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Bringing home the mailBy John Schlageck Kansas Farm Bureau 67523. That's the zip code for mail destined for folks who live in the small western Kansas community of Burdett. Located in Pawnee County, Burdett is home to 232 souls. It's approximately 43 miles northeast of Dodge City as the crow flies. Like so many small towns in western Kansas, Burdett reached it's peak years ago--maybe a century ago. During the last couple years the John Deere dealership folded on the south side of Highway 156. A farm supply service now operates from the same building. This wasn't the first business to shut its doors and residents of the little Kansas village know it won't be the last. Still, Burdett sports a handful of businesses on Main Street. They include the post office, bank, insurance agency, beauty parlor and senior center. Judy Wasko runs the post office and serves as postmaster although postmistress would be politically correct. She's been at the helm in Burdett since Jan. 20, 2007. She started working for the postal service in 1996. Her first postal employment was part time in nearby Hanston. Wasko also farms with her husband Paul 13 miles west of Burdett. Three daughters help them run an 82 head cow-calf operation. They farm approximately 950 acres and raise, corn, silage, soybeans, milo and wheat. Like so many of her peers across the Sunflower State, Wasko works outside the farm to help pay the bills and subsidize the family income. Delivering and sending out the mail is her main mission. The post office building is the familiar blond-brick structure seen throughout Kansas. Standard silver government issued letters read: UNITED STATES POST OFFICE BURDETT KANSAS 67523. It's located on the east side of Main. Wasko opens the doors every morning at 8 a.m., and closes them at 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday. The post office is open for one hour on Saturdays. A part time-clerk helps mainly during lunch and vacation. The Burdett facility also serves as the supply center for other small offices in western Kansas. When the supplies arrive, they are shipped out to the other post offices. The Hodgeman County farm wife loves her vocation. "I'm really at home here and I love the people," Wasko says. "I give them their mail with a smile." That mail amounts to approximately three feet of letters each day and another two feet of flat mail that includes mainly larger envelopes. Some days she sells an additional $100 in stamps. Approximately 80 people receive their mail in small rectangular metal boxes that line the right wall coming into the post office. These old timers come complete with brass-plated combination locks. Walk-in traffic at 67523 varies from day to day, according to Wasko. Most people show up every day to pick up their mail, but the post office is never crowded. "The best thing about our little office here in Burdett is that no one has to stand in line to send a package or pick up registered mail," Wasko says. "Some days are busy, but it's always a gradual stream and never a rush." One of her favorite folks stops by daily to deliver the weather. He's an older gentleman and ironically his weather report is not local but rather from a different country every day. While Wasko admits she's seen a decline in the amount of mail during her 12 years in the postal industry in western Kansas, but it is not drastic. "Few people use the Internet to pay bills in our little community," Wasko says. "Out here most people still correspond by (postal) letter. They pay their bills the same way." And for the time being, that'll keep Wasko delivering and sending letters, envelopes and packages via the U.S. mail. At the same time she has the opportunity to serve her friends and neighbors and visit with them daily. There's no place she'd rather be than bringing home the mail in Burdett. John Schlageck is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas. Born and raised on a diversified farm in northwestern Kansas, his writing reflects a lifetime of experience, knowledge and passion. 9/8/08 Date: 9/3/08
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