DANVILLE, Va. — Eldridge Cobb feels comfortable with a tool in his hands. The past couple weeks he’s been doing some repairs, “I’m just trying to fix them (mailboxes) up and make them presentable,” said Cobb.
About 30 neighbors in his Danville community suddenly found themselves in need of a curbside mailbox. One day last month the mail was delivered and then the next day it stopped, “It’s been terrible, it’s been terrible,” said one neighbor.
Neighbors tell WFMY News 2 the US Postal Service didn’t notify them as to why they needed to install curbside mailboxes and they had to find out for themselves, I feel like they could have handled it better,” said Felicia Deshayes.
Neighbors eventually went to the post office and were told the mail delivery was temporarily halted after a dog chased one of their mail carriers. The postal service decided to have the residents install curbside mailboxes and suspended service for 30 days to allow neighbors to put them up.
Danville Police confirmed a 911 call was made in reference to a dog chasing a mail carrier in that neighborhood. News 2 reached out to Danville Police who tell us its animal control division receives more than a dozen calls a week for dogs running loose in the city.
When we reached out to the US Postal Service and asked how many other neighborhoods are required to have curbside mailboxes because of a similar situation it declined to comment on that. The postal service did send us a statement that reads in part: “While we are pleased to learn one of the loose dogs has been removed, we remain concerned with other dogs who pose a safety hazard to our letter carriers.”
After some investigating, we also discovered the dog in question was identified by animal control and the owner voluntarily turned him over. The family told us the dog has gotten out but that he is not aggressive, “I see dogs barking in this neighborhood all the time, they are not tied up and the mailman walks right by them like it’s no big deal,” said Tiffany Reeves.
After neighbors kept complaining about the situation, we again reached out to the US Postal Service to see if anything could be done to help some of the neighbors who are elderly and have a hard time walking to the curb.
A spokesperson sent us an email a couple days later informing us that residents can apply for a “hardship delivery” by contacting the Danville Post Office for consideration. Eldridge tells WFMY News 2 he still has a couple more mailboxes in case any of his neighbors still need one.
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