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Bigger isn't better for the mail
(by Dave Lange - June 21, 2012)
COUNTY LINE, BY DAVE LANGE
Bigger isn't better for the mail
Dear County Line: Everybody knows the population of Bainbridge is about three times as much as Chagrin Falls. So when the U.S. Postal Service talks about the need to close post offices in smaller communities, can somebody explain to me why it's closing the one in the bigger community?
-- Rainer Snowe, Bainbridge
Dear Rainer: This is one of those instances in which bigger is not better. Bainbridge is a township, and Chagrin Falls is a village, and, in Ohio, townships are on the low end of the pole.
More importantly, even though Bainbridge has about 11,150 residents and Chagrin has just 4,100, as far as the postal service is concerned, your Bainbridge is nonexistent. There happens to be another Bainbridge in Ohio, down near Chillicothe, which has a population of just 1,000, but it's a village, not a township, and, therefore, it exists, according to the postal service, and it gets a post office with its own name, and, as far as I know, it's not closing.
Also, as you know, people who live in your Bainbridge have received their mail addressed to Chagrin Falls all along, and many of them like to believe they live in Chagrin Falls.
It's interesting to know as well that people who live in Chester Township get their mail addressed to Chesterland, and people who live in Russell Township get theirs addressed to Novelty. Many of them like to believe they live in places called Chesterland and Novelty, whether they exist or not.
The Chesterland and Novelty post offices are not slated to close, but don't ask me why and don't ask the U.S. Postal Service either.
Dear County Line: I find it terribly undemocratic for the Solon Board of Education to ignore the will of the people with the appointment they made last month to fill a vacant seat on the board.
Just six months earlier, 2,469 Solon voters cast their ballots for Robert A. Paulson, placing him fourth in the seven-candidate race for three school board seats. Yet the board picked John Heckman for the open seat, even though he finished far behind in fifth place with just 1,973 votes from the citizens.
-- Paul B. Robbed, Solon
Dear Paul: The thing is, three candidates received more support from the citizens than did Mr. Paulson, including Julie S. Glavin with 4,285 votes and Kevin C. Patton with 3,601.
More importantly, 3,527 people voted for incumbent board member Dorothy R. Seibert, even though she was going to vacate the seat after serving just four months of the new four-year term. The law of the state, as many laws do, supersedes democracy, so the remaining four board members got to choose her successor.
Dear County Line: I found it interesting that one of the two gentlemen trying to convince city officials that a "brewfest," or beer-tasting event, would be good for Chardon Square promised that it wouldn't be an Oktoberfest, or "kegger," but the other one pointed to the Oktoberfest in Cuyahoga Falls as a good example of beer drinking without problems.
-- Elke Hall, Chardon
Dear Elke: I think such an event would be a shot in the arm for local restaurants and other businesses. Or, as the government says in Chagrin Falls, liquor licenses are good for economic development.
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