DEAR ABBY: In response to the letter you printed from a secretary who said she frequently sees "20's," "50's," "80's," etc. written in error, it's not necessarily a mistake. Although such expressions are not possessive or contractions, as she correctly stated, some publications -- most prominently The New York Times -- have adopted the apostrophe as a matter of style.
Some publications choose to spell out the words. The Asbury Park Press, which has published your column for decades, follows the guidelines in "The Associated Press Stylebook," which call for an apostrophe at the beginning of the numerals, as you said '96 necessitates. We write '20s, '50s, '80s and '96. -- WALLY PATRICK, COPY EDITOR, THE ASBURY PARK PRESS, NEPTUNE, N.J.
DEAR WALLY: I received an avalanche of critical letters for my statement concerning apostrophes. Thank you for restoring my self-confidence.