Anyone who uses e-mail has undoubtedly noticed a dramatic increase in recent months of spurious e-mails from unknown persons coming, uninvited, into your mailbox.

Some providers have filters to recognize and eliminate the “SPAM” before it ever reaches you. The GLEANER mailbox is no exception. We were getting hundreds of SPAM messages daily until our Information Technology director tightened up the security filters that incoming messages go through before reaching us.

It is our policy to respond to any story we receive via e-mail at gleaner@nw.npuc.org so the sender can be assured that we received it. If you do not get a response from us, it is because we have not received the story. Then you have several options.

1. Make a login to ManageEverything.com and submit your story and photos through our Web portal. To do that, go to www.gleaneronline.org and click on "Contributor’s Information." Scroll down until you see the "Step-by-Step Instructions" for submitting online. Print them out and follow the directions. Please feel free to contact us at (360) 857-7000 if you have any questions not answered in the instructions online.

2. Mail the story and digital photos on a CD or hard copy and actual photographic prints (not printouts from your computer) to GLEANER Submissions, 5709 N 20th Street, Ridgefield, WA 98642.

Nadine Platner Dower,

GLEANER managing editor