Community rallies to save East Beckley Post Office Station

BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — Community members showed up to the East Beckley United States Postal Service Station on South Kanawha Street in Beckley on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, to rally for federal officials to reopen the post office.

More than two years ago, U.S. Postal Service officials closed the building, telling those in the neighborhood it was only temporary and that it would just be closed long enough for the building to be repaired, according to USPS workers who attended the rally.

Beckley Common Councilwoman Janine Bullock, who represents Ward 5 and those affected by the temporary closure, was in attendance, along with Ward 1 Councilwoman Natalie Coots, At-Large Councilwoman Sherrie Hunter, Ward 3 Councilman Frank Williams, Mayor Ryan Neal and other city officials.

“I had sent Senator Manchin a letter, and he did respond,” Councilwoman Bullock said. “So, I probably need to go back and send some more letters and do some more phone calls, and we need my constituents to call his office, and we need to get some answers. Soon.”

Betty Pemberton once served as postmistress at the East Beckley station, before retiring in 2018.

Pemberton said that she knows from her time working that not everyone can leave the East Beckley neighborhood just to mail a package.

“Some of them can but some of them can’t,” Pemberton added. “Most people don’t have cars to go all the way out across town to the post office, when this would be the most convenient, in a walking area for these people here in East Beckley.”

Jeanie Bowman and her husband own the building.

Bowman said federal officials notified her the closure was due to needed repairs inside the facility.

She said that federal officials requested a series of renovations and repairs and that the Bowmans had made every repair the U.S. Postal Service had asked to be made.

She said they spent around $20,000 dollars and that the facility is ready to open to the community, although USPS officials stopped paying rent.

She could not get inside the building to show renovations to the public, because USPS officials require all keys to the building, she said.

Bowman said it is not the first time the East Beckley station has been threatened by a permanent closure.

“They tried to close it right after we purchased it several years ago. They put a notice up, the community outcry, and they left it open,” Bowman said. “So, we kind of knew we were kind of on the radar, and so when we had this issue, I thought, ‘Mmm, I’m wondering, what’s going to happen?’ But still, we still made the repairs.”

Joanne Prater, a U.S. Postal Service employee, also once served as postmistress at the East Beckley station.

She’s now working at the main facility in Beckley waiting on news of when the East Beckley station will re-open.

Prater has asked questions to higher-ups in the USPS system but has gotten no answers, she said.

“The new postmaster has called several people, and they are giving him the runaround, also,” Prater said. “So it’s just a running circle, as far as I know at this time.”

Dr. Jerry R. Staples, pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Beckley, said the community needs the East Beckley station.

“A lot of people don’t have the wherewithal, or the ability, to travel all the way out to the new post office, and if you go uptown, there’s no parking,” said Dr. Staples. “We need to reopen the post office, and we need to get the postal service back here, in this community.”

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