function checkEmail(email) {
	var checkString = email.value;
    var newstr = "";
    var at = false;
    var dot = false;

    // DO SOME PRELIMINARY CHECKS ON THE DATA

    // IF EMAIL ADDRESS HAS A @ CHARACTER
    if (checkString.indexOf("@") != -1) {
      at = true;

    // IF EMAIL ADDRESS HAS A "." CHARACTER
    } else if (checkString.indexOf(".") != -1) {
      dot = true;
    }
    // PARSE REMAINDER OF STRING
    for (var i = 0; i < checkString.length; i++) {
        ch = checkString.substring(i, i + 1)
        if ((ch >= "A" && ch <= "Z") ||
	    (ch >= "a" && ch <= "z") ||
	    (ch == "@") ||
	    (ch == ".") ||
	    (ch == "_") ||
	    (ch == "-") ||
	    (ch >= "0" && ch <= "9")) {
                newstr += ch;
                if (ch == "@") {
                    at=true;
                }
                if (ch == ".") {
                    dot=true;
                }
        }
    }
    if ((at == true) && (dot == true)) {
      return true;
    }
    else if (email){
      // DISPLAY ERROR MESSAGE
      return false;
    }
}