By Cathy Higgins
LITTLE RIVER, Ala. — The welcoming of 2012 in north Baldwin County will have residents bidding farewell to a longtime fixture, as the U.S. Postal Service looks to close its Little River location next year.
As previously reported this past summer, the location was included in a list of Alabama post offices the organization began considering for closure. The study was born from the Postal Service’s decrease in customers due to a gradual shift in communicating via email and texts instead of letters.
As part of the study, a recent town-hall meeting was held at Mamie’s Chapel in Little River, drawing 35 Little River residents. Little River Volunteer Fire Chief Larry Kiper did not attend the meeting, but said reports he received indicated that those who did wanted the facility to remain open.
“Nobody there is for the post office closing,” he said over the phone.
The closure has additional resistance in the community that borders Monroe County.
“There’s a petition at Ferguson’s Grocery Store,” said Larry Kiper, Little River Volunteer Fire Department’s assistant fire chief over the phone. “It’s been up there a while.”
That’s because store owner William “Peanut” Ferguson has a family connection to the post office dates back to the 1920s when his grandmother served as post master.
“We hate to see them close it,” he said in a phone interview, saying residents would have to head to Bay Minette or Monroe County when sending large packages. “The packages are the main thing.”
But it seems the Postal Service is recommending just that. According to Fetterly, a proposal to close the Little River facility has been placed on its door.
“The posting will remain for 60 days,” she said via email.
But nothing will be done until after the first of the year. In addition to the 60-day time-frame of the notice is a moratorium on closures that coincided with the notice. According to Fetterly, the action puts a halt on decisions to close until Jan. 2.
Once that date has passed and the office closes, Kiper is among those who doesn’t expect be affected. One reason is that he simply doesn’t have to leave home to send his bill payments or letters.
“I just put them in my mailbox,” he said.
