To the editor:
I wrote a letter to the editor in the winter of 2012 after the Shawano County Board narrowly passed the unneeded mailbox ordinance. I warned the people of Shawano County of what I was afraid was going to happen now that the troublemakers on the County Board got their way.
Well, 1 1/2 years later, I have been notified that mailbox that has stood on County Road J south of Tigerton for 26 years is now illegal and will be removed in 30 days.
I will be billed for the removal, prosecuted and fined.
When I placed the mailbox at its site 26 years ago, I checked with the highway commissioner and the post office to make sure it was placed legally, and it was.
Since that time, the Highway Department widened the roadbed on the highway and passed this senseless ordinance because I sued the Highway Department for failing to pay for damages they did on my property in Waupaca County and Shawano County, as well as destroying a heavy-duty stretch rope I let them use to attempt to pull their tandem-axle dump truck off my lawn. I never received a dime.
Ordinance 2-12 states your mailbox post is illegal if it’s bigger than a 4-by-4 round or square post or 1 1/2-inch steel pipe. There are a lot of other requirements that reflect the lack of intelligence of the Highway and Parks Committee, as well as the Highway Commission.
My mailbox is no more of a danger to public safety than the trees, boulders, power poles, guard rails and bridge embankments alongside our roadways.
Mailboxes don’t kill people. People who can’t keep their vehicles under control hurt and kill people.
I urge all mailbox owners of Shawano County to contact your county supervisor and get this unnecessary and ridiculous ordinance repealed and taken off the books.
After they attempt to remove my mailbox, ask yourself, are they coming for mine next?
I counted 12 mailbox posts that are illegal on County Road J between Tigerton High School and my home. If this isn’t harassment, I don’t know what is. Remind your county supervisor this isn’t Russia yet.
I urge all Shawano County taxpayers to do something now because there are hundreds of illegal mailboxes out there, according to this stupid ordinance. If this can happen to a blind-in-one-eye guy like me, it can happen to anyone.
Keith Alft Jr.
Tigerton
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