Letter of the day: A trip to pick up the mail shouldn't be life-endangering

What a tragedy that the post office didn't listen to the family of Ira Shank, the man who was hit by a car while crossing the road to retrieve his newspaper (Star Tribune, Jan. 19). A few years ago, we had a similar incident here: An elderly women was hit by a car while crossing the road to get her mail. A few months after that, I asked the post office about moving our mailbox to our side of the road, and I got the same response as the Shanks family did. However, I contacted my county commissioner, Rosemary Franzen, about the matter, and within a few months all of the residents on our road had the option of having their mailboxes relocated to the same side of the road as their homes. Every time I go out to get the mail or the newspaper, I'm grateful that I don't have to cross the highway, thanks to the efforts of a sympathetic county commissioner. The post office needs to listen when people voice a safety concern. How many more people have to be killed before it starts paying attention? CARLA CHRISTOPHERSON, BRAINERD, MINN.