Return to Sender

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ The girls at city hall last week literally had to "call in the troops" as they navigated down a list of postal restrictions trying to get what will be a total of five post-holiday packages to Du Quoin police officer Gerry Whitley, whose outfit was called back into action in Afghanistan last September.

Three boxes were shipped Friday, a fourth is being readied and there are enough items still to ship to make a fifth package up later this week.

"We started by going to Wal-Mart and got a box of Ritz crackers, a summer sausage log, and a can of cheese," said deputy city clerk Tami Burdel. When you apply the postal rules to the items (they must be itemized on a form) here's how they qualified: Yes. No, and No. The crackers were okay. You cannot send pork products because they won't and don't eat pork in the Mideast and the innocent can of aerosol cheese behaves like a small bomb in the heat of the Iraq and Afghan deserts.

Tami laughs and said they compounded a felony by first boxing up their items in a hefty donated box that happened to have a "hazmat" hazardous materials emblem printed on it.

Again, the postal regulations pretty much said "No, don't even think about using that box."

So, they decided the best thing to do was to contact Du Quoin Postmaster Jim Davis, who not only knows postal regulations like the back of his hand, but is extremely helpful to anyone who has unique shipping issues.

First, he suggested Postal Service-standard issue--Priority Mail boxes. For $11.95 you can ship whatever the box will hold with no problems. He told the ladies that you have to fill out a form listing all items being shipped to troops.

"If we had used our own box it would be about $1.50 a pound," she said.

"You have to provide an itemized list of what's in the box like three packages of chewing tobacco and two cans of nuts," she said.

"We had snacks and personal care items, razors, T-shirts, magazines," she said.

"We have shipped three so far, have a fourth one started and will send a fifth one. Some gave items and some gave cash, so God provided us with the postage," she said.

"I think his birthday is in May, so we are going to do this again," she said.

Davis helped them with the postal restrictions which include no precious metals, no obscene objects, no political materials, no firearms, no pork, no aerosols, no fresh fruits or vegetables, no animals and no alcohol.

"We wish we could be there when he opens everything," Tami beamed.

Eye-Opening eMail From Afghanistan

Whitley finds himself in the thick of things, yet has managed to stay out of harm's way. He eMailed friends at city hall last week:

"Hello everyone. By now you have probably seen the news about what happened at Camp Eggers. I'm just letting everyone know that I'm fine and doing well. I was not here when the blast went off, thankfully.

"There were some soldiers injured and one, unfortunately, did not make it. This blast was on the outside of our base and was caused by a vehicle full of explosives drove into some others and blew up.

"The ensuing shockwave and falling debris blew out several windows and a few injuries, my living quarters did not fare so well and I lost some of my gear, but that is better than some.

"I hope all is well with everyone back HOME and you are doing great. I am in a transitional phase right now, so I have limited internet access. Hopefully that will change soon. Until that happens, I hope you all stay healthy and I will be in touch soon. I love you all. Gerry."