As a newspaper, we take our lumps.

If we get something wrong, we correct it. But sometimes we're blamed for no reason.

This newspaper does not censor or screen out letters to the editor and print only the ones we agree with.

In fact, we disagree with about as many letters as we agree with. And sometimes we're apathetic. We're human just like you, so occasionally we just don't give a damn. But we print them anyway.

We do, however, strongly believe in freedom of speech and of the press. We may disagree with what you say, but we will always staunchly defend your right to say it.

The First Amendment means everything to us.

We absolutely do not control the ebb and flow of letters. Some weeks we print letters representing only one perspective because those were the only letters we received—letters expressing the opposite viewpoint weren't printed because we had none to print.

An anonymous reader sent a note about two of the letters that were printed last week. He accused us of printing only one side. He'll probably like some of today's letters but not all of them. We printed every letter today that met our deadline, just like last week.

We didn't censor them today, and we didn't censor them last week.

On the topic of letters, it's good to review the rules.

Our 350-word limit is strictly enforced. You must provide a street address and phone number. The deadline is 11 a.m. Friday for the following edition. We don't print letters that are libelous. We don't print letters that were sent to other publications. We reserve the right to edit or reject all letters, but it won't be because of bias.

The best e-mail address to use for letters is steve@theacorn.com. Sending letters to other addresses may delay the date of publication.

If you don't like what somebody else wrote, write a rebuttal, but don't blame the paper.

We're just the messenger.