Community Voices: Are Peachtree City post office woes waning?

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Ongoing complaints about service and upkeep at the Peachtree City post office prompted a recent meeting between city reps and postal officials. Jill Howard Church for the AJC

For a lot of folks in Peachtree City, the P.O. might as well be called the pee-yew.

Years of complaints about the city’s post office came to a head last month after Mayor Vanessa Fleisch wrote to U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan about ongoing reports of long lines, rude staff and spotty deliveries. A meeting between city and state officials and U.S. Postal Service reps on Sept. 7 resulted in a pledge of better employee training and service.

It can’t come soon enough.

Google reviews of the Peachtree City branch are a string of single stars longer than the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Facebook comments decrying “rudeness, lies and laziness” and carriers who refuse (but claim they tried) to deliver larger packages are common. Some customers say their neighborhoods don’t get any delivery at all when it rains. And when birthday gifts and Amazon orders get delayed or lost, the ship(ping) gets real.

There are rumors that the eagle logo at this branch might be replaced with a buzzard, since the building is where time goes to die. I have on many occasions stepped inside, seen the line and turned right around and left. (May I say, however, that I have a wonderful carrier, from a county branch.)

Part of the problem is that Peachtree City, despite its size, has no postmaster of its own. It shares one with Fayetteville (whom Fleisch called “unable or unwilling to address the ongoing problems”). Having no such priority male or female on site could be a big reason why customer service in Peachtree City has been lax. We’d order a replacement if we thought he or she would be delivered before Christmas.

In fairness, postal employees — like anyone else who must deal with the public daily — also find themselves on the receiving end of rude behavior. Years ago I was at the post office when a male customer at another counter started shouting at the clerk and made a derogatory racial comment to her as he stormed out. But before he could reach the lobby door, virtually every person in line behind him yelled back in a chorus of reproach.

Plus, a building that dreary can’t be a positive environment in which to work. Not even the steam coming from the customers’ ears can clean off those gray walls. It needs work: Fresh paint. Warmer lighting. Benches or chairs. Art. A parking lot that isn’t a hopscotch of cracked concrete. Even the U.S. flag out front got so worn it looked like a relic from Iwo Jima. It has now been replaced — a good omen!

Customers have been forwarding themselves to other postal locations, including branches in Tyrone and Senoia that, despite their smaller size, get higher marks for service.

Benjamin Franklin, our nation’s first postmaster general, once noted that “Well done is better than well said.” Let’s hope the efforts of our elected officials can help lick this problem.

If Peachtree City’s post office can regain prompt, friendly and reliable service, it would certainly get everyone’s stamp of approval.

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Chabad of Peachtree City: The ‘Good’ Year

Writers Rabbi Yossi Lew Rabbi Yossi Lew is co-director of Chabad of Peachtree City.

It happens every year, just as it has been happening forever: Rosh Hashanah arrives, and the synagogues are crowded. Even those who, throughout the rest of the year, allow their Jewish connection to fall into the shadows are inspired to show up.

The High Holidays typically feature extra-long prayers, inspiring speeches and sermons from the rabbi, and, of course, the sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, many times over. Trust me, none of this resembles the synagogue experience of the rest of the year.

Prayers and hopes are centered around the point of shana tova, a good year: pleading and begging for a renewed connection and a good upcoming year.

As this occurs each year, the question is inevitable: Why are people doing this? Do those who emerge from their spiritual yearlong hibernation really need to disturb their slumber for a three-day, spiritually Jewish marathon, begging for yet another good year?

Besides, what does a “good” year mean? Are healthy adult men and women showing up to ensure their job is secure, a few extra dollars are found, their friends should love them, and their doctors should stay away?

The filled synagogues are not about people seeking healing, wealth and happiness. Infinitely more is happening. Indeed, every person who turns out for the High Holidays is giving up a matter of substance. It may be surrendering time, sleep, work or rest. Sacrifices are being made to attend services.

A sacrifice normally originates from a profoundly personal place. It is from here — that “spark” of spirituality — one is inspired to behave Jewishly: to pray, to pay attention to the sounds of the shofar, to take to heart words of Torah, and to consider reconnecting to spiritual roots.

Those who undertake this move ostensibly appreciate and grasp, on some level, the merit of their actions.

The High Holiday season tends to resurrect that spark of Jewish connection. In some cases, that spark has been waiting to be touched since the previous High Holiday season. And that spark of spiritual connection is “good.”

On Rosh Hashanah, we connect to a place deep inside with wishes not merely for continued health and wealth, but for that connection to endure another day — we hope until next year.

The dilemma: How does one turn this inspiration into a tangible, ongoing commitment? Even those more observant people whose connection is stronger struggle with carrying the inspiration from the High Holidays through the coming year.

The key, then, is to examine the real goodness in the term shana tova, the good year. One may experience goodness in several ways: good news, good mood, good weather. One can point to good deeds as well.

The ultimate goodness is that which is shared with others. Here, one has not only committed a good deed, but also shared and spread this goodness.

Yet people tend to worry about the reaction of others. In truth, if a deed is a good one, it should not matter what another may think.

Several years ago, I was attending the bar mitzvah of my nephew in London. My illustrious sister and her rabbi husband are Chabad emissaries to that far-flung neighborhood, and their neighbors are not the friendliest bunch. My sister advised us to be aware and to try not to stand out too much.

