Ft. Bend Co. residents worried about possible closure of two small town post offices

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Some folks in Fort Bend County are worried about how they'll stay connected via mail as two small town post offices are slated for closure.

If the offices close, they'll have to travel farther to mail items, even use post office boxes. But it's not a done deal yet.

The U.S. Postal Service is considering closing the Thompsons and Orchard post offices. The postal service has already closed more than 500 post offices nationwide. It says it wants to preserve small, rural post offices like this one in Thompsons. So it's asking residents to weigh in.

They are not the horses used for the Pony Express, but they graze near a modern-day post office that soon could be extinct just the same.

In the town of Thompsons, everyone gets mail at a P.O. Box.

"We have a lot of history out here. Most people don't even know we are here," said Rita Miller.

Miller has had hers since she was married in the 70s. The post office has been around a lot longer, since well before the turn of the century. It's part, however small, of what put Thompsons on the map. An address. A place 236 people call home.

"I would hate to see us lose our identity," Miller said.

But in an effort to cope with a nearly $12 billion budgetary shortfall, the U.S. Postal Service has identified hundreds of small rural post offices which could be closed.

The USPS is sending surveys to the communities, asking them what solutions they would support. A USPS spokesperson tells Eyewitness News they will only close post offices if 60 percent or more of those surveyed agreed to. Thompsons' mayor says no thanks.

"To go to the nearest post office would be approximately 11 miles," said Mayor Freddie Newsome Jr.

Other options include creating rural routes for roadside mailbox delivery. But that would also mean closing the post office and changing every address nearby to the next closest post office's city.

"You wouldn't have any way of knowing that we were here because we would have a Richmond address," said Miller.

She says it would be a blow to their identity. They plan to fight to keep the post office alive.

One other option that seems the most viable is that the USPS has suggested hours at rural post offices be cut in half to just four hours a day.

There are several public meetings coming up on this if your post office is affected.

Orchard Town Hall Meeting
October 23 at 5:30pm
Orchard Community Center
9714 Kindler St.

Thompsons Town Hall Meeting
November 7 at 5:30 pm
Thompsons City Hall
520 Thompsons Oil Field Rd.

You can also visit USPS.com here to get more information.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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METRO rail closure this weekend

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A section of the METRO rail is closed this weekend in downtown Houston as part of an expansion project.

The closure is underway on Main Street between Texas and Walker.

METRO is currently expanding its light rail with three new lines under construction.

Businesses on Main Street will still be open during the closure, but the rail won't reopen until 4am Monday.

Check real-time traffic information in our ABC13.com traffic section

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Major closure planned for North Loop this weekend

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- If your plans this upcoming weekend take you along the North Loop, you might want to find a different route. A major closure is planned.

On Friday night at 9pm, all westbound lanes of the North Loop will shut down at Ella, including the entrance ramp from Shepherd/Durham. It's not scheduled to re-open until 5am Monday.

Drivers will be detoured to the frontage road at the Ella exit.

Three inside main lanes on the North Loop eastbound will also be closed from T.C. Jester to Ella from Saturday at 9pm until Sunday at noon.

Law enforcement will be present to help you get around the closures.

The closures are necessary as construction crews make repairs on the bridge deck, as well as work on part of an improvement project for the 610/290 interchange.

Check real-time traffic information in our ABC13.com traffic section

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Homeless shelter narrowly escapes closure

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Tonight was supposed to be the last night of shelter for dozens of homeless Houstonians. After running out of money, the Bread of Life "After Dark" shelter was supposed to close Thursday. But they somehow cobbled together enough cash to stay open for a few months more.

If Houston's economy is, as we've been often told, the economic envy of the nation, this is a part of Houston that no one envies. A snapshot away from our shiny skyline are the unmistakable signs of the thousands of Houstonians who live on our streets.

Dana Hogan with Bread of Life said, "At any given time, you will have individuals just camped out either underneath the bridge, on the sidewalks, in this particular area."

It is a block away from the Bread of Life homeless program, where men and women line up to race in for one of a shrinking number of overnight spots. This isn't an easy spot to get.

Homeless man Jeff Griddine said, "It stays full. It's constantly full. It's full now."

In October, Bread of Life was sheltering 150 to 200 homeless men and women every night. When they ran out of federal stimulus funding that kept the program open in October, that number dropped to 50 and it was about to drop to zero.

"There was somewhat of a decision to end the program today," Hogan explained.

But Bread of Life and St. John's Methodist Church came up with cash to eke out another 60 days of shelter, and will take the time to aggressively raise private money. Public dollars for homeless services are tough to come by.

"It's not very optimistic," said Thao Costis of SEARCH Houston. "Homeless services are not a high priority."

Costis runs SEARCH, another Houston homeless aid organization. They, too, lost stimulus money and were forced to cut services there months ago. The downward trend could lead to more homeless on the streets.

"For us to help them plan for, 'OK, where do you want to be in the next week, in the next year?' It's hard for them to even think that far ahead," Costis said.

But on the night that was supposed to be their last, with little money in their bank account, the Bread of Life somehow finds a way to be optimistic.

"As long as we continue to operate on the premise of hope, that we give back to our population and our clients, everything else will take care of itself," Hogan said.

The homeless men we spoke with tell us the Bread of Life really is a last resort -- a final stop before sleeping under that bridge. The Houston Homeless Coalition says the programs that got cut actually helped drop the number of homeless on our streets by as much as 10 percent.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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North Forest ISD to fight state-ordered closure

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The state has ordered North Forest ISD to shut down by next summer. There are still a lot of unknowns at this point, including what will happen to North Forest's 7,500 students and whether the district's schools will be closed and/or sold.

While many in this community aren't necessarily happy with how this situation is playing out, they believe the school district's long track record of problems will be hard to defend.

After years of poor test scores, high dropout rates and financial mismanagement, the Texas Education Agency says North Forest ISD has done an awful job of educating its students and believes it's time to close the district and give the 7,500 kids who go to school there a fresh start.

Parent Vanessa Kegler said, "You got to have teachers who want to teach the children and not just go in there for a paycheck."

Kegler says she moved out of North Forest because the schools were so bad, but she worries that shutting down the entire district will strip the community of its identity.

"They want to close out all the blacks. I feel like this society is not worried about our children anymore," Kegler said.

As details of next year's potential merger with Houston ISD get ironed out, the cry to keep the district intact is growing louder. Houston City Councilman Jarvis Johnson and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee acknowledge the district's troubles, but they believe North Forest is worth saving. Lee has organized an emergency community meeting.

She said, "I just think in spite of the many, many citations year after year that is alleged in the letter that I'm still reviewing, that there may be some questions of district treatment and attitudes that I think are inappropriate in the state of Texas."

North Forest is in the process of appealing the state's decision, but does it have a leg to stand on?

Parent Timandra Gauthier isn't sure how fighting this is going to benefit the kids, who according to the state haven't been getting a quality education for years.

"It's kind of sad in a way, but I mean, whatever helps the kids. If they're not learning in the schools there is no use for them to be there," Gauthier said. "They need to be placed somewhere else where they can learn."

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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