On April 12, 2012, Senator Max Baucus of Montana hosted a community meeting in the small rural community of Ingomar, MT. He was accompanied by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.
Senator Baucus first invited Donahoe to Montana in August 2011 after the U.S. Postal Service announced it was looking at closing over 3600 rural post offices nationwide including several in Montana, Wyoming and the Western Dakotas.
After introductions by Senator Baucus, Donahoe addressed the crowd for several minutes then listened to comments and answered questions for nearly 90 minutes.
The Postmaster General heard firsthand from men and women from Rural Montana and Wyoming who passionately described how important rural post offices are and how closing them would be devastating.
When pressed by Senator Baucus as to when the final decision would be made regarding which rural post offices will be closed, Donahoe responded he was hoping to have that answer by this July.
Learn more about Patrick Donahoe by Clicking Here.
The Northern Broadcasting System was in Ingomar. Taylor Brown helped emcee the community meeting and Rocky Erickson and John Walton helped engineer the broadcast so it could be aired on the radio and online.
If you weren’t able to listen LIVE to the community meeting, you can listen here.
The community meeting was held in the Ingomar School Gymnasium and was standing room only to hear from Senator Max Baucus and U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.
Possible closures include 85 rural post offices in Montana, 44 in Wyoming and many more in the Dakotas.
See a map of the proposed 85 closures in Montana by Clicking Here.
U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe talked with the Northern Ag Network’s John Walton about finding workable solutions to this very important issue.
Senator Max Baucus says he’s happy that the U.S. Postmaster General made the trip to Montana to hear from real Montanans about these possible rural post office closures.
Johnna Newman depends on the services of rural post offices like the one found in Ingomar, MT and says they’re an important part of life for those who live in Rural America.
Source: Northern Ag Network