Thursday, October 9, 2025
These employees were honored for their heroism
Four rural carriers receive recognition for saving lives
A USPS employee in Blaine, WA, has received the top hero of the year award from the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association for saving a customer from a vicious dog attack.
On the day of the attack, Rural Carrier David Hamilton was heading back to the local Post Office after completing his deliveries when he saw a large, unleashed dog attacking an older woman and her small dog.
Hamilton jumped out of his vehicle to protect the woman, whose arm had been injured after the larger dog knocked her to the ground. He threw an empty mail tub at the animal, causing it to release the smaller dog from its jaws.
When the larger dog turned to attack him, Hamilton fought it off with an ice scraper. He then led the woman and her dog into the back of his vehicle.
When the dog attacked a third time, a neighbor and three landscapers safely ushered it away.
Hamilton, a 20-year USPS veteran, received the union’s National Hero of the Year Award at a ceremony in Orlando, FL.
“I was exhilarated,” he said afterward. “This experience is absolutely the pinnacle of my career.”
Three other Postal Service employees received hero of the year awards from the union:
• Newcastle, ME, Rural Carrier Alex Tomasello waded into the cold waters of the Sheepscot River to rescue a man from being washed downstream. He then helped carry the man up the riverbank, where an ambulance subsequently took him to a nearby hospital.
• Oakland, IL, Rural Carrier Keri VanEtta saw black smoke coming from a vehicle so she motioned for the motorist to pull over and then called 911. The two moved to a safe location before the car went up in flames.
• Kerrville, TX, Rural Carrier Lisa Ann Wagner noticed an older customer’s mail piling up, but repeated calls and texts went unanswered, so she and her husband went to the customer’s home to check on her. They heard the severely dehydrated woman inside cry for help, so they called 911. Paramedics then took the customer to a nearby hospital to treat her broken hip. Wagner subsequently visited the woman every day during her recovery.
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Off the Clock
These birds of a feather stick together
A USPS employee and her great horned owl serve as avian ambassadors
My name is Carri Honz and I’m a USPS retail associate in Lincoln, NE. I have worked for the Postal Service since 1986.
When I’m not on the job, I help care for birds of prey as a member of the Raptor Conservation Alliance, a nonprofit organization that treats hawks, owls, eagles and falcons.
I’m currently caring for Halsey, a great horned owl that came to us 28 years ago after he had been hit by a car and left for dead on a highway.
While Halsey didn’t break any bones, he did sustain a severe head concussion and some brain and optic nerve damage. As a result, he lacks an aggressive predatory personality and couldn’t be released back into the wild, so he has become my educational partner and a great avian ambassador.
We do presentations at schools, libraries, retirement centers, scout groups and with our local Audubon group. We’ve also had opportunities to work with Jim Fowler and Peter Gros from Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” TV program and photographers Michael Forsberg, Joel Sartore and Thomas D. Mangelsen.
Halsey is known throughout the world. In 2010, when Steve Jobs was introducing the iPad at an Apple event, he went to the National Geographic website and pulled up an image of Halsey.
Great horned owls are called “tigers with wings” and in the wild, they might live to be 20-25 years old or as long as 60 years in captivity. Halsey is 34 and is considered middle-aged.
The Raptor Conservation Alliance has handled close to 17,000 birds since it started back in 1976. Of those, we have gotten about half of them released back into the wild. The ones that cannot be released may become an educational bird with our group or they might go to a nature center or a zoo or a breeding program.
The Postal Service has always been accommodating of my volunteer work. My family is also supportive. I’m married with two adult children. I knew my husband Dave was the right guy when he was cool with me taking in Halsey.
Halsey and I are pretty tight at this point. Could he work with other volunteers and people? Sure. But he is familiar with me, and we have a great bond and a trust that just works really well.
“Off the Clock,” a column on Postal Service employees and their after-hours pursuits, appears regularly in Link.
Columbus Day is Oct. 13
The annual observance has been a federal holiday since 1971
Columbus Day, a holiday that celebrates Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas, is Monday, Oct. 13.
The first Columbus Day celebration took place in 1792 in New York City. A century later, President Benjamin Harrison declared Columbus Day as a one-time national celebration to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage in 1492.
In 1934, Congress passed a resolution calling on the president to issue a proclamation each year marking Oct. 12 as Columbus Day.
Since 1971, Columbus Day has been an official federal holiday observed on the second Monday of October.
Many Italian Americans observe the holiday as a celebration of their heritage — not just Columbus himself. The day also holds significance for those of Hispanic ancestry because Oct. 12 is celebrated throughout Latin America as Día de la Raza.
Columbus has also been the subject of several stamps through the years, including the first set of commemorative stamps — issued in 1893 — honoring the World’s Columbian Exposition, or world’s fair, held in Chicago that year.
The Library of Congress website has more information on Columbus Day.
Central Area, Michigan 2 District on top in scanning
A snapshot of Postal Service scanning data shows the national rating was 97.03 percent during the week ending Oct. 3, down 0.23 percent from one week earlier.
The data was collected Oct. 8.
Central led the four areas with a rating of 97.27 percent, while Southern ranked last with a 96.55 percent rating.
Among the 50 districts, Michigan 2, part of Central Area, ranked first with a 98.5 percent rating, while Illinois 2, also part of Central Area, ranked last with a 93.84 percent rating.
Scanning data allows customers to track their mail and packages, which helps USPS deliver excellent service, boost loyalty and drive revenue.
To see the latest data, go to the Informed Visibility website and select “Customer Experience,” followed by “DES 2 Scan Performance.” Postal Service employees must request Informed Visibility access through eAccess.
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These employees were honored for their heroism
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Off the Clock
These birds of a feather stick together
A USPS employee and her great horned owl serve as avian ambassadors
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Columbus Day is Oct. 13
The annual observance has been a federal holiday since 1971
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Brief
Central Area, Michigan 2 District on top in scanning