Mailman Who Came Late to the Service Is So Well Posted He’s Doing a Book

Likable Len Cohen quit driving a bakery truck at age 49 to become a Johnny-come-lately mail carrier in southern Orange County. Now he has decided to write a book on the “little-known facts” about the Postal Service.

It’s not going to be a muckraking, scandal-riddled novel, Cohen said. “It’s going to glamorize the postal system.”

For instance, he said: “Did you know there were five postal workers on the Titanic when it sank? And they all gave up their lives because they tried to take bags filled with mail to the lifeboats and didn’t make it?”

There’s no question in Cohen’s mind that his book will be a hit. “Everyone I talked to is interested and wants to know about mailmen,” the El Toro resident said. “Didn’t that fact of the Titanic get you curious? Of course it did,” he answered.

Cohen gave another teaser.

“Did you know about the 10,000 Chinese bandits who formed their own postal system and the Chinese government sent 70,000 troops after them and never did catch them? And did you know the bandits had the gall to paint Bandit Post Office on their delivery trucks?”

Cohen is serious about his book and his work at the Post Office, which started 10 years ago after he migrated from Chicago.

So much so, that he is collecting facts and postal memorabilia such as uniforms, patches and logos from post offices around the world. He has them displayed at the Laguna Hills postal facility.

His letter writing to postmasters, he claims, gives him insight into mail carriers and mail activities in other parts of the world. He added that he sometimes needs an interpreter because many write back in the language of their country.

Although most reply, he still is awaiting word from Spain, Portugal, Italy, North Korea, Mexico and Israel.

He expects to finish the book within a year and has a couple of ghostwriters standing by. “I’m not a writer, I’m a mailman,” said Cohen, who is getting research help from the Postmaster General’s office in Washington.

He has a lot of questions that need answers, he says, and he hopes to get the answers with some help.

“Did you know there are 200 countries in the world and 90 of them don’t have uniforms for their mailman?” he asked.

He added that his book also will record the fact that ex-convicts started the first post office in Australia. “This book will sell,” he emphasized.

Allan White, 53, an English teacher at Dana Hills High School in Dana Point, will leave July 2 for a one-month “vacation” in Nicaragua to plant trees.

“The environment in that country needs help to recover from the war and government deforestation where large areas were damaged,” said White, of San Clemente, who added that he will pay his own way and take along his own tools to plant the trees.

His students are concerned about his safety, White said. But he is optimistic about his own safety while he is in the strife-torn country. “I’ve been to Nicaragua and am impressed with the country,” he added.

Jerry Pursky, a Los Angeles organizer of the Nicaragua Environmental Brigade, said, “No one from this country has been hurt in the reforestation program,” which is in its second year.

White and Petra Hegger of Fullerton are Orange County’s two volunteers. They will be joined by six from Los Angeles and 25 nationwide.

The San Clemente Chamber of Commerce wanted an annual event to coincide with its San Clemente Summer Fiesta. Chamber officials thought a clam chowder cook-off, sort of like a chili cook-off, would be appropriate.

It will be held July 16 on the Municipal Pier.

Mimi Collier, the chamber’s executive manager, thought the event should have a central figure. So she picked one and will use it in a logo when the chamber advertises the event.

The colorful character shown is a clam riding a surfboard.

She cleverly named him Sam Clam--short for Sam Clamente.

Acknowledgments--Critical-care secretary Teresa Foulke, Nurse Marsha Craig and Dr. Lakshminarayanan Subramanyam were named employee, nurse and doctor of the year at Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim in the hospital’s employee recognition program. Dr. McLemore Bouchelle was named Emeritus Physician of the Year. All live in Anaheim.