Scars Healing at Post Office, New Chief Says

Declaring that this coastal city’s troubled post office has returned to normalcy, a new postmaster was sworn in Friday--even as five employees remain on disability leave months after a gunman fatally shot one worker and wounded another.

After a brief induction ceremony, Ray Voisine said workers have begun to recover from the trauma caused when fired postal carrier Mark Richard Hilbun allegedly entered the facility May 6 and started shooting.

Voisine, a 19-year veteran of the Postal Service, replaces Postmaster Don Lowe, who left the office and never returned after Hilbun allegedly went on a bloody rampage, firing a bullet through Lowe’s locked door before he left.

Twelve employees initially requested transfers out of the office after the incident, though only seven followed up the request and were sent to another office.

Five other postal workers, including the female employee whom Hilbun stalked before he was fired, have not returned to work.

“Their counselors and therapists have not yet released them for duty,” said Arthur O. Martinez, the Postal Service’s Santa Ana district manager.

Employees welcomed the change of command, saying their new boss has already improved morale.

Meanwhile in Santa Ana, psychiatrists disagreed over Hilbun’s mental competency as the defendant appeared in court Friday trembling and thin after losing 40 pounds in jail.

“He’s very ill,” said Deputy Public Defender David Biggs, who is representing the 39-year-old fired postal worker. “He’s not manufacturing the fact that he can’t stand up without assistance. He is just shaking all the time.”

Biggs said his client, who weighs about 120 pounds, eats very little.