RECIPE FOR SUCCESS:

It never ceases to amaze me what crazy e-mails I’m sent on a daily basis.

Sure, I get the annoying amounts of jokes forwarded by friends who have nothing better to do or just learned how to send e-mail. My favorite online retailers e-mail deals I can’t pass up. Foreign royalty in Nigeria need my bank account number to transfer millions of dollars out of the country and cut me in on the action.

I learned that the Acai Berry is the “#1 Super Food flushing out up to 20 pounds in two weeks!” But is that better than green tea that promises to slim me down “both day and night” and Oprah endorses? I felt special when I opened an e-mail that said I was one of 12 people who St. Theresa would bless if I forwarded the message to 11 other people. I didn’t know saints were using the Internet these days.

So what is more annoying? Getting spam from faceless marketers or people you know? How do you tell your friends to stop sending you nonsense that clogs up your inbox and jams your Blackberry? Why is common sense absent when sending e-mails?

Case in point, political affiliation aside I don’t care how much Cindy McCain spends monthly on clothes, I don’t think that makes her an alcoholic, nor do I believe some obscure ancient scripture predicting the coming of the anti-Christ and saying that his name is Barack Obama.

I kid you not; these items were from forwarded e-mails I’ve received in the past few weeks. My guess is that most people forward stuff they don’t even read.

Which brings me to the Aug. 14 Daily Pilot article “Rehab rumor ruffles feathers.”

Was it a slow news day? The article talked about an e-mail that was forwarded misrepresenting an incident regarding a stolen-car arrest in Corona Del Mar where a rehab home happens to be located.

Local residents assumed it was related to that home, according to the article. It wasn’t. I must have gotten the e-mail in question 10 times from different folks, and as with most spam, I deleted it.

The Pilot should have done the same. Instead, its editors considered it newsworthy, quoting Keith Curry chastising opponent Dolores Otting for sending the e-mail.

Dolores made a mistake, no question; she forwarded something from a friend she trusted. Who hasn’t? But is this news?

This kind of petty behavior is not a recipe for success for this incumbent, and disguising gossipy stories as news should be far below the standards of this newspaper.

What someone should be reporting on is the level of paranoia of the people who live around these facilities. Why are they so skittish that they assume any disruptive incident is related to the over concentration of rehab homes? This mass anxiety does not gather steam overnight and seems to be escalating. What can be done to make these people feel safe? That’s a story worth looking into before someone gets hurt.

If the Pilot’s editors and reporters are interested in crazy e-mails being forwarded, I have a bunch I can send them that are far more interesting reading than Curry and Otting picking at each other.

BARBARA VENEZIA is the chairman of the Santa Ana Hts. Redevelopment Project Advisor Committee and was the co-creator of the cooking show “At Home on the Range” with John Crean.