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American Crystal recently mailed area residents a letter and brochure entitled "Ask Us: Frequently Asked Questions About Sugar Factory Odors."

The way Crystal officials see it, it's about being a good neighbor.

"It's part of our 'Ask Us' campaign -- we want them to know how they can get information from us, that we do care about our neighbors' concerns," said Joel Smith, Crystal's regulatory affairs manager.

If spring or summer weather is warm and wet, waste-water ponds at Crystal's factories often give off a downright unpleasant smell. Odors also can come from deteriorating sugar beets stored in factory yards and from the sugar refining process itself.

Neighbors' concerns -- both past and potential -- over such matters prompted the letter, which was sent to households within a three-mile radius of Crystal's East Grand Forks and Moorhead plants, Smith said.

"We wanted to show that we care about our neighbors and others who live around our plants," Smith said. In that same spirit of neighborliness, Smith said, Crystal elected to have Smith -- who is a member of Crystal's upper-level management, field the calls.

"We wanted somebody from top management to answer those questions, to be as helpful as possible. When they call that number, they'll get me," Smith said.

In the case of calls made to Crystal's toll-free information line on holidays or after business hours, questions will be answered within 48 hours.

In addition to the letter and brochure, Crystal officials plan to run advertisements in area newspapers to highlight additional information.

Crystal officials expect that the processing campaign at its East Grand Forks plant will last through mid-May, Smith said, with waste-water treatment at the plant expected to wrap up by the end of June.

Overall, winter storage and processing conditions were much more favorable this year than last.

"We had a much better year in storing our beets, and it's going very well right now," Smith said.