One example she mentioned was the tallis (prayer shawl), worn during morning services in the synagogue: It is forbidden to carry an object in the public domain during Shabbos. My sister encouraged us to bring the tallis to the synagogue on Friday, before the onset of Shabbos, and avoid wearing this conspicuous garment upon ourselves while walking in the street to services.

This arrangement did not work for me: I was caught in traffic and arrived at the house too late. The next morning, I placed the tallis on my shoulders at the house, preparing to walk to the synagogue. A family member was alarmed. “What are you doing? Are you really intending to walk outside like this after we were cautioned about unnecessary attention?”

Opening the door to leave, I looked back at this family member and said: “Do you honestly think I look normal without wearing my tallis?”

To a world unfamiliar with Judaism and Jewish symbols, one probably looks strange or even nuts.

But that should not matter.

When people feature loud and noticeable gestures, this behavior is usually done to seek attention to personal expression. When, for example, a Jewish person wears a yarmulke in the streets or modest clothing even on the hot summer days, one is expressing good deeds. These should never be causes of worry. These are moments and opportunities to be a proud Jew and share good deeds with others.

The hope for a shana tova, a good year, should include the goodness of sharing that which is good with others precisely because it is “good.”

And it just may happen that, despite your feeling nuts, the other person is actually inspired and moved by this goodness.

And that is the ultimate good.

When praying for a good year this High Holiday season and when wishing this upon others, it would be wonderful to make a commitment to perform a good deed that will not merely affect the person making the resolution, but also others out there as well.

And then the spark can become an inferno of warmth and light. The connection will be strengthened, and the year, together with the years to come, will contain only goodness.

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Cleaning up after the storm in Peachtree City

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – Folks south of the metro area are spending the day cleaning up. Some people were hit harder than others.

11Alive’s Joe Henke spent Tuesday morning in Peachtree City, where one homeowner had a big mess to clean up — while some of her neighbors were left unscathed.

The storm damage from Tropical Storm Irma coming through Georgia is definitely widespread, but it is also extremely random.

You can come to neighborhoods like this one where I’m at in Peachtree City and you see yards like these ones over here – nothing at all to note. They look like they did 48 hours ago.

Then you come right over here – you see a whole lot of damage and now the clean-up process begins.

From a totaled SUV to a destroyed car — a branch sticking four feet deep into her home’s roof and a broken garage door.

On Tuesday morning, Naomi Duncan was seeing just how bad the damage was outside her home on Ambrose Lane, as she planned with her husband to start cleaning up Monday’s mess.

"The two in the front fell at the same time, almost," she said, talking about the trees in front of the house.

Duncan stepped outside after Irma took down the trees, imagining it couldn’t get any worse.

"Heard another crack and went running that way, and this tree over here fell, too," she said.

Three trees in total, came crashing down in a matter of seconds. And now, comes the day after the storm everyone hopes to avoid.

"Waiting on the insurance adjuster to get here so we can get the trees removed," she said. "We have some rental cars coming. Just praying that insurance is good to us."

But as the insurance process begins, at least there is a bright spot on this cloudy day for Duncan and her two daughters who were inside their home during the storm.

"We had three trees down," she said. "One we can’t even open the garage door, but everybody is safe. We are grateful for that."

© 2017 WXIA-TV

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Irma no big threat to Coweta

National Weather Service

The 5-day forecast cone now extends to include the Georgia coast (shown below). The earliest reasonable arrival time of tropical storm force winds to the Georgia coast would be late Sunday morning.

There’s no need to panic – in Coweta, that is.

While Hurricane Irma is shaping up to be potentially devastating to coastal areas – wherever it decides to make landfall – the effect the storm will have on Coweta shouldn’t be severe.

“It’s way too far out to really pin down the impacts that it is going to have for this region,” said Kyle Thiem, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Peachtree City. “In general terms, we’re probably going to have some pretty gusty winds going into Monday and Tuesday, and we’re probably going to experience a good amount of rain.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the storm was tracking toward the east, putting Coweta on the western side of it. And the western side of a hurricane is the best side to be on.

“Being on the eastern track is a lot worse when it comes to both tornadoes and heavier rainfall potential,” Thiem said.

Gulf Coast hurricanes have a higher potential for severe weather impacts on Georgia – such as the tornado outbreak that accompanied Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The storm should reach Coweta late Monday and into Tuesday. “All we can do right now is kind of generalize,” Thiem said.

The current forecast calls for an inch and a half of rain over a few days, and wind gusts of 20 to 25 mph, he said.

The National Weather Service held an online briefing for Georgia’s emergency management directors Wednesday.

Coweta Emergency Management Director Jay Jones said several groups came to attend the briefing in his office, including representatives from Coweta-Fayette EMC, Newnan Public Works, and amateur radio operators.

There will be more briefings as the storm approaches. “They do a really good job of that any time we have a storm,” Jones said of the weather service’s Peachtree City office, which covers 96 counties in Georgia.

Though nothing major is expected from Irma in Coweta, it’s always a good idea to be prepared for emergencies and weather events.

“Everybody should prepare, whether it be a tornadic pattern or this hurricane,” Jones said. He recommends Cowetans visit ready.ga.gov for information about making a preparedness plan and putting together a kit. Items that should always be kept on hand include water and ready-to-eat foods.

Coweta and the city of Newnan are well-supplied with extra fuel, Jones said, and public-safety agencies are always ready to respond.

“Everybody is ready. We just had a meeting today to coordinate that,” Jones said. He’ll be monitoring the storm and keeping in contact with local agencies throughout the weekend.

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