Susie Q’s Store Opens As ‘Village Post Office’ Today
A ribbon cutting ceremony is planned today, April 25, at 1 p.m. to announce the grand opening of a Village Post Office (VPO) in Mansfield to be housed on the grounds of Susie Q’s, a convenience store located at 22044 Hwy. 11 north in rural Jasper County.
The VPO is a new retail concept tailored to meet the needs of small communities that either do not have a post office or have a post office with curtailed hours, according to the announcement from the U.S. Postal Service. VPOs provide customers greater access to postal products and services because they are housed in businesses that have longer hours, weekend service, and convenient locations.
Susie Q’s Village Post Office hours of operation throughout the year are Monday – Thursday: 5 a.m.- 9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday: 5 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.; Sunday: 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
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The VPO will likely be very useful to a number of Jasper County residents, as Susie Q’s has a Mansfield address but is actually located in Jasper County.
The city of Mansfield was hit by a tornado last Friday afternoon. The storm caused much damage in that Newton County city, but none in neighboring Jasper County, even in areas with a Mansfield address, according to Melissa Slocumb, Jasper County Emergency management Agency (EMA) director.
According to a report by CBS Atlanta, meteorologists at the National Weather Service said they had almost no warning before a devastating tornado hit in the Newton County city of Mansfield, which explains why tornado sirens did not go off. Keith Stellman, meteorologist-in-charge at the NWS’s Peachtree City office, said radar operators were closely watching the storm Friday afternoon.
They saw nothing unusual until winds began rotating. At 1:10 p.m., a severe thunderstorm warning was issued. At 1:13 p.m., the tornado touched down in Mansfield.
“These are the most frustrating types of events for us meteorologists,” said Mr. Stellman. “We know they can happen quickly and we have to be really paying attention to the radar to catch these things as they’re evolving.”
The tornado destroyed several homes, tore down trees and power lines and left one woman injured.
“It happened so fast that no one knew,” said Randy Qualls, a resident whose home was spared. “I don’t think the warning would have done any good.”
Mr. Stellman said the tornado spun up so quickly, there was no time to issue a warning.
“Anytime we’re talking about a squall line, people need to be aware,” said Mr. Stellman. “We did the best we could with the information we had and the tools we had.”
The NWS plans to review data from Friday’s storm to see if there are any improvements they can make to their forecasting.
