There’s nothing like an election to get people fired up — and remind them of the value of their local newspaper. 

One measure of the enthusiasm generated by this week’s balloting is the number of letters to the editor that have been appearing in the Blue Mountain Eagle. Normally, I get one or two letters a week, but in the run-up to the May 17 primary, that trickle has swollen into a flood. Last week we dedicated our entire Opinion page to letters — all of them focused on the election — and the week before we had to add a second page to hold them all. We love to see all of these people writing to their local newspaper, and we cherish the role we play in providing a forum for these kinds of civic debates.

Because of our publication deadlines, we won’t be able to publish the results of our local elections in our May 18 print edition — that will have to wait until our May 25 paper.

But don’t forget our website! We’ll be staffing the Grant County elections office on Election Night to cover the county commissioner race and the pool bond vote, and we will be posting stories on the results to www.bluemountaineagle.com as soon as possible after the polls close at 8 p.m.

This week’s edition will feature stories on rising wolf numbers in Grant County, a possible law enforcement levy, John Day’s interim city manager, a land sale in the Innovation Gateway, the latest on the city’s greenhouse and a proposed library land swap.

And in case you missed it, last week’s paper offered a fascinating glimpse into the world of elite firefighters, 60 of whom converged on the Grant County Regional Airport for intensive training in rappeling out of helicopters and other high-level skills. Other stories focused on the Tyler Smith trial, the Grant School District budget, plans for new fiber optic internet lines, and the still-unbeaten Grant Union softball squad.

Finally, I have a favor to ask: If you can spare seven minutes, please take this online survey. Each year we do a check-in to get to know you, our reader, a little better. This helps make sure we’re covering the topics our community is most interested in. We’ll use the aggregate data as we review our content. We appreciate the time you are taking to complete this.

As always, I want to take this opportunity to thank our subscribers for their support. We can’t do this work without you!