In Cheraw, post office ‘keeps the soul of our community together’ [The State, Columbia, S.C.]

Nov. 26--CHERAW -- Carole Urban, still hanging onto a box covered in brown paper, asked the cost to mail and insure her package before saying maybe she'd just carry it down to the UPS office instead.

In that case, postal clerk Wesley Teal said from behind the counter, she wouldn't have the pleasure of doing business at the beautiful downtown Cheraw Post Office.

As Urban paid Teal, who she visits several times a week, they stopped ribbing each other.

"Are they going to sell the place?" she asked.

"Well," he answered, "that is the talk of the town."

A lot of people in Cheraw, the "prettiest town in Dixie," are distressed about the loss of their 1930s post office, at the corner of Market and Third in the heart of the downtown historic district.

Like folks nationwide, they are being forced to reconsider what they expect from a federal agency that's looking to close thousands of unprofitable postal operations -- setting up traumatic changes for neighborhoods, rural communities and small towns that gain an identity from their postmarks and, frequently, remarkable post office buildings.

In South Carolina, 28 of 451 postal locations are on the line in the most aggressive round of cuts since the inception of the U.S. Postal Service in 1775, local spokesman Harry Spratlin said. Closing all 28 S.C. locations would save an estimated $1.6 million.

Among Midlands postal facilities on the closure list are the Edgewood neighborhood post office in Columbia and the one at Shaw Air Force Base in Lower Richland, as well as rural facilities in Blair (Fairfield County) and Horatio (Sumter County).

Final decisions will be announced after the new year; some may drag into spring.

But that's nothing like the wait in Cheraw, birthplace of jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.

The town of 5,850 people in rural Chesterfield County simply has not accepted a decision made 15 years ago to close their downtown post office.

There have been periodic letter-writing campaigns and visits to the nation's capital in hopes of applying enough political pressure to reverse a decision first announced in 1996.

That year, the legendary U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, joined by Sen. Fritz Hollings and Rep. John Spratt, saved the Cheraw Post Office.

As Mayor Andy Ingram remembers it, a delegation of town leaders flew to Washington for a meeting in the Strom Thurmond Room of the U.S. Capitol. "Which didn't hurt," Ingram said.

"We were sitting on one side of the table. The U.S. Postal Service was sitting on the other side of the table. And the first words Sen. Thurmond said: 'Is there anybody today who can make a decision?' And this one fella slowly raised his hand and said, 'Senator, that would be me.'"

The postal service was dissuaded from closing the Cheraw Post Office that day.

Still, the agency moved forward with building a non-descript distribution and sorting center on S.C. 9 at the edge of Cheraw.

That's where it now plans to move downtown operations, after first upgrading the annex to provide counter service.

But residents are having none of it.

They want their downtown post office, with its arched openings and brass fittings and smooth green tile on the walls.

"It keeps people coming downtown and keeps the soul of our community together," said Sarah Spruill, president of Historic Cheraw and an advocate of heritage tourism.

It's not uncommon for visitors to push through the massive oak doors and sigh, "This reminds me of the post office when I was a child," she said.

As for locals, many use a daily walk to the post office as an excuse to exercise. They often see neighbors there and stop to visit.

"I enjoy coming to the post office," said Urban, who was mailing the package. "I like the old building. I like talking to the people here."

Helen Brown came through the back door. "They can't close it," she said. "This post office gives A-1 service."

Not only that, Highway 9 is too busy. "It's a traffic jam out there all the time because of Walmart," Brown said.

"Everybody needs to get together, sign a petition."

Business people having lunch at Mary's Cafe down the street turned up their noses at the 13-year-old distribution center, too.

Mary Hilliard joined a friend for a bowl of vegetable soup at the cafe she opened on Market Street 31 years ago. "I don't know why they built that annex out there on Number 9," she said. "This is so convenient."

"It has historic significance," chimed in Bob MacDonald.

"Close that one they just built and keep the one that's been here forever," said Jack Smith, voicing a frequent suggestion.

In fact, that has become the strategy of the Greater Cheraw Chamber of Commerce: To promote selling the newer building, which could be easier and more profitable for the postal service, allowing the historic building to stand.

The postal service plans to put Cheraw's post office on the market for sale after the new year.

In the meantime, the mayor said he's preparing for a final assault.

Kappie Griggs, chairwoman of the chamber of commerce, said it's time to lay the issue to rest.

"It's wearing us all out, as you can imagine," she said. "They need to make a final decision and stick to it.

"Of course," she was quick to add, "we want them to make the decision we want."

Reach Hinshaw at (803) 771-8641.

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