Groveton Post Office

Kristi Lowery, My name is Lloyd Franklin Burke lll. My wife Jackie Entwistle and I lived in Tucson, Arizona until Feb. 2021. Together, my wife and I share a passion for growing food. Our skills in gardening grew over a 12 year period in Arizona to the point we started a Youtube Channel a couple years ago. We began sharing our successes and failures as gardeners, with an audience that is growing to this day, in a manor I never would have imagined. Growing food in the desert of Arizona was no easy task. For us it involved building raised beds, filling them with decent soil, etc. It was an expensive process because the soil in Arizona isn’t designed for growing food. But, we did it, and shared it on our Youtube Channel with a growing audience that loves us. My wife and I also shared a dream and desire, not on Youtube, just between the two of us, for years. It was to someday move to Texas where our oldest son lives and grow food in way we couldn’t in Arizona. We dreamed of buying some land someday, that we could actually grow food in the ground. Our plan was to grow to the point we could be self-sustainable and maybe even provide for our new community. We could also have some animals like chickens, pigs and cows. We could learn how to process them ourselves, like a homestead. We could also grow our Youtube Channel in a whole other direction. It could be a simi-retirement for us. Years passed and passed and passed, until one day a light showed up at the end of a very long tunnel. A property became available in Groveton, Texas and God literally opened the doors for us. Our dream was becoming real because all our hard work was paying off. We made a verbal offer on the property sight unseen, which was verbally accepted. So, we flew out to Texas to meet with the realtor and look at the property for the very first time. We noticed the mailbox at the end of the drive way and inquired about it. Because of our Youtube Channel, that mailbox was very important to us. The previous owners explained they had lived on the property for over twenty years and they received their mail in that mailbox. That was it, we didn’t need to see or hear anything more. We sat down with that realtor and she put our offer in writing. We closed a month and a half later in October of 2020 and moved to Texas Feb. of 2021 after selling our home in Arizona. My wife and I are both in our mid to late 50’s. The move was hard on us, it still is. Over time though, we managed to get most things re-organized and somewhat settled. So, we took a walk out to our new mailbox and opened it. Inside laid a USPS (Rural Customer Delivery Instructions) card, with a small sticky note attached to it. The sticky note said for the most part, “Welcome! Please fill this out, give us a call. Let us know that you would like your mail delivered.” Rather than calling, I was in town one day and stopped by the Post Office. I explained to the girl up front (Leslie), we were new residents and would like to start getting our mail delivered to our mailbox. She handed me another USPS (Rural Customer Delivery Instruction) card. She said to fill it out and put it in our mailbox and lift up the red flag. So, we did. After weeks went by my wife made up an envelope and basically mailed it to ourselves from our son’s address in Spring, Texas, to see if we should be getting our mail yet. That envelope never came to us. I went to the Post Office to inquire again and Leslie asked me what our address is. I told her, 1533 Kickapoo Rd. Her exact response was, “Oh, you didn’t let us know within 90 days that you wanted your mail delivered, so we took you off the board.” My response to her was “Well, put us back on the board, we want our mail delivered to our mailbox.” To make a long story short, she took my information and phone number and said she would forward it to Kristi Lowery the Postmaster. My wife searched the USPS website and could not find any reference to any 90 day rule or standard procedure for delivery anywhere on the USPS website. Again we waited to hear from Kristi Lowery. We waited for weeks and never received a call. By this time my patients had come to an end. My wife and I drove up to the Post Office together to inquire as to why Kristi Lowery had not called us again. We took with us the original USPS card with the sticky note. Leslie, at the front desk of the Post Office said Kristi Lowery wasn’t available at the moment, but she would have her call us. She was handed the original card and the sticky note which I went back the next day and asked for it back. Leslie took a photo copy of the original and I left. Again we waited for weeks and nothing. For a fourth time, I drove up to the Post Office. Kristi Lowery finally comes out holding the photo copy, claiming we are too far. My response to her was, “It wasn’t too far for the previous residents. Why is it too far us?” I said, “What you are doing to us is WRONG!” Kristi Lowery, you have no idea what this has done to us and our Youtube business. Kristi Lowery, I am a Christian man who loves our Lord and Savior. But I have made it a point to ask every single person I meet in our new community if they know of you, and I will continue doing so for the remaining time we are here. We live in a small town, therefore the response to my question is sometimes, “Yes.” Sometimes the response is, “ Hmmm, I’m not sure, but that name sounds a little familiar.” The third response is flat out, “Nope, don’t know her.” Rest a sure Kristi Lowery, after I tell them our story about what you have done to us, they all know you now. The funny thing about it is, regardless of whether they already knew of you or not, their response to our story is pretty much the same. They all respond with, “That isn’t right. There’s got to be someone over her head you can talk to.” Kristi Lowery, we will finish building our Barndominium house at 1533 Kickapoo Rd. When we are done, we are going to sell it and move away from Groveton, Texas. It’s a shame and it is sickening, how people like you are given the power to treat people like us, the way you do. Because of you we will again have to start all over in about a year to year and a half . The only purpose for this email is for you to know how badly you have wronged us. Thank you Kristi Lowery, may God send you and your family many Blessings. Sincerely, Lloyd Burke