Word: livingston
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...pickups and cars in Livingston, Montana, a bowlegged-cowboy town of slightly more than 6,000 notable for a giant rock formation allegedly resembling a sleeping Jesus, a popular bumper sticker declares, THERE ISN'T MUCH TO SEE IN A SMALL TOWN, BUT YOU SURE DO HEAR A LOT. And the place in Livingston where you mostly hear it--rumors about layoffs at the lumber mill, fishing reports on the nearby Yellowstone River--is the downtown post office. The 1914 beaux arts sandstone edifice, surrounded by coffee shops, saddleries and movie theaters that have survived the town's trend toward...
...Livingston's heart is set to be transplanted, and the body politic is feeling the knife. Last November the U.S. Postal Service rode into town with an abrupt announcement: the post office was leaving the central site it had occupied for 80 years, preferably for a car-friendly location amid the strip malls and burger joints out of town. "They met with us on a Tuesday," says stunned city-council member Caron Cooper. "On Wednesday there was an ad in the paper soliciting bids for land." Dan Glick, a community activist, is peeved: "Those people gave us more...
...Livingston is not alone. America's political catchphrase of the hour is "community building," yet the U.S. Postal Service seems to have lost the message in the mail. In cities and towns from Maine to Wyoming, the story is the same: remote, often arrogant Postal Service officials swooping down to summarily relocate what to many heartland residents is the secular equivalent of steepled white chapels. It's as if the feds raided Mayberry to cart away the barbershop...
Runyon should tell that to the folks in Livingston, where the fight has reached a pitch that rivals last year's Freemen standoff. In December, volunteers stood outside the post office in subzero weather and gathered 1,500 signatures on an antimove petition. Regional officials in Denver took notice. Postponing the decision to relocate, the Postal Service hired a market-research firm to conduct a telephone survey. However, Cooper and others found it insultingly biased--not a sincere sampling of opinion but the basis for a slick p.r. offensive...
When it comes to the Postal Service, building a bridge to the 21st century apparently means burning countless bridges to the past. Livingston won't have to wait much longer to see which side of this canyon it ends up on. According to Wright, the decision is expected to be made by next Monday. In the meantime, thousands of locals are hoping the movie marquee across the street from their beloved post office isn't a grim coincidence. In stark black capital letters, it reads, THE RELIC...