NORTH FORK — North Fork residents have always been able to access the lobby and pick up their mail at the Post Office 24/7, day or night. But not anymore.
The U.S Post Office in North Fork has been forced to change its hours of use and close the lobby by 7 p.m. daily, starting Nov 14, and it’s not due to government cutbacks or upgrades. It’s the result of continued loitering, drunken behavior and the accompanying vandalism.
Some box owners may have already taken note of the posting on the front door that states the new hours and wondered why. Others may have had a pretty good idea, as this is not a new problem.
Many who work full time, especially commuters, depend on the lobby being available at night, be it for home or business use, and the new hours may certainly pose a major inconvenience to the large percentage of residents who don’t have mail delivered to their homes.
North Fork has felt the effects of this type of behavior before when the ATM located in the same center as the Post office was the subject of multiple incidents of vandalism and attempted break-ins and was closed down. The town paid the price as a whole.
Postmaster Paul DeLeon tells us that loitering has always occurred to some degree over the two years he has been here. There have been a minimum of six calls out to the Sheriff Office during DeLeon’s tenure by P.O. staff, but the matter has recently increased to untenable levels.
Deputies have responded to the property six times just since September, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Vagrancy and public intoxication is occurring on a regular basis, and upon arriving to work every morning DeLeon is burdened with the duty of evicting those sleeping on the floor, making reports to authorities, and cleaning up the bottles left behind. He also has the unfortunate job of janitoring the urine both inside and outside the building and that is more than can be tolerated.
Paul says the Sheriff’s office always responds and does everything possible to mitigate the matter, but they are limited as to how much they can do. The vagrants may earn themselves a trip to the Madera jail, then manage to return in short order and resume the behavior once again.
Arresting the individuals – who are not homeless, but have taken to spending many an evening and night in the lobby – requires a deputy to make a trip down to Madera for booking, leaving the mountain area with only one patrol deputy to respond to crimes in progress. According to the Sheriff’s Office, that takes a deputy off patrol for about three hours.
The offenders can also be issued a citation, but it is up to the District Attorney whether to file charges.
There has also been damage to infrastructure taking place, but most concerning of all is the effect it has upon customers.
Paul is very concerned that unsuspecting customers may be intimidated by the presence of intoxicated individuals sleeping on the floor or consuming alcohol in the Post Office lobby – especially at night.
The floor mats at the doors have had to be removed as the vagrants have been wrapping up in them to sleep, and with winter weather that could cause a customer to slip and fall on the wet floor. Paul says that he has not seen or been informed of any violence occurring toward any customer, but he has witnessed violent behavior outside of the building from one of the selfsame individuals; which is just one more of his very serious concerns for the community and their safety.
Sierra News Online has reached out to the Madera County Sheriff’s Problem Oriented Policing Sergeant to try and arrange a public meeting to discuss the issue and search for solutions.
Should the public encounter this problem when they visit the Post Office, they are urged to contact the Madera County Sheriff’s office by calling dispatch at 559-675-7770 or by dialing 911. Though people may hesitate to “bother” dispatch with what they consider a low-level crime, we are assured that they need to know it’s happening and be able to log these incidents.
The North Fork Post Office lobby hours will be from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. beginning Monday, Nov. 14, and continuing through winter with the possibility of extending hours in the summer.
