Sean C. Morgan
Cascadia residents are tossing around ideas to keep a Post Office in Cascadia, and Rep. Sherrie Sprenger and Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist are looking for ways to help them.
Sprenger called a meeting with residents at Cascadia Bible Church Thursday night, Dec. 1, to talk about solutions.
Although the Postal Service is federal and she is a state legislator, she was hoping to find something she could do to help.
“I’m more than willing to listen, and sometimes there’s a piece I can grab hold of,” Sprenger told about 25 Cascadia residents. “Sometimes there’s not.”
She noted that it’s about more than the Post Office. More importantly, she said, it’s about the Cascadia community and keeping it on the map. She lives near Lacomb, and if Lacomb lost its school and store, the community would be gone. Those are the places where community members interact with each other.
Cascadia Post Office is among those around the nation under consideration for closure. A decision by the Postal Service headquarters in Washington, D.C., is expected by the first of the year. In addition, the Post Office building was destroyed in a Nov. 19 fire.
“I’m hoping they’ll rebuild a Post Office,” Sprenger said. “I’m not holding my breath. I think one of the dilemmas is how do you maintain your sense of community.”
The Postal Service does have an option for a village Post Office, said Ruth Powers, Cascadia postmaster.
If the Cascadia community could put together a co-op store, selling eggs, bread and other basic supplies, “you could have a village Post Office as part of that,” Powers said. Whether it’s a coffee shop or a “stop and go,” it might work.
Water in Cascadia is a problem with arsenic soda, which is why most residents are on springs, said resident Bob Hubler. That means a coffee shop wouldn’t be approved unless it had dishes transported to and water transported from a restaurant in the valley.
He also said that the hoops, permits and regulations, are too much of a burden.
“The problem is the county wants us in Cascadia, 200 people, to have a store like (on) Main Street in Sweet Home,” Hubler said.
Cascadia residents were discussing a co-op because no one really has the money to open a store.
“If somebody has the money, that would be great,” Powers said.
“Who has the money?” Sprenger asked. “That’s why it’s a co-op.”
Sprenger said she talked to a friend who works for the Postal Service about what options Cascadia might have. She told Sprenger that the best bet would be a private rural contract route to have mail delivered to the door.
Sprenger guesses that it probably doesn’t pay well. The expenses are borne, such as a car breaking down, by the contractor.
But someone in Cascadia might want to do it and might be able to make it make sense, she said. “When I said what other options do they have, she said, ‘None.’”
Cascadia already has a route, and Cascadia residents wondered why it could not be extended to include the 50 to 60 people who have only PO box service.
Resident Bob Hartsock asked whether the community is interested in forming a nonprofit organization that could contract for the mail service. He believes the residents should be getting their mail at the road, rather than an anticipated solution where box holders get their mail at Foster.
He lives four-tenths of a mile from the road, he said, and he thinks the Post Office should even deliver the mail up the road at his house.
The garbage service comes to his home, he said.
In the meantime, about 10 to 15 of the 65 box-holders have street addresses that could receive home delivery, Powers said. They maintain boxes for specific reasons, such as the Clan Manachtan Association, which receives checks in the mail.
Nyquist said that Sen. Jeff Merkely and Sen. Ron Wyden are involved in an effort to stop the Post Office closures. He also said that the estimate to build a replacement Post Office is about $500,000. He believes that includes land acquisition.
The Post Office had been located on Hubler’s property. Residents suggested that the federal government might transfer a Forest Service building and property near Short Bridge to the Postal Service.
After the decision, there will be a 30-day appeal period, Nyquist said. “We need to pay attention, and if they decide to close the Post Office, surely we need to appeal that.”
He also plans to ask the Attorney General to defend the Constitutional rights of Cascadia residents and take the Postal Service to court, assuming that Congress doesn’t do something about it first.
“He’s our attorney general,” Sprenger said. “We’ll go to him and see.”
Of more pressing concern is helping Cascadia get its mail now, and he asked whether Cascadia residents would like to see if the county could set up mail pickup at River Bend County Park.
A resident said it would sure beat driving to Foster, and Nyquist said he would look into it.