January 22, 2001

Dear Editors:

Talk about road rage! With the situation at the understaffed and overwhelmed Kihei Post Office, I wouldn't be surprised if there is an incident of some kind of rage very soon. For some reason, local and government officials don't feel it necessary at this time to add another post office in Kihei, or to accommodate the growing number of residents of Wailea and Kihei. Forget about the Christmas rush! From the time those doors open at 9:00 a.m., the Kihei Post Office is a mess, with lines out the door, and customers standing in droves holding heavy packages- sometimes waiting for interminably long intervals just to buy one-cent stamps, because the machines outside are empty and unmaintained. The "official" signs in the lobby posting outmoded 1998 stamp rates and a long-ago incorrect website to buy stamps online are a joke .

Many of the customers standing in line at Kihei said they have written to the post office, but have only gotten lip-service, as officials continue to maintain that there is no need for a new post office in Kihei/Wailea.

Please, everybody, do your part and write a letter to the Postmaster General of the Kihei post office today. You can't call him or her, because - unlike most local post offices in America - there is no local number for the Kihei Post Office -You get only an 800 number that keeps you guessing for hours about which buttons to push, and even then you will not be able to get the information you need- (like what is the name of the Postmaster General in Kihei? Or who do we write to if we have problems or comments)

Almost wants to make me vote Republican and privatize the whole thing.

So write and let them know that as long as Maui continues to grow -like it or not-they are going to have to support the ever-changing infrastructure as well.

Charles Laquidara
Kihei, Maui, HI 96753