Pace residents, watch your mailboxes

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Dear editor,

I don't expect this is happening in just my neighborhood here on Stephens Road in Pace, but it deserves some concerns and warnings to you my fellow citizens.

Two items specifically:

1. People stealing from my mailbox.

2. The postal service delivering my mail to the wrong mailbox.

On the first issue, I have confronted teenagers at my mailbox, telling them to back away and reminding them that it is a federal offense to interfere with other people’s mail.

Fortunately, these couple of instances did not escalate into any dangerous activity or physical occurrences, but you know how this world is! You see problems on TV all the time that end up in violence or tragedy. I'm not sure what the right answer is, but I did not sit quietly when my privacy was being invaded.

Please pass the word that taking other people’s mail is wrong. Thank you.

As to the second issue, I've recently ordered things online and had them tracked to the point of showing me they have been delivered. But, guess what, I look in my mailbox and it’s empty.

So, I call the post office. They say that temporary help might have put it in the wrong box. Sounds possible, but no one knows which box? I wait a few days and no neighbor returns it, and no one puts it back in my mailbox.

Is it that hard for someone to give it back to the post office or to me? I don't know if its laziness or lack of moral values. Who would have wanted the flea powder I ordered for my dog anyway?

Please make the effort to return wrongly received mail.

KENNY RICHARDS

Pace

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Pace residents, watch your mailboxes