December 30, 2005

In the Matter of a Mail Dispute Between

HEIDI MUMMAU

and

DUDLEY C. DANFORTH

and

MARLENE HAWKINS

P.S. Docket No. MD 05-193

APPEARANCE FOR DISPUTANTS HEIDI MUMMAU AND DUDLEY C. DANFORTH:

Heidi Mummau

Dudley C. Danforth

APPEARANCE FOR DISPUTANT MARLENE HAWKINS:

Marlene Hawkins

POSTAL SERVICE DECISION

On November 7, 2005, an Initial Decision was issued in which an Administrative Law Judge concluded that all mail addressed to Government Hill Alliance or Government Hill Alliance Neighborhood Association, P.O. Box 8133, San Antonio, TX 78208-0133 is to be delivered as directed by Disputant Marlene Hawkins. Disputants Heidi Mummau and Dudley C. Danforth have filed an appeal from the Initial Decision and attached a transcript of a December 1, 2005 hearing before Judge Fred Shannon of the District Court of the 131st Judicial District, Bexar County, TX; a December 20, 2005 order issued by the court which appoints a new member to the organization’s Board of Directors; and the minutes of the December 7, 2005 Board of Directors meeting of the Government Hill Alliance at which the court appointed Board member, Stella Ashley, was elected president of the organization.

Disputant Hawkins opposes the appeal, arguing that the court proceedings do not dictate the outcome of this mail dispute and requests that the Initial Decision be made final and that the mail in dispute be delivered in accordance with her direction. Disputant Hawkins continues to argue that she is the president of the organization and that all subsequent elections were invalid.

In view of the court proceedings that have taken place subsequent to the issuance of the Initial Decision, the Judicial Officer has determined to review the Initial Decision as requested by Disputants Mummau and Danforth. Although the court order filed by Disputants Mummau and Danforth does not direct the delivery of the mail in dispute, the transcript of the court hearing, the court’s appointment of Ms. Ashley as a member of the Board of Directors and the minutes of the subsequently held meeting of the Board of Directors establish that Ms. Ashley is the duly elected president of the organization. Although Disputant Hawkins argues that the December 7, 2005 meeting of the Board of Directors was not held in accordance with the organization’s by-laws and, therefore, the election which took place at that meeting was invalid, she has not persuasively shown that the meeting and election were not properly conducted in accordance with the court’s order, which was expressly intended to resolve the parties’ dispute over control of the organization, or that any other reason exists not to recognize Ms. Ashley as president of the Government Hill Alliance. Accordingly, as the current president of the organization, Stella Ashley is entitled to direct delivery of mail addressed to Government Hill Alliance or Government Hill Alliance Neighborhood Association, P.O. Box 8133, San Antonio, TX 78208-0133.

James A. Cohen

Judicial Officer