To insure that your community event is published please contact our advertising department.

How do I submit a letter to the editor?

Send it to P.O. Box 111, Deer Lodge, MT 59722, or drop it by the Post at 312 Missouri Ave. 

A few guidelines:

Sign the letter. We don't print anonymous letters. We also need an address and a phone number, although they are not used in the newspaper. We want to be able to get in touch with you in case we have a question about your letter.

If a letter is libelous, it won't be printed. Media law dictates that if we print your letter, we are liable for the insults and defaming statements you make if they are not considered fair comment.

Make it as short and concise as possible. We reserve the right to edit what we consider overly long letters.

We don't consider thank-you notes appropriate for the letters columns, since we want to have a discussion of issues on the editorial pages. We'd prefer that you thank people in person or with a personal note, or run an ad if you think it's important that they receive public thanks.

Around election time, we don't publish letters about ballot measures and candidates on the Thursday before the election, because there would be no opportunity for rebuttal. So political letters must be submitted at least two weeks before an election.

What information do you want for a story?

News writing relies on who, what, when, where, how and why. We need full names of people involved (we don't use first-name-only), telephone numbers for further information, and specific times and places.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact our news staff.