Safety Warriors

Two more Alabama District employees received their Awards of Honor yesterday from the National Safety Council: Warrior Post Office Rural Carriers Stonya Nation and Tonya Ellison. They are now officially members of the elite group of 1/2 of 1 percent of Alabama Postal employees who have earned this award by driving for 10 years or 100,000 miles of Postal employment without having an at-fault accident.

"They're both very nice to work with," said Warrior Postmaster Jerry Earnest. "They do a good job every day."

Stonya (l) and Tonya (r) are pictured above with Warrior Postmaster Jerry Earnest.

When asked about how they had stayed safe for those many miles on the road, both Tonya and Stonya agreed in the importance of staying focused while behind the wheel.

"You need to really concentrate on what you are doing, which is strictly delivering the mail, "said Tonya, who has 26 years of Postal service under her belt.


Stonya Nation loading her vehicle with mail

Stonya, who has been with the Postal Service for 16 years, added that the focus while driving has to be on paying attention to everything around you. "Look closely at your surroundings," she advised.



Stonya, Tonya, and friend and fellow carrier Dana Waites celebrate the carriers' achievement.



As always, we like to ask carriers if they have ever had anything memorable happen to them on their routes. Tonya laughed, and after some encouragement finally told us about one such instance that demonstates her composure in difficult situations as well as her devotion to delivering the mail.

She told the story of the day that she went to deliver a certified letter. When she arrived at the customer's door, she heard a voice asking her to come inside because he was unable to get up. Thinking that an elderly or disabled person needed her help, she opened the door only to find a disrobed man on an air mattress.

"I told him, 'Sir, you’re not getting your certified letter if you don’t cover yourself up.'  He did, and I delivered it,”she said.

Congratulations to Stonya and Tonya for a job well and safely done, and we hope to see you all and more Warrior carriers receiving the same thing next year.



On our way out, we noticed what a wonderful job Window Clerk Sandra Moore was doing waiting on customers, so we wanted to include her picture, too, on Warrior's special day.