Continue to Stand in the Gap: Curry County

Curry County, Oregon coastline

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. Psalm 92: 12-13

Curry County is in the extreme southwest corner of Oregon, bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west, and California to the south. We’ve written about historic shipwrecks and the unique crops grown in the county here, here, and here.

Brookings, with 6,744 population, is the largest town, while Gold Beach, with 2,241, is the county seat. Port Orford, at around 1,133 is the other incorporated town in Curry County.

The County Commissioners consist of a three-person Board that meets regularly in Gold Beach. The current commissioners are John Herzog, chair; Brad Alcorn, and Jay Trost. The County Sheriff is John Ward. His office has been busy, the county dealing with wildfires during the summer besides their usual duties. In addition to being understaffed, the office was hit with a ransomware attack that wiped out twenty years of data and contacts. They elected not to pay the bad guys and have been rebuilding their system. 

Curry County, Oregon
The government of the City of Brookings, the county’s largest town, has been in turmoil this past year. The City Manager had been caught shoplifting, but since it was her first offense and the charges were reduced, the City Council voted to retain her as Manager. The citizens of the city were not pleased, however, and this resulted in much debate over the year among citizens and Council members until finally the residents petitioned for a recall vote, and the mayor, Ron Hedenskog, and two council members, Michelle Morosky and Ed Schreiber, were recalled on November 7th. The Council has 60 days to appoint new leaders, and on December 5th Isaac Hodges became the new mayor with Clayton Malmberg and Pheobe Pareda as the new councilors. The new council is now made up of the two new councilors plus Andy Martin and Kristi Fulton. At this point, the city manager still has her job. (From Currypilot.com Dec 13, 2023) 

After the recall vote, 14 applicants stepped forward for the positions. These were publicly interviewed and “asked questions about goals and priorities for the City, and about current issues impacting city government.” The new mayor has stated the new Council hopes to rebuild trust and improve communication and transparency. See more here.

Pray for the City of Brookings that they can indeed rebuild trust and unity in the community and between the community and the City Council. Pray for ALL involved including the City Manager.  

Prehistoric Gardens
Just for fun - Curry County is an interesting destination for tourists. As was mentioned earlier, a trip down I-5 to California bypasses Curry County, so some of us have missed what is there. Cape Blanco is a state park and there is a lighthouse on a spit of land. This marks the furthest point west in Oregon. Between Gold Beach and Port Orford along the coast is the Prehistoric Gardens, a family-owned attraction with a gift shop and a 30-minute walk through the coastal rainforest where a couple dozen replicas of dinosaurs can be seen through the foliage.  Looks like fun.

Pray for the churches of Curry County.

PS: For those interested, the Oregon Strategic Prayer Call meets Friday by Zoom at 12:00 pm to pray for Oregon. This week includes prayer for Curry County. We begin logging on at 11:30 am.

Zoom Link:  www.zoom.us/j/5419997777?pwd=999777   

Zoom Cloud Meetings app on Smartphone (download from your app store): Meeting ID: 5419997777 and password: 999777 


 


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