Fwd: {{ruralcarriers@rootsweb.com}} NJ Postal and Rural News, Issue 36, V. 1, Dec 15, 2007 (List 2)

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From: <hier...@comcast.net>
Date: Sat, Dec 15, 2007 at 12:03 AM
Subject: {{ruralc...@rootsweb.com}} NJ Postal and Rural News, Issue 36, V. 1, Dec 15, 2007 (List 2)
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NEW JERSEY POSTAL AND RURAL NEWS
Issue 36 Vol. 1         December 15, 2007   Saturday        Hier...@comcast.net

Issues of the New Jersey Postal and NRLCA News are now posted and available on the following website: http://groups.google.com/group/rlc_onliners_pub?hl=en
I want to express my gratitude for all the comments, submissions and feedback and the tremendous interest in this newsletter.            PLEASE SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER WITH  ALL RURAL  CARRIER CRAFT EMPLOYEES!                           _____________________________________________________________________

Canada probes nasty Santa letters
'Rogue elf' responded to children who wrote to Saint Nick, authorities say
OTTAWA - Canada's post office and police are trying to track down a "rogue elf" who wrote obscene letters to children on behalf of Santa Claus, a newspaper reported on Friday.
The Ottawa Citizen said at least 10 nasty letters had been delivered to little girls and boys in Ottawa who wrote to Santa this year care of the North Pole, which has a special H0H 0H0 Canadian postal code. Return letters from Santa are in fact written by an 11,000-strong army of Canada Post employees and volunteers.
"We firmly believe there is just one rogue elf out there," a Canada Post spokeswoman told the paper.
Canada Post's popular "Write to Santa" program -- which last year delivered more than a million letters to children in Canada and around the world -- has been shut down in Ottawa until the offender is caught.
FERS Flu In Your Future?
Mike Causey
Had your flu shot this year? Are you exercising regularly, eating healthy? Well that's great -- but it may not help if you are in the majority Federal Retirement System and are even thinking about retiring.
Great minds who track socioligical trends, monitor possible epidemics, that sort of thing, are busy trying to connect the dots on what appears to be a growing problem. Call it the FERS Flu.
The issue: Sick leave use among many previously disgustingly healthy civil servants appears to jump dramatically in the 12 month period before they retire.
There are a number of possible reasons for this. They include the natural aging process -- new viruses in the workplace -- a pre-retirement form of depression that lowers immunity. Some even think that once it is known someone is retiring that individual becomes a lame duck at the office. He or she is no longer in the loop. Or is not considered for promotion or training because they are self-proclaimed short-timers.
There is one other clue. Most of the suddenly-sick employees are under the newer Federal Employees Retirement System. FERS covers virtually everybody hired after December 31st, 1983. FERS was designed to replace the old Civil Service Retirement System. CSRS is the best retirement plan in the nation for people who spend a full career (30 or more years) with the same employer -- Uncle Sam.
But most people who come to work for the government (2/3rds) do not make it a full career. They spend time with a federal agency, then move to a job in the private sector. Or work in the private sector and join government later in their working life.
FERS was designed to be portable by giving employees a very generous 401(k) plan, with a 5 percent government match. Those who leave government can transfer their money out of the Thrift Savings Plan into a new company's 401(k) plan if they like. And FERS employees get full Social Security coverage. Their civil service benefit (for which they pay less than CSRS employees) is not as generous as the CSRS formula.
There is one other significant difference between CSRS and FERS.
At the end of their careers, CSRS workers can apply the accumulated unused sick leave toward retirement. That can give them months, in some cases years, of "extra" service. That extra service time can boost their civil service annuity (which is fully indexed to inflation) for life. It's a good deal and Congress did that to cut down on what investigators said was something similar to what is happening now. It appeared that many long-time, previously healthy employees were using their sick leave rather than losing it. So the system was changed.
While medical and scientific types pursue the possible biological or psychological causes of FERS Flu, pragmatists are looking at another cause and another potential cure. Coud it be, they wonder, that because they are under a use-it-or-lose it sick leave system, FERS employees decide to use it before they lose it? Could it be that simple? And if so, is there a cure?
Maybe. There are a number of ideas being considered. Some think the solution would be for Congress to authorize some kind of compensation -- a lump sum payment or credit toward retirement. Once the proposal is finalized (next year) it will then have to go through the regular legislaltive process.
Postal Buyout Rumor
Postal clerks in the Los Angeles area are being given the option to retire early. But the American Postal Workers Union says no financial incentives, such as a buyout or an enhanced retirement formula, go with the deal. This may be the source, at least this year, of the SuperBuyout Rumor in yesterday's column. http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=22&pid=&sid=1308836&page=2
Mail truck goes up in flames in Southeast
Danbury, Connecticut - A postal service truck was destroyed after it caught fire yesterday afternoon on Milltown Road. Brewster firefighters were called to the scene about 2 p.m., but weather-related traffic on Route 22 and Interstate 684 delayed their arrival by 15 to 20 minutes, said First Assistant Fire Chief Shawn Conrad. The fire was extinguished quickly once they arrived, Conrad said. The truck was near Settlers Hill Road, not far from the Connecticut border.
The contents of the mail truck, which likely had holiday cards and gifts, were lost.
"Everything was burned up," Conrad said.
The driver, Conrad said, told him he first saw a puff of smoke rise from the engine. When flames followed, he pulled over and jumped out, Conrad said. The truck was quickly engulfed, he said. Engine failure appeared to be the cause of the blaze, said Brewster Fire Chief Richard Tofte.
