Letters to the editor often provide some of the most interesting reading in the newspaper. I especially like the ones from outraged citizens, and the Erie Times-News never seems to lack for letter writers who want to blow off steam.

You'll notice that some issues take on a life of their own once they're aired in letters to the editor, which run daily on the newspaper's editorial page. During the final month of summer, for instance, half a dozen readers wrote to observe that they were concerned over the lack of insects in June, July and August. Several expressed concerned that no bugs meant that something quite ominous might be looming on the horizon.

Each letter seemed to feed off the previous one, and some letter writers appeared to be growing downright nervous. Finally, an expert on insects wrote in and said, "Calm down, everyone. The bee population is down this year becase of a late cold snap." To which two more letter writers responded: "Yes, but does that mean we won't have nice flowers if the bees never come back?"

And so it goes. A different type of letter to the edtior has been showing up in our mailbox of late. Writers are always promoting causes, issues or certain candidates, which is OK -- up to a certain extent. Lately, we've been receiving what our editorial writers refer to as "astroturf." It's their word for letters that various political campigns coax their supporters to send in.

In fact, the campaign staffs actually write the letters. They present the reader with a manuscript and coach them to 1) open with the first paragraph, followed by the third paragraph, and then close with the fifth paragraph. A second writer will be asked to compile a letter starting with the second paragraph, followed by the fourth paragraph and then the seventh paragraph.

We notice this when several letters arrive with paragraphs that are exactly the same. Plus, they just don't sound right. You know when something just don't feel kosher? That's how these letters come across. They're not real, and they feel like fakes.

It happens on both sides, so we really can't blame the Democrats or the Republicans. But when we call up the writer for verification, they will occasionally admit they were coached by somebody from the staff of their favorite political candidate.

So what do you do? Well, you take great care with any letter that touts a candidate. As I say, some are real, and those letters are OK. But if the talking points seem too formatted, it's probably a fake.

Do we catch every single one? Probably not. But we take letters to the editor seriously -- even the nutty ones. And we'll take a genuine, straight-from-the-gut rant any day over some "prepared" text where you just plug in paragraphs 5,9 and 11 from a script.

-- Kevin Cuneo