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Post Office Protest


11/19-11/21/2008	Mission, Texas Post Office
The RV lot residents of Retama Village had a problem with a decision that had been made by a former Mission Texas Postmaster. He declared that Retama Village is the same as a RV Park. An RV Park has a single address and the sites that are rented within have lot numbers. Retama Village is a residential community with deeded lots that are treated as residences by the City of Mission for tax purposes. Each deeded lot has a deliverable street address. Retama Village is a mixture of lots with single-family houses and lots designed for RVers, about half and half. The developer of Retama Village built a central mail center with an individual mail box for each of the deeded lots. The former Postmaster decided that he would have the Postal Carrier deliver mail to the mail boxes of the lots with houses; but the mail for the RV lots would be dropped into a common box and someone, other than a postal employee, would have to sort and place that mail in the mail boxes. This is post office policy for an RV Park populated by "transients." An RV Park has staff for such services. Retama Village does not have a staff. The residents of Retama Village did not like the discrimination of this decision. They did not like that the RVers were being treated differently for mail but not for taxes. Also, there is a security issue, for the RVers mail would pass from the Postal Carrier's hands to an unsecured container, unlike the house lot, where the mail is securely placed in the mail box. A new Postmaster came to Mission, Texas and determined that the decision made by the prior Postmaster was wrong. But the process had escalated to the USPS District Manager, who didn't want to reverse the decision. The residents decided to stage a protest of the decision at the Mission Post Office.
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	First we had to make some signs. We had a work party on the pool deck of our club house on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Sarah Shong is our resident lettering expert!
	Kay Zander and Bonnie Fogg show off their handiwork. Bonnie Quinn proudly displays her sign.
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	David McCarron making the letter bolder. Yvonne Coder and Donna Zinnecker work on the sign questioning the Post Office's common sense!
	Gail and Bonnie Quinn Sue and David and McCarron
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	We all gathered at the Retama Village Club to get our "marching " orders. With signs ready we set out.
	Our target was the Mission, TX Post Office. On our first protest day, we spread out and walked the block around the Post Office for two hours making certain to stay off postal property. We scheduled our protest for 11AM - 1PM coinciding with the busiest time at the Post Office...lots of traffic...lots of exposure!
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	Grant Zinnecker and Kay Zander Dale
	Kathy Adams, our fearless leader from the beginning of this fight, had 20 years with USPS and helped us understand the workings of the Postal System. She contacted and handled the interface with the media, print and broadcast.
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	Channel 4's media van. Betty Scofield
	Gayle Gurksnis Mark.....protested with a smile!
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	Dale in her first public protest! We made the TV and the Newspaper.
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