Brick mailboxes likely to face ban in rural areastree

Douglas County commissioners are poised to huff, puff and blow down brick-encased mailboxes in rural areas as part of a push to deliver safer conditions for wayward drivers.

Such mailboxes would be outlawed under a new set of rules being considered by commissioners at the recommendation of the county’s Traffic Safety Advisory Committee.

While virtually all rural mailboxes pose threats to drivers who leave the road, the so-called “monuments to grandma” are the most dangerous, said Tom Mulinazzi, a committee member.

“I’d be happy if we could eliminate these monstrosities — these monoliths — in the future,” said Mulinazzi, an engineering professor at Kansas University. “These bring people to dead stops … and it’s the second collision that kills: The body hits the windshield.”

Commissioner Charles Jones suggested outlawing the installation of such mailboxes in all new construction, and giving owners of existing structures three years to take theirs down.

Bob Johnson, commission chairman, said commissioners would await a proposal from the committee, then “cross our fingers and hope that nobody hits the bricks before the new regulations are in place.”

Officials say an average of six vehicles a year crash into mailboxes in rural Douglas County.

Douglas County commissioners say they’ll be more than happy to plant a tree next year to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.But the request, received this week from Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, dug up some hard financial feelings Wednesday among commissioners.”The good news is the governor will give us a tree,” said Bob Johnson, chairman. “The state will keep $1.8 million of our money, but the governor will give us a tree.”The statewide April 23 tree planting is being organized by the Kansas Territorial Sesquicentennial Commission. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, which established Kansas as a U.S. territory, was approved by Congress on May 30, 1854.