By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

Gaylord has been added to the list of post offices proposed for closure, the second such proposal in Smith County.

The U.S. Postal Service already is considering the possibility of recommending closing the Athol Post Office, a move -- if it happens -- that would leave post offices in only Smith Center and Lebanon. The Cedar Post Office was proposed for closure Aug. 10.

Gaylord was added Monday, according to USPS spokesman Brian Sperry, only a few days after USPS made a similar proposal for Alton in Osborne County and Park in Gove County.

Gaylord resident Delpha Godsey, however, already had the chance to take a quick look at the proposal, containing approximately 75 to 100 pages.

But unlike Cedar, Godsey said only one copy is available for review in Gaylord. And then, only when the lobby is open.

"They're sweeping us under the table," she said of how the Gaylord Post Office closing is being handled.

She's only had a chance to quickly review some of the closing proposal.

"I stood there and went through it," she said. "Some of the things aren't right."

But she didn't have a chance to thoroughly review it because the office was closing for the day, and the proposal remains behind locked doors when the lobby closes.

While there's still plenty of post offices on the list for possible closure, it's significant when USPS makes the official proposal to close a facility.

That's when the clock on a required 60-day comment period begins.

Under a new set of rules, the postal service now operates on a streamlined timetable that allows for the entire review process to be completed in 138 days.

"It's a quicker process than before," Sperry said, "but it still takes time."

Under the old rules, it could have taken two years to work through the process.

After the 60-day comment period, the proposal gets a one-day review at both the district and national level.

Patrons of the post office then have 30 days to appeal the decision to the Postal Regulatory Commission, although currently, USPS can go ahead and close the office unless someone appeals the closure.

The new rules, Sperry said, apply to more than what was included on a massive list of almost 3,700 post offices. The new rules fit those already being considered for closure, provided they had community meetings after July 8.

Sperry said the postal service just now is starting to work its way through the list of 3,700 post offices slated for closure.

He expects the process will take about 10 weeks to roll all of the offices out for closure and to conduct community meetings.

In northwest Kansas, offices in Alton, Bogue, Catharine, Collyer, Damar, Edson, Herndon, Kanorado, Kirwin, Long Island, Norcatur, Paradise and Waldo were on the big list. The list also included Brownell and Woodston, post offices where the community meetings already had taken place, but they are not on the fast-track schedule for closure.