Outcry from the Outposts
When faced with losing their post offices—‘the lifeline of small rural towns’—locals in places like Hye deliver
Destry Jaimes
Destry Jaimes
Dorothy Beyer, Hye’s postmistress since 1998, says her office is essentially the townspeople’s chat room. ‘They like to come in and find out if there’s anything going on with their neighbors,’ Beyer says. The Postal Service, facing a multibillion-dollar shortfall, relented and announced in May that it would keep many of the targeted post offices open, but with reduced hours. Beyer figures her office hours won’t be changed until 2014.
Destry Jaimes
Some of the post office boxes in Hye have been in the same family for a century. Some customers, like Porter Watson, come to the Hye post office for the usual: cards, letters, circulars, bills.
Destry Jaimes
Others without such concerns just reach for the treats.
Destry Jaimes
Beyer, 77, works from about 6:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., and customers like Levi Deike Jr., whose father was the Hye postmaster for 62 years, rely on that regularity.
Destry Jaimes
