On the not-so-good side, anyone can write anything he or she chooses, put it in an e-mail and send it as fact. Often the receiver then forwards the information or pictures without checking for any truth of the matter. So, misinformation goes round and round.

A few days ago, we received an e-mail with pictures of a mountain lion the sender shared was hit by a car between Alda Road and Highway 30. "Do you suppose this is true?" I asked my husband.

He was skeptical. If it were true, he was sure we would have heard about it. Pictures would have been in The Independent and on the TV stations. Before forwarding the e-mail, I sent an e-mail to The Independent city editor, R.J. Post. His response: "This isn't true. The cat in the picture was actually killed in Arizona, according to Nebraska Game and Parks Commission officials. We've had something in the paper debunking this e-mail that's making the rounds."

I was embarrassed that we had missed the information in the paper but he said a number of readers had questioned them about the story and picture.

Another e-mail making the rounds concerns the new dollar coin, featuring our presidents. The first one features, naturally, George Washington. However, the e-mail making the rounds was from an angry citizen urging everyone to boycott the coin because, he or she said, the words "E Pluribus Unum" and "In God We Trust" were not on the new coins.

According to the e-mail, "New U.S. dollar coins were designed to omit the motto 'In God We Trust.'" The e-mail continues, "The U.S. Mint hopes the redesigned $1 coin will win acceptance with consumers. Here's another way of phasing God out of America."

Checking with Snopes at www.snopes.com, I learned that Presidential dollars neither omit the phrase "In God We Trust" or demonstrate a plot to "phase God out of America." As specified by Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005, the motto was relocated, along with other common design features, to the edge of the new coins in order to allow for "larger and dramatic artwork" on the coins' faces.

One traditional feature that has been left off the new dollar coin is the word "Liberty," The U.S. Mint explained the change by noting that "each coin represents this important value by depicting the Statue of Liberty on the reverse."

Update: With the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, Congress reversed its previous specifications and instructed the U.S. Mint to move the "In God We Trust" motto from the edge to the front or back of the presidential $1 coin "as soon as it is practicable." This change will not place until the ninth coin in the series is issued in 2009.

As the political battle for the person to be the candidate for president in the Democratic Party rages on, in the media and online, you will get all kinds of nasty charges against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. For the most part, John McCain escapes this round of infighting. Just wait until it gets closer to election time. Check for truth before forwarding such e-mail.

We haven't received any hateful e-mails concerning the immigration problems for a while. And I appreciate that. I guess some folks are too busy smearing Clinton and Obama. When the immigration stories are checked out, for the most part they are either isolated incidents or outright lies. I'm often amazed that some folks will believe anything that comes across the Internet.

My advice? If you have doubts about the truth of any story you read or hear, check it out before you forward it or repeat it. Generally, the best way is to either delete it or forget it.

Billy Wetterer writes a weekly column for The Independent. E-mail her at billybillw@aol.com.