The Ookala Post Office is closing at the end of business on July 31, and dozens of seniors who live in the former plantation town on the Hamakua Coast will now have to go to Paauilo to get their mail.
A June 29 memo to the 83 box-holders of the Ookala Post Office said their addresses won’t change, but they will have to retrieve their mail starting Aug. 1 at the Paauilo Post Office, which is about a 12-mile round trip.
“Their mail will be available only during office hours, and it will be general delivery,” Doug Slaton, who operates the Ookala Post Office, said Tuesday. “So, they’ll have to get in line to get it. That’s not only an inconvenience; there’s a lot of old people here, and they cannot drive.
“And those same people, when they get there, will be afforded an increased COVID risk because the Postal Service doesn’t require masks. And also, with today’s gas prices, it could cost up to $100 a month to drive there and back.”
Duke Gonzales, a USPS spokesman, said the Ookala Post Office is a privately contracted postal facility owned and operated by independent businesswoman Catherine Hester.
“For personal reasons, Ms. Hester elected not to continue her contract to operate the facility beyond July 31, the scheduled end of the contract,” Gonzales said. “… We are currently exploring our options for continued service to Ookala customers. We have been in communication with representatives of the Ookala Community Association regarding those options and our desire to maintain a presence within the community.”
Slaton said he tried to suggest alternatives to the U.S. Postal Service Hawaii District Office in Honolulu, including the possibility of him assuming the contract with USPS when Hester’s expires.
“We’ve asked them, ‘What do you want from us to keep it open?’ … They never got back to us,” Slaton said.
In a July 11 letter to Gary Logan, USPS Post Office operations manager in Hawaii, U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele, Hawaii’s District 2 congressman, requested that the Ookala facility remain open.
“The intent to ask the current 83 P.O. Box customers to pick up their mail miles away creates a lot of undue hardship as many are elderly and don’t drive,” Kahele wrote. “This poses a very dangerous situation for themselves and others on the busy highway in addition to exorbitant fuel charges. Furthermore, many of these community members currently rely on this facility to receive their utility bills, Social Security benefits, and lifesaving mailed-in medication.
“Additionally, with the upcoming election season, this will also affect those participating in the mail-in ballot process. A specific member in the community, with extensive training and much of the necessary equipment, has stepped up and is willing to enter a rolling contract with USPS to keep this (post office) open in the community. I ask that you strongly consider this opportunity so that we can continue to offer our rural communities a fundamental service that they are entitled to receive.
“If this option is unfeasible, my recommendation is for the swift installation of cluster mailbox units in Ookala to ensure seamless service to our constituents.”
Sheldon Lehman’s elderly parents live in Ookala. The Hawaiian Paradise Park resident said his 84-year-old mother has had a stroke, and is currently staying with him and his wife, state Sen. Joy San Buenaventura. His 88-year-old father has dementia and remains in the Ookala home they’ve had for a quarter-century.
“He actually still drives a little bit at 88 years old,” Lehman said. “He goes to the post office, which is just to the end of his driveway and another 200 yards.
“Now, he’ll have to drive the 12-miles round trip during business hours and stand in line to get their mail. They won’t have a box there. Neither my mother nor my father are capable of standing in line. And there are stairs that go up to that post office. It’s not (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant. And they’re just not going to be able to do it.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.