DOUGLAS COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 25, 2021
***NOTICE OF HOLIDAY CLOSURE*** Memorial Day – Monday, May 31
(Roseburg, Ore.) The Douglas County Board of Commissioners would like to remind citizens that government offices in the Douglas County Courthouse, 1036 SE Douglas Avenue, Roseburg, Oregon, as well as the Douglas County Justice Building, Douglas County Fairgrounds, Douglas County Museum, Douglas County Courthouse Annex, Transfer Stations, Landfill and All External Douglas County Government Offices will be closed to the public on Monday, May 31, 2021, in observance of Memorial Day. However, the Umpqua River Lighthouse Museum, Café & Gift Shop, Lighthouse Tours and Art Gallery will be open for normal business hours.
As always, even when Douglas County government offices are closed, many officials and public employees are still working. Our Sheriff’s Deputies, 911 communications and DCSO staff will continue to provide law enforcement protection and emergency assistance for our residents. If you have an emergency, call 9-1-1. If you need to reach dispatch for a non-emergency, call the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency number at (541) 440-4471. Also, the Douglas County COVID-19 Response Team, Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, our Public Health Officer, DPHN staff, the DCCRT’s Joint Information Center staff, as well as the Douglas County Commissioners will continue to work on the COVID-19 response regardless of the holiday.
Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday in May to commemorate the brave men and women who have died while in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle while proudly serving in the United States Armed Forces. This year, Memorial Day will be observed for the 153rd time. First observed during the Civil War, this Federal Holiday was originally known as Decoration Day and was a time for the nation to clean and decorate the graves of our war dead with flowers. May was believed to have been chosen because flowers would be in bloom across the country. In 1971, Memorial Day became a national holiday by an act of Congress. Twenty-one years ago, in the year 2000, Congress passed and the president signed into law “The National Moment of Remembrance Act,” encouraging all Americans to pause at 3:00 pm local time on Memorial Day for a moment of silence to remember and honor those who died in service to our nation.
Why is the red poppy flower a symbol of Memorial Day? The wearing of a red poppy flower on Memorial Day dates back to the first world war and the war-torn battlefields of Europe. The common red field poppy was one of the first things to grow amidst the brutalized landscape. It is said that the seeds were scattered by the wind, lay dormant in the ground, and were germinated by the disturbance of the brutal fighting during the war. In November 1918, days before the official end of the war, Moina Belle Michael, an American professor wrote a poem, “We Shall Keep the Faith,” which was inspired by Canadian soldier and physician, John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields.” In her poem Michael mentions wearing the “poppy red” to honor the dead, and with that, the tradition of decorating one’s clothing with a single red poppy in remembrance of those killed in the Great War was born. Moina has since become known and honored as “The Poppy Lady.” Click here to read both poems and learn more.
Even though some Memorial Day celebrations will be limited during the pandemic, your Douglas County Board of Commissioners would like to encourage citizens to join us in finding ways to continue to pay tribute to our brave service men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. #RememberandHonor