| Residents of the Auburn, Ritchie County community turned out to protest what appears to be the pending closure of their post office.
The United State Postal Service has targeted several thousand post offices for possible closure, saying they are facing huge operational costs.
Residents spoke out about the need for a local post office.
Retired postmistress Phyllis Grove said, "Many efforts have been made to close our office in the past, and they've even scheduled meetings without the public being aware."
Grove says thousands of rural post offices are being targeted, even though closing the small offices would only save seven-tenths of one percent of the post office budget.
Some local residents claim the Auburn post office has been set-up for closure by the USPS.
Representatives of the USPS told community members that so far, there are no plans to close the post office.
Agency authorities said they would take the town's questions back to get answers to questions posed at the meeting.
One or two more public meetings will be held.
See related story THOUSANDS OF RURAL POST OFFICES TARGETED FOR CLOSURE - Former Auburn Postmistress Says It Saves Little Money
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