| By Bob Weaver
There is no longer a Creston Post Office, sorta.
The building is gone but the address remains.
US Postal officials told about 100 Creston area residents yesterday evening the Creston Post Office is physically closed, but residents can continue using the Creston address for a period of time.
Michael Bailey, manager of Post Office Operations in the Clarksburg area, told the customers the move is an "emergency suspension" of operations at the Creston site, whose lease was not available for renewal.
Bailey said none of the alternate sites offered for use as a post office met the agencies standards.
The contents of the office are being moved to Big Bend, several miles east, up State Route 5. The PO lease expires on October 3rd.
Also moving to Big Bend is Creston postmistress Ida Wager, who will be the new OIC at that location. The Big Bend postmaster has left the position.
Creston area residents attend meeting
A number of residents confronted Bailey and his two associates regarding their "condescending language and tone during the discussion.
"They talked to us like we crawled from under a rock," said one Crestonite, who asked not to be identified.
Creston resident Alvin Engelke said the officials misrepresented the time frame, knowing about the expiring lease much earlier than they represented.
"They certainly didn't expect to see all these people at the meeting," Engelke said.
Post office boxes inside the old post office will likely be placed in cluster boxes to be erected in the area.
The Postal Service indicated they would likely do a survey in 4-6 months to see how the change is working.
Diane Ludwig of the LKADC said the closure was like an unfunded mandate, requiring local residents to drive several miles to obtain service. She suggested customers keep tabs of the mileage and costs.
A person arriving late to the meeting who rents space to the PO said every so often they hassle him about the door to the bathroom not being big enough for wheel chairs and the sink being in the wrong place.
He told officials that the Post Master wasn't handicapped nor were any of the carriers.
The official replied, "Well there might be someone sometime."
He advised "Then we'll address the problem. In the meantime if you want all this done, pay me for it and I'll hire a contractor to do it."
He said that the minimum lease was for 5 years and that he was approached about renewal some months before it expired, indicating the Creston closing reason was bogus.
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