"A lot of Christmas cards are not getting delivered today," he said. The mail truck was not attached to either the Brewster or New Fairfield post offices, officials at those locations said. Officials at the Danbury Post Office were not forthcoming with information. "No comment," said Danbury Postmaster Philip Gioia. "It's still under investigation." http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071214/NEWS04/712140377/1020/NEWS04
Oxford woman charged after alleged assault at Eastaboga post office
Oxford, Alabama - Oxford Police arrested a 44-year-old Oxford woman Monday for allegedly assaulting a 28-year-old female clerk at the Eastaboga Post Office with pepper spray. Tricia June Johnson, of Williams Circle, was charged with criminal use of pepper spray after she reportedly sprayed a contract employee loading mail around 5:45 p.m. in a hallway not accessible to the public, according to Oxford Police.
Johnson told police she was retaliating after losing her job as a contract employee at the post office. Police said the clerk fought Johnson off until she dropped the pepper spray. Johnson then fled in a private vehicle.
Witnesses managed to take down a license tag number which was traced to a local residence where Johnson was arrested. Investigators said it was unclear whether Johnson knew the clerk. Because the assault took place on federal property, police said an inspector from the U.S. Postal Service in Birmingham also investigated the incident and could ask the U.S. District Attorney to file federal charges against Johnson. Johnson’s court date and bond amount had not been set as of Monday afternoon. http://starpolice.blogspot.com/2007/12/oxford-woman-charged-after-alleged.html
 Letter carriers indicted on federal charges
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Two U.S. Postal Service letter carriers have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh.
James C. Brown, 54, of Terrace Village is accused of embezzling two U.S. Treasury checks worth $1,629 he was supposed to have delivered in February.
Jeffrey C. Booker, 28, of New Salem in Fayette County was charged with one count of delay of mail by a postal employee. Prosecutors say the rural carrier failed to deliver 18,396 pieces of standard mail, 17 pieces of first-class mail, 20 pieces of certified first-class mail and five parcels.
The men will be arraigned Jan. 2 in U.S. District Court, Downtown.
Classmates mourn teen killed by mail truck
Chistiana, Delaware - This week has been tough for Sara Talarowski. Monday afternoon, the 13-year-old saw her good friend, Ju Cho, hit by a mail truck as she walked him halfway home from her house.
"I don't get how something like that could happen in a split second," Talarowski said, walking toward a memorial for Cho on White Clay Crescent in Meeting House Hill. She wanted to place a signed card and a stuffed animal there for him.
"Sometimes things just happen," her father, Stephen Talarowski, explained to her. Talarowski was joined by other friends, classmates and neighbors who spent much of Wednesday reflecting on Cho's life and reacting to his death.
At Shue-Medill Middle School, talkative students ate and laughed during lunch hour Wednesday. Some wore blue, symbolic of what some students called Blue Ju day. School officials observed a moment of silence in Cho's memory in the morning and offered counseling throughout the day.
"The entire Christina School District expresses sincere sympathy for the Cho family for this tragic event," said school district spokeswoman Wendy Lapham. For Talarowski and another friend, Bridget Curry, the incident keeps replaying itself in their heads.
"Every time I close my eyes, I keep seeing it happen over again," Curry said. "He was a good kid. It was tragic what happened to him."
Talarowski recalled that after school on Monday, Cho waited at her house for his parents to come home, because he had forgotten his key. Talarowski, Cho and Curry listened to rap music on the radio, joked with one another, danced and surfed the Internet while they waited.
"Ju said that he wanted to check and see if his parents were home," Talarowski said. "My friend Bridget and I walked Ju up the street and we gave Ju a hug and said bye."
Minutes later, she and Curry saw a postal truck coming from the direction of Polly Drummond Hill Road. "We saw him get hit by a car," Talarowski said. It happened about 4:40 p.m.
New Castle County police said Cho was struck at Rankin Road and White Clay Crescent. He suffered severe head injuries and was taken to Christiana Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. the next day. The man driving the mail truck has not been charged. The crash is still under investigation.
The driver, whose name has not been released, remains employed but has been removed from driving duty -- standard procedure after any serious crash, said Ray Daiutolo, a regional spokesman for U.S Postal Service. Daiutolo said the man will remain on nondriving duty until police and postal service investigations are complete.
Around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, firefighters at the scene sprayed down the stretch of road where Cho was struck. The orange spray paint accident investigators used to mark where the truck stopped remained. "It's a pain in my heart," said Luis Yuncosa, 52, who lives near the scene and stopped by the makeshift memorial for Cho. He said his daughter was also Cho's friend.
A green poster was tacked to a tree with eight signatures on it that read "In Loving Memory of Ju Cho. Never Forgotten." Three artificial white doves sat on tree branches above. Yuncosa said he woke early Wednesday and created a cross made of pine for the memorial, tied three stuffed teddy bears to wooden sticks and hammered them into the dirt.
"The boy died in this very area over here," Yuncosa said, pointing to the ground where he remembered seeing Cho's body. "My daughter called me and said her friend had been in an accident. I was here in five minutes." Yuncosa's wife and eldest daughter joined him at the crash scene Wednesday afternoon. Isbelis, his wife, shook her head as she looked over the memorial. "I'm really sorry this situation happened," she said. http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/NEWS/712130365/1006/NEWS

DISCLAIMER: I have no affiliation with USPS or the NRLCA and as such any information that I pass on is unofficial and constitutes advice and/or suggestions for your consideration. You may be advised to double-check with official sources before depending on its use and while you are doing that ask why is it that someone without official contacts has this information and is passing it on and its not coming from official sources. I do not speak for any Postal or Union entity and have no authority to serve as spokesman for, against or otherwise in Postal or Union matters.
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