Douglas County is one of the more broke counties in Western Oregon.
It is one of many counties that used to get most of its income from federal timber sales. But the sales crashed in the age of the spotted owl, and the money crashed as well.
Voters rejected a tax levy to fund a library district, so the county plans to shut its libraries April 1st.
There is a determinedpro-library faction working to get the libraries open again, led by Save Our Libraries. We visit with News-Review and occasional JPR reporter April Ehrlich in a discussion that includes Save Our Libraries board member Bob Heilman.