It's E-mail Only At Arizona Paper After Anthrax Scare

October 17, 2001

If you want to send mail to the Arizona Daily Star newspaper in Tucson, you'll have to use the electronic kind.

Saying that its employees want to be able to do their jobs without worrying about letters carrying anthrax bacteria, the newspaper told its readers Tuesday that they should use e-mail, fax or the company's AzStarNet Web presence if they want to submit something to the Daily Star.

We all know that the threat of being exposed to anthrax is small," the newspaper said in a letter to readers printed in the paper and posted on its Web site. "We all want to stick to our routines and not give in to fear. But because media have been targeted with these attacks, we are concerned about our newsroom employees."

"We realize that this policy will inconvenience some readers, but it seems a reasonable way to give employees who handle our mail a little more peace of mind," the newspaper said.

The newspaper said the prohibition affects traditional mail cover letters to the editor and submissions to its Caliente entertainment guide and its community calendar.

The paper said readers are welcome to drop in to the newspaper's offices and drop off submissions as long as the material is not placed in envelopes.

Also, the company pointed out that all branches of the regional public library have computers with Internet access that would allow them to submit information to the newspaper electronically.

The Daily Star's Web service is here: http://www.azstarnet.com.

«