NEW ADDRESS CHANGES ARE NOW ALL MAILED

JACKSON - Anyone in Cape Girardeau County living outside of the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson should have recently received notification from the Post Office that their address is being changed.

As part of the move toward a countywide 911 emergency telephone system, all residents of the county are being given city-style addresses. The current route and box numbers used by the Post Office are being replaced with a street address and the number of the road they live on.

All roads in the county that have two or more residences have been named as part of the transition.

Brian Miller, director of the county's emergency operations center and chairman of the committee implementing the 911 system, said Monday that anyone who lives outside of Cape Girardeau and Jackson who has not received a new address needs to contact the addressing office right away.

The number for the office is 243-4911. About 7,500 address changes have been sent out.

"We would certainly appreciate it if anyone who has not yet received an address change notice would contact the office right away," said Miller. "It is possible that someone has been left out and we need to get this whole process cleaned up as quickly as possible."

The 911 system is scheduled to start on Nov. 1, and Miller believes things are proceeding on schedule.

"We expected to need several months to get all this addressing cleaned up since there is a considerable amount involved in this process," said Miller. "But at this point, I don't see any kind of problem. The addressing process is running about where it needs to be at this point."

Miller said the committee is also working closely with the Postal Service to complete the addressing process.

Late this summer or in early fall the new road signs will be installed around the county and in smaller communities.

Residents can use their new address or their old one for up to a year. After one year the Post Office will require that the new addresses be used.