CINCINNATI — More than a dozen Avondale residents are just now getting their mail for the first time in two weeks after the post office stopped delivering to Prospect Place.
The reason: the postal service says it halted delivery because of an aggressive dog at one house threatening the carrier.
Perry Ward knows his dog, Kong, can look intimidating, but he insists he’s never hurt anyone.
“My dog is trained,” Ward told WCPO. “The only time my dog is outside is when I’m with him because he’s not a street dog. He’s a house dog.”
So Ward was surprised when he and his neighbors -- about 15 to 20 other residents -- stopped getting their mail because the carrier felt threatened.
“I’ve been here for like five decades, and this is the first time this has ever happened,” Ward said.
In a statement, the U.S. Postal Service explained it was unsafe for the carrier to be in the neighborhood, and that’s why they held other customers’ mail to be picked up at the post office.
Ward said he tried getting mail at the nearest post office but ended up having to get it from a post office in St. Bernard. His neighbor Brenda Dixon, who helped Ward call to retrieve his mail, agreed it was a hassle.
“With this virus and people that can’t get out to get their mail, and then you come out to get your mail and you can’t get it, it’s absolutely ridiculous,” Dixon said.
Ward was eventually able to retrieve his mail and delivery has resumed, but he says some things, including bills, came late and have inconvenienced his neighbors.
“I’ve been voting since I was 18 and that’s what made me mad the most was because of the fact that my ballot was in there,” he said.
Dixon says though she received her Census paperwork, she wasn’t able to vote in the Ohio primary, which was mail-in only due to the coronavirus.
“There’s a definite problem, and this should never, ever happen again,” she said.
