MOUNT VERNON — The shooting and wounding of a U.S. Postal Service carrier in Maple Heights on Thursday brings up concerns for the safety of all USPS carriers and mail delivery workers.
USPS officials are still assessing the Maple Heights situation before they hold informational sessions with carriers. However, situations like this and others always beget safety discussions with postal employees.
“We usually have a safety talk in the morning and tell [employees] the current news,” said Cindy O’Brien, Mount Vernon Postmaster. “We handle everything very seriously these days based on the anthrax scare several years ago. We don’t take anything for granted these days.”
O’Brien said USPS officials sent out a small news release about the Maple Heights carrier being shot, and that was mentioned in the morning meeting. However, officials are waiting for more information on that situation before holding any safety meetings specific to that shooting.
“It’s pretty scary,” O’Brien added. “We go into every neighborhood. There’s no cutting out a neighborhood just because it’s having issues.”
O’Brien said there has been heightened security since the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
“We look at situations where people put certain things in mailboxes to try to cause hazardous conditions for the carriers,” she said. “We tell our carriers to watch for anything out of the ordinary, such as people getting extra fertilizer which can be used for making bombs. We had service talks about that at one time. But generally we tell them just to be aware of their surroundings and if they see anybody or anything out of the ordinary in their neighborhoods, don’t take it lightly.”
Cleveland-area Postal Service spokesman Victor Dubina said 53-year-old Daniel Kondas had just begun the route in Maple Heights sometime Thursday morning when the shooting took place.
Kondas was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, where spokeswoman Susan Christopher said he is in critical condition.
Maple Heights police are releasing no immediate information.
Dubina said Kondas joined the postal service in 1986 and has been working from the Maple Heights branch of the Cleveland Post Office since 2000.
