Lincoln Street residents lose mail service over dog problem

August 2, 2006

 The Old Town post office has stopped delivering mail to Lincoln Street residents following a dog attack on a mail carrier last week. The dog involved in the incident had bitten a mail carrier at least once before. According to Lincoln Street resident Ed Bouche, the first incident took place last winter, shortly after the owners of the dog moved into their residence on Lincoln Street.

“The first time it happened was last February or March,” Ed Bouche, a longtime resident of Lincoln Street said. “I didn’t witness the incident myself, but one of my neighbors saw the attack. The mail carrier was bitten on the hand.”

The latest incident occurred last week when the same dog ran after two other post office employees, one of them a postal supervisor. Although this time the dog didn’t bite anyone, it was shortly after the incident that residents of Lincoln Street were informed that there would be no more mail deliveries to the neighborhood until the dog had been removed.

“That same day, I registered a complaint with the Old Town Police Department and with the post office,” Bouche said. “I was told by the police that they were working on the situation.”

Bouche, who suffers from physical disabilities, says that with no mail service, he and his neighbors have had to go to the post office in order to pick up their mail. That takes up a lot of time for someone with limited physical resources, Bouche says.

“The situation is affecting about twelve or thirteen people on Lincoln Street,” he said. “One of my neighbors is expecting important papers from the state that have to do with getting a liquor license for his place of business.”

The aspect of the situation that bothers Bouche the most is that nothing was done after the first time the dog attacked a mail carrier.

“I have nothing against the post office,” he said. “I think they’re good people who work hard in the rain and the snow. They shouldn’t have to be out there getting attacked by dogs. But we have a leash law in this city. This dog has been seen running around loose more than once after the first time it bit the mail carrier.”

Bouche claims that shortly after the owners of the dog moved to Lincoln Street, he was told by a mail carrier that a “vicious dog” had just moved into the neighborhood.

“He told me that he knew the dog from when the owners lived in the area around Seventh and Sixth Street,” Bouche said. “He warned me to keep an eye out for it.”

Mail deliveries to the area still had not resumed by Tuesday morning. Old Town Postmaster Kevin Clark said that the situation would not change until the dog was removed, but that the details of its removal were between the police and the landlord of the house in which the dog lives.

“At this point, we have been able to work something out with the owners of the dog,” Old Town police sergeant Michael Hashey said. “They’ve agreed to send the dog to live with relatives by the end of the week.”