Oregon Public Broadcasting

The U.S. House approved the Wall Street rescue package Friday by a larger margin than many expected. The President has now signed the bill. And besides the $700 billion to Wall Street, rural Oregon counties are celebrating their surprising turn of fortune. Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey reports.

What a long, strange trip it’s been.

There have been seemingly hundreds of fits and starts and promises of the billion-dollar federal subsidy to timber-dependent counties.

But now, Josephine County Commissioner Dwight Ellis says barring the unforeseen, his prayers may have been answered.

Dwight Ellis: “I’m sorry that we are in a financial crisis in this country, I think in the end it actually helped Jospehine County. But you get beat so many times, you get skeptical – ‘Did this really happen?’ I was watching the vote, biting my fingernails. I may have a glass of wine tonight.”

Ellis says the vote will give Josephine County $12 to $15 million in the coming year, and then less in the three years following.

Among other things, that money will keep the county jail open and prevent a number of sheriffs from being laid off.