Post office getting minor roof repair
Published 6:00 pm Sunday, September 5, 2010
As everyone knows, neither rain, nor sleet, nor hail nor snowcan stop the mail. And apparently, a little roof work doesn’t stopthe postal service either.
People doing their usual errands downtown toward the end of theweek may have noticed the Brookhaven Post Office on West CherokeeStreet was taped off for parts of Thursday and Friday, but postalofficials said the normal flow of traffic was not affected.
And people who were going about their daily routines weren’treally affected by it except a slight feeling of curiosity, oneBrookhaven resident said.
“I saw it, and I walked around it, but I didn’t worry about whatit was there for,” said Wade Noble, as he made his way up the stepsin front of the post office on Saturday after the tape had beentaken down.
The yellow caution tape was there to keep people out of areasthat could be dangerous if falling debris is a result of the roofrepairs going on above, said Acting Post Office Supervisor JayThompson.
“You still can enter the front, but we wanted to cautioneveryone on their approach, and make sure there’s nothing around toslip or trip or fall on,” Thompson said.
The post office, built in 1909, is on the Register of HistoricPlaces, and Thompson said that is a major consideration as therepairs were done. He said under no circumstances will theantiquity of the building be lost.
“It’ll still have the original historical look, which I knowmatters to a lot of people around here,” he said.
USPS Public Relations Spokesperson Beth Barnett said theoriginal roof will not actually be altered.
“It’s repair work underneath that will solve a few minor repairproblems,” she said.
And meanwhile, officials are not sure when the work will bedone, but they thanked their customers for being so patient.
“Hopefully that work will be complete before too long, will be aminor inconvenience to our customers trying to enter the building,”said Barnett.