Spell check options greyed out

I want to have my spell checking done while typing. I see the option to do this in Mail but it is greyed out for some reason. This seems like a basic function so I'm not sure why Snow Leopard Mail does not allow me to do this. I can't even turn spell check off if I want to either which is strange to me. Spell check while typing in ANY other application including as I type this post works just fine. The problem is only with Mail. I have the latest version installed and checked for all updates.

Thanks
Mark