I buckled last night and watched the television news, but it was worth it for this. Kitsap Sun takes up the story:
The mailboxes along Old Belfair Highway in early 2010 were a little lighter than they should have been, federal prosecutors say, because a particular postal worker was pilfering mass mailings to burn in his home’s outdoor fire pit.
Richard A. Farrell, 45, was sentenced Tuesday to three years’ probation, 120 hours for community service and a $25 fine after pleading guilty to the crime of delaying or destruction of mail.
The article goes on to quote U.S. attorney Thomas Woods from court documents:
He did not fail to deliver the mail because of an injury or sickness, or because he was spending his time at another job. Rather, his actions can be explained only by extreme laziness and lack of consideration for his job responsibilities and his customers.
But here is the real gem:
The Belfair postmaster alerted law enforcement in January 2010 that instead of delivering a mass mailing, Farrell had filled recycle bins with them. Once federal investigators started trailing him in January and February, they found a pattern. He would conceal the mass mailings in his delivery vehicle, take it home, and “use the mail to start the fire, and then add mail to the fire to keep the fire going,” Woods wrote.
Did you hear that? They found a pattern! Farrell would use the mail to start the fire, and then add mail to the fire to keep the fire going. Holy shit! Did a pocket calculator write that sentence? Go on Woods—tell us how it works! What else did he do? I love everything about this story.
Grant, do you even read The Slog? This story was posted by Gillian yesterday. It’s only ten posts below this post.
What is Slog? (Damn it!)
#1
The unique thing is that in neither post do they use the story as a justification for besmirching the Tea Party.
This is my hometown. And I’m fully unsurprised by this.
I’m shocked that the mail burner only had to play a $25.00 fine and perform 120 hours of community service. Visions of Bevis and Butthead all grown up.
I seriously WISH our mail carrier would burn our “mass mailings!”
@6, I agree. If only he’d recycled them instead of burning, he’d be a hero. I still think they should have paid him $25 and given him 120 hours of vacation time.
Your posts seem snarkier since you became Music Editor. I am not complaining, just saying.
Did you see the story on KING tv last night about lazy drink-tending Stranger staff members who can’t be bothered to actually read the blog they post to?
@8 I agree.
Also- thats not technically a pattern. Dont patterns have to start over? Where does it start over? This description seems to just end.
Seen this story several places now but this was the first time it stuck out that it was “mass mailings” that he was recycling and burning. This guy really should be getting a medal or something.
Wait, this was junk mail? Oh, fuck yeah, this guy’s a hero.
I suspected it was junk mail when I read the article yesterday. Good job on the follow-up, Brissey.
@6, @7 — Right on. I would support my tax money going for that.
I’m hopping on the “hero” bandwagon. Viva la Resistance!
someday i am going to run for office on a platform of banning junk mail. i will have the tree vote locked down.
Also – other sources said this guy is deeply in debt to the IRS and that most of his wages were being withheld for back taxes so he felt like he was working for nothing….
Also – I am in Kitsap and my own carrier told me this guy is a “contract worker” and not a regular USPS employee. She is pissed off that he is reflecting poorly on her and other full time USPS employees.
That’s a relief. I was worried that he’d be burning other people’s credit card bills or government cheques. Still, I like having the autonomy to burn the mass mailings delivered to me despite burn bans or my partner’s disapproval (ash pits and fireplaces aren’t fun to clean), or shred them, instead of someone else accidentally yet correctly deciding I don’t need RedPlum or Arby’s mailers.