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Wilkesville Mayor Says Post Office Not Closing a “Blessing”
By: Michael Locklear
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The mayor of Wilkesville says it's a blessing the village's post office won't be closed.
A United States Postal Service plan calls for fewer operating hours at thousands of post offices across the county, including dozens in southeast Ohio.
"I realize we are a small, small village and to have had a full-time post office this long, we've been blessed," said Mayor Catherine Bowles, who oversees the village of 150 people, "and we're still going to be blessed that we've got it four hours a day."
Under the plan, Wilkesville's eight-hour-a-day operation would be reduced to four hours.
Other post offices marked for reduced hours include those in Athens County's New Marshfield and Stewart, plus Perry County's New Straitsville.
Dave Van Allen is the spokesman for the Postal Service in Ohio.
He says they had to find a way to cut half a billion dollars.
"We do support the rural communities," he said, "but at the same time, we are in dire financial straits and need to make adjustments according to how America is using the post office."
Van Allen says they backed off on plans to shut down 37-hundred post offices nationwide.
Instead, they want to reduce hours at 13-thousand post offices.
A regulatory commission now has to approve the plan.