More than a century of Wallowa County history is recorded in the bound volumes of the Chieftain. Some of the guests at last week's "Office Hours" at the Chieftain got a chance to take a gander at the volumes. 

Some of you have joined me in the past for sessions I call “Office Hours.” Basically, I stake out a location somewhere in the county, settle in for a couple of hours and invite all comers to come and talk with me about the Chieftain: What could we be doing better? What stories are we missing? Why do we run those particular comic strips? Pretty much any topic related to the Chieftain is fair game during office hours.

I’m excited to announce the next edition of “Office Hours” from 2 to 4:30 p.m. this coming Wednesday (March 20), and we’re planning a couple of twists:

First, I’ll be claiming the home field advantage: We’ll be holding this edition of “Office Hours” at the Chieftain’s offices, 209 W. First St. in Enterprise.

Second, in addition to offering you a chance to talk about the Chieftain, we’ll also be showing subscribers how to take advantage of all the options available in our online edition.

Even if you opt for the printed edition to be delivered to your home, your subscription includes — free of charge — online access once registered. Your online access allows you to peruse wallowa.com without restrictions, and gives you access to our mobile app and e-edition. This opens the door to a treasure trove of content, including interactive puzzles (14 new ones each day, including sudoku, crosswords, word jumbles and number logic puzzles), and stories and features that never make it to the printed pages of our newspaper.

It also ensures on-time delivery, when the weather isn’t cooperating or there’s production or mail issues. Fourteen feet of snow outside? You’ll still find that day’s newspaper delivered promptly to your email inbox, or easily accessible on our website.

Personally, I’m partial to the printed newspaper, but I also like how the online edition offers convenient and timely access to breaking news and updated information on events and business happenings as they happen.

Of course, technology can have its drawbacks. The No. 1 reason subscribers to any of the EO Media Group’s newspapers call our customer service line is for help with their online access or digital subscription. More often than not, our customer service team is able to quickly and easily talk customers through the process of registering their account, changing or retrieving their passwords or other digital concerns. The number is 541-963-3161.

However, if you’re a visual learner, it can be a challenge to communicate over the phone what you’re seeing (or not seeing) on your device to troubleshoot some of these simple problems. Recently, we’ve developed an online directory of “help me” videos to show readers how to activate their account, login to the e-edition and more. These simple, step-by-step videos allow you to walk through the process on your own (and if you’re like me, pause the video every so often and rewind because you missed an important step). If you’d like to check them out, visit eomediagroup.com/docs.

Sometimes, though, there’s no substitute for one-on-one access — and that’s why we’ve scheduled this special edition of “Office Hours” at the Chieftain’s offices on Wednesday, March 20 from 2 to 4:30 p.m. so we can walk you through any registration or access problems you’re encountering, and show off all the special content and features available to you. Bring your digital device with you.

And if the device is working just fine, but you just want to share a few comments about the Chieftain, that’s fine too. We’ll see you Wednesday.

If you can’t make it to “Office Hours,” but still want to register your subscription for digital access of the Chieftain, here’s the easiest way to do that: Call 541-963-3161 to talk to a member of our customer service staff, who will be happy to walk you through the process. It’s easy, takes just a few moments to set up and allows you to take advantage of our e-edition, app and website delivery along with your print subscription.

In the meantime, we’re plugging away on stories for the Wednesday edition of the Chieftain. Many of those stories already are online, including:

• The legislative short session that just wrapped up was the last one for Sen. Bill Hansell, who represented Senate District 29, which includes Wallowa County. Hansell is wrapping up a distinguished career in public service, and Phil Wright, the managing editor of the East Oregonian, traveled to Salem for this story.

• Gov. Tina Kotek’s Housing Production Advisory Council recently released its final report, listing 59 recommendations to help Oregon build its way out of its housing shortage. The co-chair of the council, J.D. Tovey, is from Eastern Oregon and he explained how the council worked — and which of its recommendations strike him as most important for the region.

• Many Wallowa County residents have fond memories of performances by the Los Angeles-based Young Americans performing group. The group is headed back to Wallowa County in April, and plans on holding a three-day performing arts camp for county youths during its stay. Daniel Brooks has a preview story about the event. 

All of this is part of the Chieftain’s efforts to cover Wallowa County news to the best of our ability. As always, if you have a comment or question about the Chieftain, or want to suggest a story idea, email me at editor@wallowa.com or mmcinally@wallowa.com. 

Finally, let me take this opportunity to once again thank the Chieftain’s subscribers: It would be impossible for us to do this vital work without your support.

Mike McInally is the editor of the Wallowa County Chieftain. You can email him at editor@wallowa.com or mmcinally@wallowa.com.