The View from Thayne’s Corner:

Through Rain, Sleet, Snow. . .
   Through rain, sleet, snow, and dark of night, nothing will deter these messengers from their appointed rounds (or something to that effect).  This was the oft-repeated motto of the old US Postal Service.  If today’s technologically revamped, privately operated public service, known as the more hip USPS, still operated under the same slogan, they would need to add “our own bureaucratic hurdles” to an updated mission statement.
   McCracken postal patrons were greeted last Wednesday morning with a closed post office and a scrawled notice stating that their mail, until further notice, could be picked up at an already crowded Alexander Post Office.  The closest route to that location is eight miles of a sometimes muddy, unimproved county road.  Dodging heavy harvest grain haulers and rock-throwing oilfield trucks may be a bit tricky for some older patrons. 
   While some government agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission and the US Department of Agriculture, are making attempts to spur rural economic development.  The US Postal Service seems bent on killing it.
   To this writer’s knowledge, a post office closure for any period of time has never occurred here since establishment 121 years ago.  In this case, there was no advanced notice even to the employees.  To say this announcement has not been well received, especially after two recent hikes in postal rates, is more than understatement.  A public meeting is scheduled in McCracken Tuesday, June 17, where regional postal officials are expected to explain, after the fact, this sudden closure, and/or announce USPS objectives.
   As best determined by the rumor mill - - a very accurate information source in this locality - - recent heavy rain and accumulating mold has forced a temporary closure.  Speculation here is that this condition was not unwelcome news for postal authorities, and possibly seen as an opportunity to force permanent closure.  Only temporary personnel have been employed for the past few years with no attempt to appoint a fulltime postmaster.  Current owner of the building, Lawrence Magovitz of Clarksdale, Mississippi, is making great haste with the necessary repairs for reopening, if such is approved.
   In the meantime, postal authorities have proposed installation of the no-postmaster-needed NDCBU neighborhood delivery collection box unity, complete perhaps with ice pikes, lubricants and heavy guard rails for protection from out-of-control vehicles.  A friendly neighborhood maintenance man and key dispenser might be located in Wichita.  The likely response here is “not on my block!!”
   Realistically, the installation probably could not be completed, anyway, before the postal building is ready for reopening.  The offer is seen as a not-too-thinly-veiled attempt to achieve permanent post office closure.  It is no secret that McCracken residents are seeking assistance from congressional representatives. 
   The question in some local minds is why a better available building, if needed, could not be remolded for postal use.  Here we get into the area where bureaucracy operates best.  We are told that such a venture is cost prohibitive for any building owner because of stringent requirements to meet accessibility, safety, security and postal needs.  Undoubtedly Homeland Security, FEMA, the EPA, possibly NASA and every other government agency has been invited for input.
   This makes a person in these parts long for a return of the Pony Express, slower perhaps, but much more dependable where public service is concerned.  Rural patrons and I suspect urban patrons as well, are much less concerned with award-winning efficiency than with guaranteed service.  If we can find unlimited amounts of tax money to fight foreign wars, we can surely afford decent postal service.