Citizens looking for solutions to Martin City Post Office closure

By CHRIS PETERSON Hungry Horse News

Judy Rabidue remembers when Martin City had its own school and they played baseball games against Hungry Horse.

Then the schools were consolidated and Martin City lost a little bit of its identity. Now it's lost its post office and more identity is gone. Soon, she fears, Martin City will simply be part of the Canyon, not its own little historic town, created when the Hungry Horse Dam was built more than 50 years ago.

Rabidue said Tuesday she's looking for solutions to bring the post office back to Martin City after it was shut down last Friday (Sept. 28) and the postal boxes were brought to Hungry Horse.

The move to Hungry Horse is already proving unpopular, several folks said.

Bobbie Beach has to get on her hands and knees to get her mail. Her box, which used to be much higher off the floor, is just a few inches off the floor in its new nook in Hungry Horse.

Beach literally had to get on her hands and knees to open her box and remove the mail.

"I used to have a box up here," Beach said, holding her hand at her waist. "Now I'm down here. This is awful. This is very sad."

Beach said she's had a post office box in Martin City for 47 years. Now this.

Residents also complained they weren't given much notice, either. While postal officials claim notices were put in the mail in mid-August, residents said they weren't aware the post office in Martin City was closing until last week, just a couple of days before it closed last Friday.

Beach made her case to Big Sky District Manager John DiPeri, who was in the post office when she was getting her mail.

"We need help," she said, asking him to reconsider the post office closure in Martin City.

Rabidue said she will likely bid on a contract to return the post office back to Martin City when the time comes. But she's not optimistic.

She noted she would have to compete with Hungry Horse for the contract, and the owners of the grocery store like having the post office because it draws customers.

But still it makes her upset.

"It's taken away our community … The post office was where you got to say good morning to your neighbor. It was our connection," Rabidue said.