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Postmaster vacancy closes rural post office
Published 8/12/2011 in Local News
Marienthal office set to close on Aug. 20.
By JEROME P. CURRY
jcurry@gctelegram.com
Marienthal's post office will close Aug. 20.
The action came quicker than anticipated. "It is due to a lack of qualified personnel," said Brian Sperry, a Denver-based spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service. "The review still is in progress at Marienthal. In fact, it hasn't even started."
Sperry was referring to a review of the Marienthal post office for possible permanent closure. The Wichita County community was one of five rural post offices in southwest Kansas — including Coolidge, Kendall, Ensign and Richfield — placed on the list of 3,700 post offices across the nation the U.S. Postal Service said it might close. A decision was to be scheduled after a review of each one. There is no timetable, Sperry said, on when those reviews will be finished.
"It is an emergency suspension of operations," Sperry said about the planned Marienthal closure on Aug. 20. "No final decision has been made."
He said the former postmaster was transferred to Leoti, leaving Marenthal with no worker.
"Sonja Baker is the postmaster in Marienthal," Sperry said. "However, she is going to the Leoti Post Office to be the officer-in-charge, and there was no one to replace her in Marienthal."
Citizens of Marienthal had the Aug. 20 closing confirmed in a meeting Thursday night at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, attended by 14 residents. They met at the church school with Mark Kerschen of Hutchinson, the manager of postal operations for western Kansas.
Kerschen said Marienthal would continue to be served from the post offices in Leoti, eight miles from Marienthal, or Scott City, about 16 miles away. Those who had post office boxes in Marienthal, they were told, could transfer their boxes to either Scott City or Leoti.
Mark Nightengale, manager of Heartland Mill in Marienthal, presented Kerschen with a statement signed by several residents. The preamble to the statement said: "The compilation of these facts and notes are in an effort to save our local Post Office from closing."
Some excerpts from Nightengale's report:
* "Marienthal is not just a small little dying town out here in western Kansas ... We are a small little town with probably less than 100 people who live here, yet the operations coming out of this town are much more in terms of monetary value than people realize."
* "Scott Co-op has two concrete elevators located in Marienthal ... and also has bulk outdoor grain storage. This amounts to five million bushels average each year. The value on these business transactions amounts to $30 million each year. Along with this business, Scott Co-op has a fertilizer and farm supply business ... Coupled with this the Scott Co-op has a complete auto and service center with a 24-hour fuel center. They also have a bulk fuel service to local farms and businesses ... All of this business is done by mail."
* "Marienthal ... is the headquarters for Heartland Mill. Heartland Mill is a specialty grain processing and milling company. They source their specialty grains from Texas to the Prairie Provinces of Canada. All these purchases require business transactions, and Heartland Mill depends on the local post office to service their needs in terms of mail service and supplies. Our customers who purchase our products are located from coast to coast, as well as some export sales. All these sales require business transactions, and Heartland Mill depends on the local post office for their mail service. These sales are as high as $10 million annually ... The importance on this local post office cannot be over emphasized ... Heartland Mill brings 32 people to work every morning,"
* "Marienthal has been established as one of the earliest communities in western Kansas. The local Catholic church is one of the oldest in western Kansas, and has celebrated their 100-year anniversary a number of years ago. The closing of the post office would be a loss of distinction to this community that has long established itself."
Kerschen assured those at the meeting that rural route delivery would be intensified with the closing of the post office. Information was distributed on the range of postal services that will remain.
"We are confident that carrier delivery will continue to provide Marienthal customers with effective and regular postal services," said a letter announcing the Thursday meeting.
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