Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Gloom of Night...But Screw Bullets

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Oct 23, 2008 9:20PM

One Harvey neighborhood has learned that even the Postal Service has its limits. Mail service stopped in the high-crime neighborhood, specifically along Marshfield Ave. between 151st and 152nd Streets, almost two weeks ago when a shooting happened just a few yards from the postal worker delivering mail. Venus Jones, a neighborhood resident, said, "Between robberies and shootings and delayed police response, several things going on, that would make it unsafe." The postal carrier was shaken but okay. Said a postal spokesman:

She was unfortunately in the wrong place when some passersby broke out in gunfire. Thankfully no one was injured, no residents or the carrier. One of our supervisors called the Harvey police and they were there in five minutes to make sure she was OK. There was not much she could give, except she saw a car and she gave a description.

After the nearly two-week interruption, mail service resumed today in the neighborhood thanks to a new police escort. Local postal service officials are looking at alternatives, such as a centralized mail mailbox with separate boxes for each resident which they would open with a key. A lot of the stink over the decision to suspend service came when the postal service failed to tell the residents of the decision and the mayor's office wasn't notified by residents of the suspension until this week. Until it resumed today, residents had to fetch their mail from a local post office.

Image of a random happy postal worker via the USPS