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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Check it Out: Galician Harvest Festival 10 things to know for Monday Festival spreads the buzz about bees Annual See's candy sales start Friday Mt. Ashland mountain blessing coming up Sunday Education Crossing guard clowns, but takes job seriously Ashland's DECA team proves a quick study Helman hosts literacy event Ashland Kiwanis honors two AHS students SOU bucks trend, increases enrollment Environment Salmon: A force of nature can be restored Students nurturing nature SOU eyes burning biomass instead of gas Navickas ordered to pay court filing fees Celebrating the Pacific Fisher, symbol of a healthy watershed Business Greg Zyla: Growing up in the fabulous ’50s Silvio Calabi: Aston Martin’s new Vanquish is a super GT Festival spreads the buzz about bees With e-Bike business booming, Ashland vendor expands Blue bows out of Granite Street site, Agave moving in Politics and elections Granlund cartoon: GOP wrecking balls Oregon voters narrowly reject GMO labeling measure Kitzhaber wins fourth term Merkley wins re-election by wide margin Elected without opposition State News Nation - World Obituaries In Loving Memory of John (Jack) Dillon Death Notices Death Notices Death Notices Sports Latest Stories No. 8 Raiders to host first-round playoff game Six Grizzlies voted MWL first-teamers Ice skating rink opens today Grizzlies roughed up at Silverton No. 13 SOU falls to Concordia in CCC semis High school Six Grizzlies voted MWL first-teamers Grizzlies roughed up at Silverton Upset-minded Grizzlies brace for undefeated Foxes Georgia Williams commits to Columbia Gabe Lehrburger, Grizzlies clean house in MWL all-star voting Southern Oregon University No. 8 Raiders to host first-round playoff game Grizzlies roughed up at Silverton No. 13 SOU falls to Concordia in CCC semis No. 4 Raiders, No. 16 Mounties meet with much on the line Streaking Raiders brace for CCC tournament Opinion Latest Stories Mark Hopkins: Is our nation in decline? Granlund cartoon: Thanksgiving and Christmas overlap Kent Bush: Reporters never get to cry Chris Honoré: Was the midterm election a mandate? Our View: Editorial Our View: Our view: Generating a good idea Our View: Looking beyond the snow Our View: Voters chose wisely in council elections Our View: Your vote does matter Letters Letters to the Editor, Nov. 15 Letters to the Editor, Nov. 11 Letters to the Editor, Nov. 10 Letters to the Editor, Nov. 3 Letters to the Editor, Oct. 28 Guest opinions Chris Honoré: Was the midterm election a mandate? Herb Rothschild: TPP agreement draws opposition from all sides Guest Opinion: A meaningful step toward political bipartisanship Tell Wyden not to push trade pact Guest Opinion: Local paper is a treasure Revels Latest Stories Check it Out: Galician Harvest Festival Community blog: National Readathon Day is coming Rogue World Ensemble presents 'Gather 'Round' 'Red Noses' is a romp through slapstick and pathos Best bets for things to do around Ashland, Nov. 13-20 Theater Hard to keep a straight face with 'Red Noses' 'Red Noses' is a romp through slapstick and pathos 'The Drunken City': Bachelorettes meet bar-crawlers Music The Farr Side: CMA telecast was a disappointment Bass Clarinet Takeover Book review: 'The Next Elvis,' by Barbara Barnes Sims Best bets for things to do around Ashland The Farr Side: On ‘1989,’ Taylor Swift lightens up Visual Art Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhibits by regional artists Movies Movie review: ‘Theory of Everything’ is winsomely human Movie review: ‘Theory of Everything’: Let’s get physics-cal Tommy Lee Jones (finally) puts on a happy face 'Interstellar' is a complex journey to the stars Movie review: Sci-fi epic ‘Interstellar’ gets lost in space Food and Drink Blue bows out of Granite Street site, Agave moving in Chef count up at feast for the senses Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories Greg Zyla: Growing up in the fabulous ’50s It Is What It Is: The power of goals Jeff Vrabel: Canned cheeseburgers make great gifts Home Help: Spruce up your home with quick DIY painting projects Silvio Calabi: Aston Martin’s new Vanquish is a super GT Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs NEWS NOW Ashland Calendar ... Chris Honoré: Was the midterm election a mandate? ... Our View: ... Ashland Calendar ... Chris Honoré: Was the midterm election a mandate? ... Our View: ... GUEST OPINION Guest Opinion: Local paper is a treasure By Leah E.V. Ireland DailyTidings.com By Leah E.V. Ireland Posted Nov. 6, 2014 @ 12:01 am By Leah E.V. Ireland Posted Nov. 6, 2014 @ 12:01 am » Social News If you are reading this you are among the most revolutionary newspaper readers on the planet. The new Daily Tidings could not be more valuable to Ashland if printed on gold leaf. Local papers like this one are gone or facing extinction. Corporate media wiped them out. In a small town so against GMOs that manipulate the food we eat, where is the concern about the manipulation of the words we read that damage not body but mind? Those symptoms are more crucial, however invisible to us all. Readers have given up on free thought and ideas as easily as they gave away the air, earth, oceans and drinkable water. No one cares much any more about the end of the individual or the glory of the average or gifted mind. We suckers have given up on the value of original ideas and opinions, too. Junk information and news finishes off the obliteration of our very spirit. Our children are raised on advertising as information, never having been told that they, each one, are unique in the world, that their ideas and opinions make them individuals. If serious about all kinds of education, they can even learn to think for themselves! What a concept. Why has it got everything to do with a first-rate local paper? The computer has not replaced print, even if you get your print on computer. Local TV news did not replace the newspaper but became a nightly crime and accident report. The Rupert Murdochs of the world know that owning media means owning information and thought. The good news is that the Tidings is back with a more local focus. Bob Hunter, editor of The Medford Mail Tribune, seeks to make the Tidings a true local paper for Ashlanders. He’s hired an award-winning editor, Burt Etling. Not since the days of the gifted journalist/editor John Enders has the Tidings been so energized and first-rate. Etling vows that there will be more emphasis on local opinions. Great papers, regardless of size, are about controversial ideas well edited so the different sides of truth are apparent. The point is that we have a lively local paper that does not tell readers what to think. This is all about the return of common sense — a really big “new” wonder for our children. You cannot have a real community without a thriving local rag. We can’t be truly diverse unless the paper recognizes that diversity is not only about age, race, and religion alone but about all kinds of thinking. If that isn’t “pro- ife” why did the Big Force make us all different? Where are the Mark Twains of today? Out there. The question is, where are the papers with the guts to publish the Franklins, Twains, Menkens of today? This humorous side of ironic opinion is not antithetical to serious news, it balances the atrocities of life with the wisdom about the jam humanity is in. In a time of the annihilation of individuality and the planet, the paper lets you read at your pace and depth. So our new local is no longer a local joke. It’s a necessity for the town to be a community. Support this last chance to stay a real town. Writing is still mightier than the drone, whether by keyboard or quill. People die for free speech by the hundreds of thousands everywhere. Let’s hope life is not so good here in Perfectland that we take freedom of opinion, and a local paper that strives for excellence, for granted. Leah E.V. Ireland of Ashland is a local writer who can be reached at P.O. Box 284. By Leah E.V. Ireland DailyTidings.com By Leah E.V. 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