In an April 1 post, “In search of a statistic,” I noted that, in response to columnist Noreen O’Donnell’s citing of a statistic provided by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, we received the following from Sarah Longwell, managing director of the American Beverage Institute, a self-described “association of restaurants and on-premise retailers committed to the responsible [...]

We’ve received quite a few letters over the past few weeks regarding President Barack Obama’s plan for health-care reform now being debated in Congress. Both sides have been “rallying the troops” and arming them with talking points. So how are the two sides doing?

In terms of sheer volume, the letters in favor of legislative reform [...]

I frequently gripe here about all the form letters and letter-writing campaigns that clog up our letters e-mailbox. Today, I’ll demonstrate step-by-step how this works, and hopefully show why it’s such a nuisance (and why such letters are generally ignored by editors).

This morning in the e-mailbox, I discovered 30 or so letters, nearly all from [...]

Apparently, there are still some hard feelings regarding this week’s school elections, judging by two letters I received. One was from a woman who claimed that on Election Day (I am withholding the name of the school district): “. . . one of the candidates for School Board was out there at a polling location, [...]

I’ve written before about letter-writing campaigns organized by advocacy groups, where we receive either bunches of identical form letters (immediately disregarded), or short, usually poorly written, letters that were likely generated by the group’s Web site. From the few such sites that I’ve seen, the latter seem to work by having the writer enter his/her [...]

With the Obama administration expected to take action on CO2 emissions in an effort to reduce climate change, those on both sides of the issue are already weighing in. I got a bunch of form letters this morning from local residents, which begin, “I want our leaders to know that here in New York we [...]

April is barely a week old, and I’ve already been reminded via form letters and/or press releases in the letters e-mailbox that it’s Alcohol Awareness Month, National Pet First Aid Awareness Month and (the first!) National Multiple Birth Awareness Month, among others – or so proclaimed by various nonprofit or trade organizations that are seeking [...]

A few weeks ago, Journal News columnist Noreen O’Donnell wrote about methods that government officials might consider in the fight against drunken driving. The organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving advocates requiring ignition interlocks for those convicted of DWI. These devices prevent a car from starting if a certain amount of alcohol is detected in the [...]

There are three times a year where we can brace ourselves for an onslaught of letters: March village elections, May school elections and the general elections in November. Of the three, the village elections are usually the quietest, and so far this month we’ve only received a handful of election letters for Westchester/Putnam – all [...]

Letters on national politics are a staple on our Editorial Page, and, as those who are unhappy with the administration in power are more likely to write, it should be no surprise that an anti-Republican sentiment dominated for the last eight years. Also no surprise – in the month that Barack Obama has been president, [...]