Until she died in 2002, Eppie Lederer, also known as Ann Landers, wrote an advice column for more than 40 years. Her twin sister, Pauline Phillips, wrote under the pen name of Abigail Van Buren and was the author of the "Dear Abby" column.

Now two of Ann Landers' former assistants, Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, are writing "Annie's Mailbox," which runs on the second page of The Advertiser's Island Life section.

Until recently, I have not had a problem with the nature and tone of the letters, but this month alone, there have been letters about a man fantasizing about his 16-year-old daughter, a woman married for 38 years having phone sex with a former lover, a wife discovering her husband having sexual relations with a stock boy at their antique store business and a husband taking advantage of his wife while she was asleep.

Responding to a reader whose husband looks at pornography every day, wondering if it was normal behavior, Mitchell and Sugar wrote, "Based on our mail, we'd have to say there's a sizeable number of guys who check out online porn in the same casual way you'd get a cup of coffee. In most instances, it's within normal male behavior and it can add spice to a marriage to vary one's routine."

In the old "Dear Abby" and "Ann Landers" column days, the most controversial topics you'd read about had to do with a husband snoring too loudly or the awkwardness of dating someone in the same office, topics that just about anyone could relate to.

Because the content in this advice column seemed to be crossing the line for a family newspaper, I wrote to our sales representative at Creators Syndicate and asked if other editors had raised questions. I also suggested that the problems raised in some of these letters did not seem to match anything that my co-workers, friends and family were going through. I said I was beginning to wonder whether some of it, frankly, was made up.

"I can understand your concern regarding these letters and I've spoken with the editor here for Annie's Mailbox," the sales rep said. "Although lately the letters have been extreme and certainly don't reflect my, or your, day-to-day concerns, they have seemed edgier than usual. I was told that Kathy and Marcy try to select letters that address the changing times we live in and try to be inclusive."

He asked that I hold off on any decisions about discontinuing the column as he and the syndicate's editors reviewed the content. I agreed to do so but want to be watchful when it comes to what we are sharing with readers.