Praying for Those in Authority: Douglas County

Umpqua River, Douglas County, OR

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. Psalm 23:2

We are moving south from Lane County into the southern coast region of Oregon, or really the Southwest Region. This is a five-county region in the southwest corner of the state, with three counties bordering the Pacific Ocean: Douglas, Coos, and Curry. The largest, and next in line after Lane, is Douglas County.

Douglas, like Lane, stretches from a little strip along the coast where Reedsport and Winchester Bay are located, to the Umpqua National Forest on the eastern edge of the county. Highway I-5 cuts down through the middle, running through Roseburg, the county seat, about half-way down. The county was named for Stephen A. Douglas, a politician who supported Oregon statehood.

This is a heavily timbered county with 1.8 million acres of commercial timberland. About 1/3 of the working population has jobs in the forest products industry. Other industries are agriculture, including a strong wine industry in the Umpqua Valley, orchards, and sheep ranching. While the National Forest is popular for hiking and camping, a fun event over on the coast at Reedsport is the annual Oregon Divisional Chainsaw Carving Championship held on Father’s Day. This year it is June 15-18th. About half the county is federally owned land, managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

Douglas County, OR
The circuit riders are fascinating, and Douglas County had it’s share, establishing and preaching at churches of various denominations: Christian, Methodist, Presbyterian. One gentleman who was not a circuit rider, or even a minister, nevertheless left an imprint in Douglas County’s spiritual life, establishing an early Church of Christ congregation in Roseburg in 1889. The members met in the home of Charles Augustus Sehlbrede, who studied law in Indiana, came by train to Oregon in 1877 and was admitted to the Oregon Bar in 1878. He served as a state representative in the Oregon House. Later, President McKinley appointed him as U.S. Commissioner at Skagway, Alaska during the Alaskan Gold Rush. While there, he presided over the coroner’s inquest for Soapy Smith, a well-known con man who ran organized criminal organizations in Colorado and Alaska. Soapy Smith died in 1898 in what became known as the Shootout on Juneau Wharf. After this stint in Alaska, Charles Sehlbrede returned to Oregon and his practice of law. He and his wife lived in several places around Oregon, but in each location he started or supported a local church. They finished their days in Corvallis, leaders in the Corvallis First Christian Church.

Douglas County is governed by a three-member Board of Commissioners who are elected to four-year terms and paid a salary. Currently they are Tom Kress (chair), Chris Boice, and Tim Freeman.

The District Attorney is elected to a four-year term. The current DA is Rick Wesenberg who was sworn into his fourth term in January, 2021. The County Clerk is Dan Loomis, who has lived in the county for 26 years.

The County Sheriff is John Hanlin.

  

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