowell as an ‘upstanding individual’
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
LA GRANDE — Members of
the Oregon State Police are reeling
after the sudden loss of one of their
own last week.
“It’s devastated our region,”
retired OSP patrol Sgt. Kyle Hove
said of the death of Sgt. Marcus
McDowell. “He has friends all
over, not just Union County (and)
Wallowa County. He has friends in
Baker, Umatilla (counties) — he has
worked the whole state.”
McDowell, 48, was found dead
in his patrol vehicle in front of
his Joseph home the afternoon of
March 29 of a single gunshot wound
to the head.
An investigation determined the
gunshot wound to be self-inflicted.
OSP stated McDowell was on duty
at the time of his death.
“Our hearts go out to his family,
friends, and co-workers as they cope
with this tragic incident,” OSP said
in a statement March 31.
Those who worked with McDow-
ell remembered him for his strong
work ethic, for his smiling personal-
ity, for being a friend, and for caring
for those around him during an OSP
career that spanned 17½ years.
“He was a wonderful human
being,” said La Grande-based East
Region Capt. Daniel Conner. “He is
going to be sorely missed by every-
body for a long time.”
McDowell spent the majority of
his career in Union and Wallowa
counties, but got his start with
OSP Sept. 1, 2004, being initially
assigned to the John Day outpost,
Conner said. He was later trans-
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Members of Oregon State Police carry the flag-draped casket of Sgt. Marcus McDowell out of Loveland Funeral
Chapel, La Grande, on Monday, April 4, 2022.
ferred to La Grande and worked out
of Northeastern Oregon for the rest
of his career.
“Marcus has always been a
very motivated and driven state
trooper,” Conner, who has been with
OSP since 2005 and said he knew
McDowell most of his career, said.
“He’s got a very good work ethic. He
comes to work ready to go, always
gives 110%.”
McDowell spent five years as a
K-9 handler based in La Grande,
and followed that with five years in
the Fish and Wildlife division. He
also spent time in drug interdiction,
where on patrol he would search
for vehicles suspected of transport-
ing illegal substances, seeking to
disrupt drug trafficking through
patrol interdiction.
“Marcus, he loved his job,” said
Hove, who McDowell replaced as
patrol sergeant for the La Grande-
area in March 2020. “He was a hard
worker. He was very productive. He
was active in the community. Back
when we were doing interdiction
and stuff on the freeway, he was so
good at his job. He has some incred-
Forecast for Pendleton Area
ible seizures of all kinds of different
things.”
Patrol Trooper Kainoa Delatori,
who worked with McDowell the
entirety of his six-year OSP career,
and even prior during a stint with La
Grande Police, said McDowell was
the “resident expert” when it came
to drug interdiction work, and some-
one he would consult often.
“We talk on a daily basis,” Dela-
tori said. “I would pick his brain
when it came to work on (interdic-
tion) stuff. We got pretty close the
last couple years.”
Delatori also commented on
McDowell’s impeccable work ethic,
and called him a man with whom
you knew where you stood.
“That’s one of the things I
respect most out of Marcus,” Dela-
tori said of McDowell’s work.
“After that long, a lot of people get
burned out or they fade off. (But)
he had the most stops in the office
month in and month out. One thing
I really looked up to him (for) is his
work ethic. He would actually put
in the work.”
Hove described McDowell as the
person called on when an extra hand
was needed on a scene. He said he
was always available, whether early
in the morning or late in the evening.
“He’s the guy who would always
be at work, always be there,” he said.
“He was the guy you called. … Say
you’re working a case, whatever the
case may be, Marcus would always
stop by and see if you needed any
help.”
Delatori, who was one of the OSP
troopers to respond to the scene in
Joseph, called the loss of his friend
a shock.
“It’s something that I pray in the
next 20 years of my career I never
have to deal with again,” he said.
Conner said in losing McDow-
ell, the OSP is losing an “upstanding
individual.”
“We’re losing a great friend,
employee, a supervisor, just a mentor
in general to others, a leader —
Marcus is all of those things,” he said.
“More importantly, he’s just a friend.
It’s taking a devastating toll on all of
us that have worked with him over
the years. It’s hard to deal with. It’s
very difficult to deal with a loss.”
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A fl urry in the
morning; breezy
Mostly cloudy and
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2.93"
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85/50
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Price tag on Wallowa Lake Dam soars
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By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — The
price tag on the proposed
refurbishing of the Wallowa
Lake Dam has jumped to
about $21 million, said Dan
Butterfield, president of the
Wallowa Lake Irrigation
District, leaving the stake-
holders wondering where the
extra money will come from.
The district, which owns
the dam, hopes to break
ground on the project in the
fall of 2023, after the irriga-
tion season ends that Septem-
ber. The Legislature added
$14 million in state lottery
funds to its budget last year
for the project that was origi-
nally estimated to cost about
$16 million.
Now the district and the
other stakeholders have to
figure where to find the addi-
tional money.
“We’re going to want
to make sure we have the
funding lined up before we
start. We’re not spending
any money until we get the
$14 (million),” Butterfield
said. “We’re going to wait
and make sure we have our
money before we get started.”
He said the district board
has agreed to hold off spend-
ing until it actually receives
the lottery money and
determines how to make
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up the difference.
Seeking extra funding
The major stakeholders
of the dam include the irri-
gation district, the Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife, the Nez Perce
Tribe’s Department of Fish-
eries Resources Manage-
ment and the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation. Minor stake-
holders also are involved,
including the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, which has
jurisdiction over bull trout;
the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
and the Oregon Department
of Environmental Quality.
A spokesperson for Sen.
Bill Hansell, R-Athena, shed
a little light on the funding
issue.
“First, we brought the
larger stakeholder group
together to talk about prog-
ress on all projects within the
Wallowa Basin that relate to
fish passage or irrigation
efficiency,” said Ann Rava,
Hansell’s legislative assis-
tant. “The Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife
announced that they will
be able to contribute $1.25
million toward design and
engineering work for both
the Wallowa Lake Dam fish
passage and the fish passage
for the Consolidated Ditch.
The Wallowa County Soil
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52 weeks
$135
42 percent
26 weeks
$71
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$37
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and Water Conservation
District shared that they will
be going after some federal
funds related to a down-
stream project.
Fish passage
One of the major issues
in designing the dam is what
kind of fish passage there
will be.
Butterfield said no agree-
ment on that issue has been
arrived at by the stakehold-
ers yet.
Wallowa County native
Mort McMillen, the engi-
neer on the project, said a
fish passage to allow both
upstream and downstream
migration of fish is being
worked into the project. It
will be determined by the
stakeholders based on the
plans his firm comes up with.
The fish passage is a
crucial element of the dam’s
new design. In fact, state
law requires the inclusion
of a satisfactory fish passage
in the dam, according to Jim
Harbeck, field office super-
visor of the Nez Perce Tribes
Department of Fisheries
Resources Management.
Jeff Yanke, a watershed
manager with the ODFW,
said in August it’s up to the
engineer to select a type of
passage.
“We’ve been talking
concepts and it’s up to them
to pick one,” he said.
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Wallow County Chieftain, File
The price tag to refurbish the Wallowa Lake Dam has soared from the originally estimated
$16 million to a new figure of about $21 million, according to the Wallowa Lake Irrigation
District, which owns the dam.
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24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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4.36"
through 3 p.m. yest.
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