BEAUTIFICATION OF THE CLAYTON POST OFFICE

Clayton Postmaster, Donna Jennes, had a problem. CFS helped solve that problem. The frontage of the Post Office had become a blight. Shrubs grew at will. Trees had not been pruned for decades. Flowers had fled. Wild grape vines were taking over. On top of it all, the 60-year old flag pole had blown over in the Spring of 2018 and had been dragged around to the side of the building, prone on the ground, waiting to be resurrected.

Postmaster Jennes had asked her superiors to help with the situation, but was denied the funds to improve things. Budget cuts had forced the local Office to have only basic janitorial services, and then for just two half-days a week. Veterans asked when the flagpole would be re-set, and she could only explain her hope that funds would be forthcoming. Veterans eventually mounted a short flagpole on the outside wall near the entrance to the building.

In June, CFS called Donna to offer help.

George Kittle of Thousand Islands Property Service (TIPS) trimmed the trees and shrubs; he destroyed the wild grape vines; he added mulch; and he planted flowers.

Ken Larson of Grindstone Island donated his time and unique flagpole manufacturing and fabricating expertise in determining whether the flagpole was salvageable. It was. Ken found that the flagpole had been severed due to corrosion in the area where the pole entered a mounting hole in a concrete base near the sidewalk to the building. The flagpole was otherwise of sound construction and generally in good shape. He ordered a new ball for the top of the pole and a halyard for raising and lowering the flag. Ken enlisted Pat Patch of Patch Seaway International, who donated his time, equipment, and metalworking expertise, to haul the flagpole to his shop, saw off the corroded bottom of the pole, straighten the bent top of the pole, and fasten the ball to the pole top. Pat removed the lower, broken-off portion of the pole still within the mounting hole in the concrete base, cleared the hole of debris, and erected the refurbished flagpole in the hole. Ken then fitted shims in the hole to maintain the flagpole in a perfectly vertical extension.

Ol’ Glory now flies high above groomed and lovely grounds. Thanks to George, Ken, and Pat.

After the CFS demonstrated what it could do, Ms. Jenness asked if it might be possible for the CFS to add an eagle sculpture. In September and October, CFS scoured the internet in an effort to find just the right type of eagle and focused on the works of Rick Pratt, a chainsaw sculptor located in Corfu. He was eventually asked to carve a soaring, side-flying eagle. Efforts to coax the eagle into flying to Clayton proved fruitless, so David Knapp loaded the eagle on his truck and hauled it to the masonry shop of Donnie Fulmer, who agreed to mount the eagle on a concrete base and to make a walkway around the sculpture. All efforts came together on July 10, with the eagle now firmly ensconced near the post office entrance. The sculpture was an immediate hit with adults and children alike.

The Society also hauled away an old, rectangular, ugly (unsightly) standard post office sign that disgraced the entry to the Post Office.