One of the good things about living out in the country is the informality. You can talk to people who are not in a hurry, buy your groceries where they know your name, and pet the cats in your local post office.

Recently, the heavy hand of Washington’s bureaucracy removed the last pleasure. Although the post office can’t get a letter from Whiting to New York in less than five days, it can move with lightning speed to keep our local post office “cat free.”

They claim that having cats in a post office is unprofessional. Really? A bicentenial stamp honoring two centuries of postal service clearly shows a cat sitting on the counter of a rural post office. Seems I’ve heard they did many things different back then, like deliver the mail in a prompt courteous fashion.

Lately, the post office has been plagued with violent acts committed by their somewhat high strung employees. I’ve read that cats can help to calm nerves and give people a sense of peace. Maybe the post office needs more, rather than fewer cats to pet.

For the present, they can at least rescind their stupid “no cats” edict for our post office here in Whiting. Harry H. Snyder III Whiting