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Permit #15 Williston,VT 05495 POSTAL CUSTOMER
RECIPE INSIDE! NOVEMBER 24, 2021
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
A season of discontent
Mail delivery craters in Williston BY JASON STARR Observer staff
Getting your mail in Williston increasingly means actually going to get your mail, at the post office on Blair Park Road. Delivery in most areas of town has been reduced to an intermittent, unpredictable trickle. The extent of the staffing shortage is the subject of much conjecture among residents, who have corroborated experiences with neighbors, talked with mail carriers and asked employees working the window at the post office. Fran Stoddard began noticing gaps in mail delivery of multiple days in September. Her husband runs a business out of their home and was reliant on home delivery and pickup of packages. When a mail carrier would arrive in recent weeks, Stoddard would question them about the situation. “The crux of the problem is they lost five out of eight carriers in a short period of time. One of them was our carrier,” said Stoddard, who lives on the
southwest side of town. “It is basically, from what I can tell, kind of a perfect storm of a lot of people leaving at once.” Steve Doherty, communications specialist for the Post Office’s Northeast Region, did not return calls seeking verification of the extent of the staffing shortage. On Blair Park Road, the post office is checkered with help wanted signs of all shapes and sizes. Stoddard was there last Friday, picking up her mail along with others who had formed a line and were calling out their addresses to clerks. “There is a real back up and they are scrambling to get it together,” Stoddard said. “Willistonians should know, the mail isn’t going to come some days. It’s going to come when they can handle it.” Fran Hopkins said she and her neighbors went four days without mail delivery at Whitney Hill Homestead in the Village last week. She was anticipating delivery of a package last Tuesday; online tracking showed it had already arrived in Williston. As the days passed without delivery, she called the post office to ask if she could pick up the package, but was told it was in a
pile that had not yet been sorted. It finally arrived in her mailbox on Saturday. “This is a very good post office. They are incredibly hard-working. But they are between a rock and a hard place,” Hopkins said. “When it comes to sorting the mail, getting it into the specific trucks that go to the specific areas, they are having trouble.” Recently, while waiting in line at the post office, she heard a resident ask if a rumor that the post office was down to just one mail carrier for the entire town was true. While that does not appear to be the case, a lack of communication about the situation from postal officials has caused some anger and frustration. “They don’t want to talk about it,” said one patron who wished to remain anonymous outside the post office Saturday morning. “I don’t know what’s going on.” The patron has called Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office to seek a remedy for the situation, and knows several other Williston residents who have done the same. “I’m just very angry,” they
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The Williston Post Office, as seen Saturday morning. OBSERVER PHOTO BY JASON STARR
said. “The service has been lousy … The attitude of the clerks, which has always been great, has also really gone downhill. Something’s got to be done.” Chris Conant of Williston advises residents recalibrate their expectations of the post office, especially in light of the upcoming holiday rush and the ongoing pandemic. “Please be patient with ev-
eryone in the service industry right now … (They are) stressed to the max, over worked in hours and covering many different tasks or shifts,” he said. “Let’s all try to take a step back and help our neighbors, family and friends navigate this new world we are living in. Let’s have tons of patience and kindness, even toward strangers. We all need it, even those postal workers who are trying very hard to keep up.”
Williston’s comfort dog stars in new book BY JASON STARR Observer staff
The cover of the new book about the Williston Police Department’s comfort dog program. COURTESY OF KAREN STURTEVANT
Local writer Karen Sturtevant has teamed with Williston Police Officer Matt Cohen on a day-in-thelife children’s book featuring the first police comfort dog in Vermont — Duke. Duke has endeared himself to the community since arriving as a cuddly puppy early last year. He has partnered with Cohen on a mission of comforting people through traumatic situations and being the face of the department’s community relations efforts. Sturtevant, a noted local dog-lover, met Duke a few months after his arrival in Williston. An author of two other children’s books, Sturtevant rekindled a relationship with the retriever this past May and
began brainstorming story ideas with Cohen. “Duke is such a bright spot in the community. When he is around, people are smiling and happy,” Sturtevant said. “After talking to Matt, I thought it would be a great idea to share Duke’s story in a children’s book.” The book, titled “K9 Duke The Comfort Dog,” is co-authored by Sturtevant and Cohen and illustrated by Max Bahr. While Duke visits schools and businesses in Williston and appears at community events, his more serious role is comforting people through emergencies and traumas. The book follows Duke through his morning arrival at the police department and a visit to a local school, then it shows his work with people after a minor car accident.
“There are two little kids and they are on the side of the road crying, and Officer (Cohen) and Duke arrive … and Duke comforts them,” Sturtevant said. ”Duke’s presence alleviates tension, if even for a moment. He makes people a little less anxious, a little less stressed.” The book will be available for sale starting in early December at Williston Police headquarters on Williston Road. On Dec. 4, Duke will join Sturtevant and Cohen for a book signing at Guy’s Farm and Yard on Route 2A (Duke will sign with a paw stamp). The cost of the soft cover is $15; and the e-book is $6. They are also available on Amazon. A portion of the proceeds from book sales will help fund the police department’s comfort dog program, Sturtevant said.