WEST FRANKFORT - These days, Ed Pool sometimes feels like the lone voice in the wilderness.

However, that lonesome feeling is not causing the 76-year-old Pool to back down in his quest to be heard on the proposed construction of a new post office in Frankfort Heights, on the east side of West Frankfort.

Pool emphasizes he is certainly not against progress. But he says the construction is a waste of taxpayers' money, especially because the West Frankfort Post Office is located only a few blocks from the proposed construction site.

"I'm not on a vendetta against anybody or anything," Pool said. "I just see this as a duplication of service and nothing more than a pork barrel project."

The situation Pool is concerned about began in February 2004, when fire gutted the Frankfort Heights Post Office. Pool said even though the area where the post office was located is referred to as "Frankfort Heights" it is still considered a part of West Frankfort in every aspect, including city government and the West Frankfort school district. One of the few things that does separate Frankfort Heights from West Frankfort is both have a post office and a separate zip code.

"Frankfort Heights is a name only and does not operate independently of West Frankfort," Pool said. "It just doesn't make sense that a city this size has two post offices. If this was a much larger city and the post offices were miles apart I could understand it, but these two post offices are only a few blocks apart. I see it as a giant waste of resources."

Len Stevens, a real estate specialist with the Great Lakes Facilities Service Office of the U.S. Postal Service, attended a meeting in West Frankfort last month and announced the Frankfort Heights Post Office will be replaced. Stevens said the new post office will be about 500 square feet.

Pool also attended that meeting. Although he was the lone person to stand in opposition to the construction of the post office, he came away even more determined the Frankfort Heights Post Office should not be rebuilt.

Pool said the strongest argument that has been used to promote the construction has turned out to be no argument at all.

Pool said during last month's meeting, West Frankfort resident Sandy Davis presented a petition that had been signed by 781 residents requesting the replacement of the post office for the elderly and handicapped, because the West Frankfort Post Office is not accessible to people with disabilities.

"But, before that same meeting adjourned it was announced that a ramp would be added to the West Frankfort Post Office this summer," he said. "With the Postal Service agreeing that they will have the current post office handicap accessible within a few months that argument and that petition goes down the tube. If the handicap accessible situation is their argument, then that argument is gone, it's not valid anymore."

Davis, who has been a community activist in West Frankfort for many years, said she respects Pool's point of view and even said that his opposition is what makes local government work.

Calling Frankfort Heights "the most historic part of West Frankfort" Davis said there is a small business area that flourishes near where the now burned-out post office was located.

"There is a sense of community unto itself in the Frankfort Heights area," Davis said. "The issue here is that the Postal Service has already made a determination to replace the post office. Even though there isn't a building there the post office still exists because there is a zip code - 62840. That's the historical aspect of all this; that and there is also some sentimental value attached to this."

Pool, who has lived in West Frankfort for nearly four years, is a minister who serves as pastor of the Orient Church of Christ. He said when he first moved to West Frankfort he asked questions about why a community of 7,000 had two post offices.

"I asked why we had a post office there (Heights) and nobody seemed to know, and nobody every said that the post office downtown is not handicap accessible; it just didn't make any sense to me," Pool said. "I had a lot of people tell me that this is the only community in the United States that has two post offices, so I figured it must just be political. Last year when the post office burned I just figured that now is the opportunity for the Postal Service to eliminate the Heights post office. I had just read where the Postal Service was cutting back where they could. I couldn't believe it when I heard it was going to be rebuilt, this is just a giant waste."

Former U.S. Rep. Kenneth Gray said the Frankfort Heights Post Office is one of the oldest in the state and has tremendous historical value. Gray said the Frankfort Heights area was first settled more than 200 years ago and then years later the area west (now known as West Frankfort) was developed.

"In 1894 the railroad came through and couldn't build through the Heights area because of the hills so they build west and the community migrated that way, to the area known as West Frankfort," Gray said. "When I was in Congress I built more than 100 post offices from East St. Louis to Shawneetown and there isn't a single one that has the rich history of Frankfort Heights."

Gray attended and spoke at the public hearing held last month concerning the proposed construction. He noted Pool was the lone dissenting voice at the hearing.

"I just don't think he (Pool) understands the historical value of this facility," Gray said. "It was a standing-room-only crowd and there was a petition with 700 names and Ed Pool was the only person that opposed it; you're always going to find one objector in every crowd."

The process to secure a location and start construction is a lengthy and far from being over.

"There is a flow to this," Stevens said. "After the first 15-day period allowing comment from the public, a letter will be sent to the city stating the possible options."

Following that will be a 30-day period during which the postal service will advertise for property bids. The postal service will then let the city know what suitable properties are available. That letter will be followed by another 30-day period to receive public opinion on those properties, followed by an announcement of the selection of property, followed by a last opportunity for the public to respond.

Throughout the process, Pool said he plans to keep voicing his opposition to the proposed construction.

writeon1@shawneelink.net 618-625-2006