Newspapers have been a part of my life for so long that sometimes I take them for granted. I shouldn’t. Because when you take a step back and take a good long look at your local paper, you’ll be amazed at all the things you’ll find between its pages.

Take last week’s edition of the Blue Mountain Eagle, for example. The front page had three local news stories — one on the outcome of the Grant County elections, one on John Day’s proposed budget and one on graduation at Long Creek School — plus a regional story about a shortage of medication-assisted drug treatment centers in Eastern Oregon.

Inside we had four more local news stories plus a two-page Sports section with stories about the Grant Union/Prairie City baseball team‘s final game of the season, the Grant Union/Prairie City softball team‘s march through the state playoffs and a Prairie City football standout‘s plans to continue playing in college, plus the weekly “Shooting the Breeze” column, written by one of our regular contributors, and a story on Bend’s Pole Pedal Paddle competition, one of Oregon’s most demanding sporting events.

Of course, just about all of those stories were illustrated with photos of local people.

We had another contributor-written column (“Farmer’s Fate”) on the Opinion page, as we do almost every week, plus a couple of letters to the editor, an editorial and a couple of cartoons that probably made some people’s blood pressure rise.

There was a three-page Home & Garden section, with a couple more staff-written stories and a few informative pieces provided by the OSU Extension Service. We also had a three-page advertising section congratulating graduating seniors at several local high schools, complete with their senior portraits (look for another three-page section in this week’s paper).

Then there were all the other regular fixtures, such as the weekly weather forecast (which is occasionally correct and usually at least in the ballpark), a calendar of local community events, a half-page police blotter (which our analytics tell us is consistently one of the best-read items in the paper), the Seniors column (written by our contributors from the John Day, Monument and Prairie City senior centers), and the Comics page, with eight strips designed to give you a chuckle plus a crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search game and horoscope. 

Don’t forget the obituaries (three) and death notices (five), which will probably all wind up in family scrapbooks. (The week before we had a birth announcement, another scrapbook-worthy announcement commemorating a happier occasion).

We had three pages of Classified ads, including a service directory, help wanted ads and a big crop of legal notices (it’s budget season), plus a two-page insert advertising all the specials at Huffman’s Market.

And of course, as we always do, we had a good number of paid advertisements from local businesses, government agencies and community groups, along with the weekly church directory. 

When you think about it, that’s a lot of good stuff crammed into 22 pages of newsprint. But wait — there’s more! You can’t overlook GO! Eastern Oregon, our weekly arts and entertainment supplement, with 20 pages of regional events listings, stories on cultural happenings from all over Eastern Oregon and more ads for local businesses.

And that’s just the print edition. There’s a whole lot more on our website, including extra puzzles and games, lots of stories from our news partners throughout Eastern and Central Oregon, and bonus content from Sports Illustrated and The Street.

We try to provide something for everyone, week in and week out. As always, you’ll find a big red “Subscribe” button down at the bottom of this newsletter. If you’re not a subscriber already, maybe now’s a good time to sign up.

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Having trouble accessing the Blue Mountain Eagle online? We can help. We want you to get full value out of your Eagle subscription, and that includes seamless access to our website and our cellphone app.

We know that navigating online platforms can be tricky, but our office manager, Alix Hand, is a whiz at this stuff, and she’s available two days a week to provide our subscribers with in-person assistance. Stop by our office at 195 N. Canyon Blvd. in John Day during business hours on Wednesday or Friday and let Alix help you get connected. For best results, bring your smartphone, laptop or tablet with you.

There’s also an online directory of help videos to show you how to activate your account, log in to the e-Edition and more at https://eomediagroup.com/docs. If you have problems, our customer service center is full of nice people who can help you — call them at 800-781-3214 or send an email to support@eomediagroup.com.

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As always, if you have comments or questions about the Eagle, or want to pass along a story idea, send me an email at this address: editor@bmeagle.com.

— Bennett Hall, Editor