Postal

No one should be shocked by the General Accounting Office's conclusion, in a two-volume study, that the U.S. Postal Service -- the largest federal civilian agency -- is crippled by a "dysfunctional organizational culture" and an "us versus them" mindset.Tough discipline, not cooperation, is how bosses rule workers.None of this is new. Postmaster General Marvin Runyon told The Sun's Roger Simon in June of this year, "We need to empower employees. We've been too authoritarian, where a supervisor goes in and says, 'This is the way I want it done and check your brains at the door.

All post offices, stations and branches of the U.S. Postal Service in Anne Arundel County will be closed Monday in honor of the Columbus Day holiday.Delivery services will be limited to Express Mail andspecial delivery at offices having receipt of mail.Customers may buy stamps from the following vending units, which are open 24 hours a day:* Glen Burnie Post Office7596 RitchieHighway21061-9998 (no insurance available)* BWI TerminalBaltimore-Washington International Airport21240-9998* Annapolis Mall21401-3098Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

A memorial Mass for E. Bernard Cooper, a retired postal clerk, will be offered at 10 a.m. today at the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 3121 Walbrook Ave.Mr. Cooper, who was 87 and had lived on Mount Street for many years, died of cancer Dec. 9 at the Calhoun Street home of his daughter.He retired in 1963 after having worked for the postal service since 1924. Earlier, Mr. Cooper had taught elementary school in Baltimore for several years.Born in Baltimore, he graduated from Douglass High School and from what is now Coppin State College.

With food supplies low after heavy demand during winter, officials at the Maryland Food Bank are hoping to receive a special delivery from Maryland letter carriers this week.Today through March 25, more than 2,800 postal workers will accept food donations such as canned meats, soups and vegetables while they are making their regular mail deliveries. Nonperishable foods also can be dropped off at post offices to be delivered to the Maryland Food Bank, a nonprofit group supplying 900 local programs that feed the poor.

Services for Kenneth H. Fauntleroy, a retired postal manager, will be held at 10 a.m. today at St. James Episcopal Church, 829 N. Arlington Ave.Mr. Fauntleroy, who lived on Oakhurst Place in Northwest Baltimore, died Thursday at the Veterans Administration Hospital on Loch Raven Boulevard after a long illness. He was 68.Born in Baltimore, he was a 1939 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School and attended what is now Morgan State University.Mr. Fauntleroy served in the Army during World War II and saw action in Italy.

MIAMI -- When letter carriers can't deliver, Nieve Fernandez and Bob Kosik step in.They are among a small cadre of postal employees who decipher cryptic addresses, trace mangled pieces of mail and try to return anything dropped in a mailbox to their owners.Ms. Fernandez and Mr. Kosik attempt to fulfill the U.S. Postal Service's credo: Deliver everything entrusted to it. "They are like Columbo's assistants," says Maria Sierra, the Miami branch supervisor of lost and found. "It's real detective work."

Postmaster General Marvin T. Runyon didn't earn his nickname of "Carvin' Marvin" by standing over the dining room table dissecting a Thanksgiving turkey. He won it by chopping overhead to the bone at the Tennessee Valley Authority. Now he has embarked on an even more massive surgical procedure at the U.S. Postal Service.Phase One hit the military-like bureaucracy last month when Mr. Runyon announced a 25 percent cut in management ranks through early retirement buyouts. Some 30,000 jobs will be abolished and the entire flow chart simplified.

The United States Postal Service says it acted appropriately in dealing with the anthrax contamination incident that left Leroy "Rich" Richmond debilitated and killed two of his colleagues last October. Postal Service spokeswoman Deborah Yackley reiterated last week that agency officials relied on "medical and scientific experts" who told them there was "no danger" that their Brentwood mail-processing plant would be contaminated by anthrax powder. Yackley also addressed complaints that the agency did not close the Brentwood plant until Oct. 21, despite the fact that Susan Richmond had notified the plant manager of her husband's illness two days earlier.

Raymond Carl Crawford, a retired postal worker and Roman Catholic deacon, died Dec. 23 at St. Agnes Hospital after suffering a heart attack. The Woodlawn-area resident was 77. Born in Baltimore and raised on Port Street, he attended the old St. Andrew's Parochial School and was a 1951 graduate of Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical School. He served in the Navy aboard the USS Cadmus in Korea. After his military service, he worked for a year at the old Western Maryland Dairy and then joined the U.S. Postal Service, working in the special-delivery mail service.