from: here

AOL Filters Block Emergency Weather E-Mails

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Efforts by one Florida county to put out weather alerts by e-mail have hit a high-tech roadblock: AOL is tagging the messages as spam.

The problem dates back to last year's unusually busy hurricane season when Indian River County was hit by two major storms -- Frances and Jeanne.

Some 4,200 people signed up for the county's e-mail alert service, which offers quick alerts on hurricanes, tornadoes and other weather emergencies.

But a county computer software engineer says because e-mail is sent out in large numbers, "it becomes a pattern for spam senders."

The county is working with AOL to fix the problem. In the meantime, AOL users are being told to put the county's e-mail account in their computer's address book so their computers know to accept the messages.