Hachita residents plead to keep post office [Silver City Sun-News, N.M.]

Nov. 24--HACHITA -- More than 60 Hachita residents made it clear to two U.S. Postal Service representatives that they will not be happy if their post office is closed to help the U.S. Postal Service meet its budget.

The residents of this tiny Southwestern town tucked in the farthest corner of Grant County voiced their concerns at a meeting Tuesday night at the Hachita Baptist Church.

"Rural communities are treated like a red-headed step child," said Paul Smith, who previously lived in Mule Creek -- another post office on potential chopping block -- but currently resides in Hachita. "We're the forgotten people. The county, state and, now, federal government do not respond to any of our concerns."

Those in the crowd shook their heads in unison before they applauded Smith's comment. A few moments later, attendees began to rip into the government-run service as the two United States Post Service representatives went through their hour-and-a-half presentation.

"So we're suffering so the government can eat their turkey dinners?" Hachita resident Pat Spelce Jr. said about the possible closure of 3,700 post offices nationwide, including 54 in New Mexico.

"How can the postal service be losing so much money?"

Peter Haas, a postal service spokesman based in Phoenix, previously told the Sun-News that the budget problems stemmed from a drop in mail volume -- 20 percent over the last four years -- as people have chosen to communicate more using email, and a $5.5 billion annual payment to pay for the health benefits of future employees when they retire.

"It just makes no sense," Spelce said waving the packet of papers he was given in the air.

Postal Service representatives Suzy Yarbro and Barbara Wood handled a barrage of similar questions and comments from a fired-up crowd.

"The rural post offices don't bring in enough revenue to cover salaries," Wood said. "That was one of a few criteria used in the study."

Yarbro told the audience that post office customers would have to either travel to Lordsburg (46 miles), Columbus (55 miles), Deming (52 miles) or Rodeo (50 miles) if the Hachita Post Office was closed.

"So you're asking us to make a more-than-100-mile roundtrip to the nearest post office?" said Marlene Harris, who has lived in Hachita for 13 years. "Are you, or your superiors, even taking into account the burden this puts on people gas-wise?"

Smith's main concern was how his fellow veterans, some who do not have transportation, would get their medication if the post office would close.

"A lot of the medicine is temperature sensitive, and it's not usable if it gets hot," he said. "The V.A. (U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs) won't send the medicine if it would sit in a box out in the sun."

At the meeting, Marilyn West, who served as the Hachita postmaster from 1972 to 1995, distributed a petition and collected 61 signatures. West said that was a good chunk of roughly 80 residents who call Hachita either a home or vacation spot.

"I really feel a lot of people missed out on having their voice heard," she said, noting that not every resident showed up for the meeting, "but, at least we had a good turnout."

Field representatives for U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman, and Tom Udall, and Congressman Steve Pearce were among those in the audience Tuesday night. Sen. Udall is co-sponsoring The Postal Service Protection Act, which is aimed at protecting rural communities from post office closures. The legislation would also address the postal agency's financial problems by instituting what he calls "common sense" fixes.

The solutions would include allowing the agency to recover overpayments it made to its retirement program, and to seek out new revenue sources by ending the Post Office's ban on non-postal activities like notary services, and to begin issuing licenses (drivers licenses, hunting licenses, fishing licenses), shipping beer and wine, and contracting with state and local agencies to provide services.

The legislation also suggests looking to other countries to see what they are doing to respond to the shift to electronic communication and the downturn in hard-copy mail. For instance, France's postal service offers banking and insurance services as well as communication services. In Sweden, the post office will physically deliver email correspondence to people who are not online. In Switzerland, registered users can have their physical mail received, scanned, and delivered to their email boxes. And in Germany, Duetsche Post allows customers to communicate through secure servers.

Marco Grajeda, Sen. Udall's representative, passed out a few copies of the proposed legislation and answered questions about what the Act would do.

"I thought the bill was going to make sure people's retirement was pre-paid," Harris said of The Post Service Protection Act. "I'm glad he cleared that up because it did not make sense."

A 60-day period for community input on the potential closure of the Hachita Post Office began Tuesday and ends in late January. Customers should have received a two-page packet with a comment form for them to fill out and describe how closing their post office would affect them.

At the end of the comment period, the USPS Arizona District office will review the documents, make its recommendations, and send them off to the Western area office in Denver. The paperwork and comments will be verified and reviewed in Denver before being sent to the Washington, D.C. headquarters for a final decision. The process will take about 120 days, Yarbro said.

If the Postal Service decides to close the Hachita Post Office, residents have 30 days to appeal the decision to the Postal Regulatory Commission. If even one person appeals, the Post Office will consider that appeal.

By the time the meeting ended at 6:30 p.m., a majority of the attendees had already walked out in disgust. Many were frustrated by a lack of foresight by the government, but, overall, most could not believe that they could lose their local post office.

"It's just not fair," Smith said as he walked outside.

Yarbro encouraged the audience to send in any questions or comments because those would be included with the official post office review.

"We're all singing from the same song chart right now," Harris said. "So hopefully our voices will be heard if we send in our thoughts."

Carlos Silva Jr. can be reached at (575) 538-5893, ext. 5803.

By the numbers: Hachita Post Office

Employees: 1 postmaster

P.O. boxes: About 100

Residents: More than 80

Possible changes

Retail operations would be moved to Lordsburg, N.M.

Delivery would be served by a highway contract route out of Lordsburg, N.M.

Expected savings

About $70,577 in the first year

About $624,924 over 10 years

*Source: United States Postal Service

Send your comments

District Discontinuance Coordinator

Arizona District

4949 E. Van Buren St.

Phoenix, AZ 85026-9998

Voice your concerns

The Postal Regulatory Commission can be reached by mail at: 901 New York Ave., Suite 200 in Washington, D.C., phone at: (202) 789-6891 or website at: www.prc.gov.

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