Pacific County Courthouse, 1875-1893

     We are definitely going through a bad patch here in Oysterville.  Our water isn’t testing well and we’re having to boil our drinking water.  The Oysterville School House is considering no more rentals due to irresponsible types who have left the historic building a mess. The post office is under threat of closure and our postmaster has been told not to talk about it.  It just doesn’t feel as safe and predictable here as usual.
     The water problem and the schoolhouse problems are being carefully considered and dealt with by people who know and love Oysterville.  Resolution will occur – hopefully to the satisfaction of all.  But the post office situation seems out of our control.  We can’t even talk about it to our postmaster who is our friend and neighbor.
     In fact, according to Cate Gable’s article in today’s Chinook Observer, the only postal official who can comment or answer questions about our post office is a man named Peter Hass in Phoenix, Arizona.  Mr. Hass says not to despair.  They may move our post office to another nearby governmental building.
     Hmmm.  I wonder which Oysterville, Washington 98641 he might be considering.  As far as I know, we have not had ‘another governmental building’ in Oysterville since 1893 and that one was the county courthouse.  Even if it were it still standing, I doubt that a county building is what Mr. Hass is talking about.
     I, for one, don’t know what he is talking about and it seems patently obvious that he doesn’t either.  I imagine that in their corporate wisdom, the postal honchos have placed a gag order on local employees in the hope that one voice spouting the official line of patter will lessen the confusion and angst among us little people.  Or, more probably, they want to study the situation in an orderly manner, hear from the public in due time, and make their decisions based on impartial evidence…
     All of which, of course, increases our concern and makes us feel helpless and hopeless about having a say in our own destiny.  The reason most of us live in this out-of-the-way place is that we like being part of the decision-making that affects our lifestyle.  And we don’t want just a “say” either.  We want a meaningful say based on factual information.  Phoenix, Arizona indeed!  What a crock.