Dogs, Lonely Women Often Delay Uncle Sam's Mail Couriers
By HARRY FERGUSON'
WASHINGTON (UPI) i The
U.S. Post Office Department has
a sort of combined motto
and pep talk which it lifted from
the Greek historian, Herodotus,
and put on the front of the New
York post office: "Neither, snow
nor rain nor heat nor gloom of
night stays these couriers from
the swift completion of their ap
pointed rounds."
What frequently does stay
these couriers from the swift
completion of their appointed
rounds is a dog. Also a woman.
The department talks freely
about the dog problem, and the
supervisor's safety handbook for
postmen says under section 188
that "carriers should neither an
tagonize nor attempt to pet
feet of Halt has worn off and the
dog returns to normal. Halt
leaves a yellowish coloration on
the dog's hair which is remov
able by washing."
Dog Bites Costly
Ten per cent of all dog bites
cause injuries which force post
men to lose work time, and last
year the department says the
total cost was $800,000. Even so,
the department did not plunge
into the Halt experiment rashly.
It informed the American Kennel
Club, the American Humane As
sociation, the Popular Dogs Pub
lishing Co., and the Humane 'So
ciety of the United States, and in
vited suggestions and coopera
tion. The trial period for Halt is
about over and by Labor Day
there may be a decision as to
whether it will become a perma
nent weapon in the postal arsen
al. Any time the Post Office De
partment is accused of being an
ti-dog, it -tells tht sitory of Owney,
the Post office dog, who was
mounted and is now on display in
the Smithsonian Institution. Own
ey showed up at the Albany,
N.Y., post office in 1888 and be
gan taking out of town trips with
the mail sacks. The clerks put
an identification tag around Own-
ey's neck and he began traveling i
cates." He was considered lucky how Owney died on the streets
because no train nor ship on of Toledo, Ohio, in 1897. Another
which Owney was riding ever dg attacked and Owney not bc-
had an accident. ing equipped with Halt fought
If this doesn't convince critics back unto death. .
of the Post Office Department's (Tomorrow: Junk mail: who
dog policy, the story then is told oi sends It and why).
Fri., Aug. 23, 1963 The News-Review, Roseburg, Pro. 5
all over the country.
One day he got aboard a mail
steamer in Tacoma, Wash., and
went around the world in 132
days. In Japan, the Mikado gave
Owney a canine passport and he
collected what the department
calls "200 medals and certifi
fr'fnlfnl WORTH OF FINE g
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Gets No Counsel
Nowhere is there advice and
counsel on what the postman
should do when a woman invites
him to put, down his mail sack
and come in for a cup of coffee.
But it is a real problem and a
postman of about 10 years experi
ence told about it after exacting
a strict pledge that he would re
main anonymous:
"A lot of these women are just
the motherly type. You know,
it's raining and they feel sorry
for you and they want to give
you some hot coffee and maybe
toast. They don't cause much
trouble because you can always
tell them you're late and have to
keep going to get your whole
pouch of mail delivered.
"Th n there's the other kind.
You uould call them lonesome.
They're waiting at the door every
time you deliver the mail. If you
turn them down on a cup of cof
fee, then they tell you to come
inside because one of their letters
has been lost and they want to
talk about it. I always tell them
to give me a written memoran
dum, but most of the time they
don't buy that. Sometimes they
get real tough and say they're
going to report me to the depart
ment if I don't come inside. No
body has reported me so far, but
you never can tell.
Spots Dangerous Ones
"It's easy to spot the danger
ous ones. Usually they're wearing
a kimono or something like that
and have their faces made up as
if they were going to a Satur
day night dance. When you see
one like that, brother, you better
run.
"I'm not saying there are lots
of them on my route, but there
are enough to cause trouble. But
I hear things are even worse for
people like television repair men,
telephone company workers and
fellows who sell things door to
door. Those guys got to go inside
the house to do their job. Me, I
can always stand at the door and
say no."
Unfortunately, there is no way
a postman can say no to a dog
which is rushing at him with
every intention of biting. About
7,000 postmen were bitten by dogs
last year, and the worst offend
ers were Dobermans, cockers,
Pekingese and terriers.
The Post Office Department
knows it's walking a tight rope.
It wants to protect the postmen,
but it faces the wrath of millions
of American dog lovers. The first
attempted solution was to advise
the owner of any dog that bit a
postman that hereafter he would
have to pick his mail up at the
post office. That didn't work be
cause it developed that many
postmen were being bitten by
stray dogs.
Armed With Capsule
Now an experiment is in pro
gress in Detroit, Miami, Balti
more and San Francisco where
the postmen have been armed
with an aerosol capsule called
Halt. It is loaded with mineral oil
and an extract of cayenne pepper
and was developed at the Univer
sity of Georgia. When a postman
is about to be attacked, he
squirts Halt at the dog.
The department says the pre
liminary results are encouraging:
"The sprayed dog does not cry
out. He merely puts his tail be
tween his legs and beats a hasty
retreat. In most cases, after one
or two experiences with Halt, the
dog never again attacks the user.
"While an animal obviously has
been made uncomfortable for a
short period of time, there are
no lasting effects to the eyes or
any other portion of the face.
Within 10 to 15 minutes the cf-
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