Survivors Recall 1st 'Postal' Massacre

Larry Chandler, the current postmaster at the post office in Edmond, Okla., is reflected in his desktop during an interview in his office in Edmond, Okla., Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2006. (AP Photo) (AP)

"It only serves to further the injustice to postal employees," Riggs said.

Flener suggests a different meaning for the phrase: "Going postal means delivering mail to 144 million mail boxes, 212 billion pieces of mail a year, 260,000 delivery vehicles on the road every day, 704,000 postal employees nationwide. That's going postal."

Over the past 20 years, the Postal Service has implemented a work environment committee in which management and labor attempt to work out problems, improve safety and eliminate tension, Flener said. Letter carriers may file written challenges when they have problems with management.

"Smile and file. That's what I tell them," Riggs said.

The Postal Service has beefed up pre-employment screenings and trained supervisors to look for changes in behavior, including the way workers dress, and changes in personality and mood.

"We've really improved communication on a whole lot of levels," Flener said.

But former Edmond postal workers said the new guidelines would have done little to calm Sherrill's rage.

"He was very withdrawn," said Gene Bray, who was shot in the back but continued working for the postal service until he retired in 1995. "Never spoke a word to him nor did he ever speak to me."

"The demons that drove Patrick Sherrill to do what he did will never be known," Flener said.

Although wounded, Bigler returned to work the next day. He left the postal service later that year and now runs a prison ministry with his wife.

"We realized how precious life was, how precious our friends who were mowed down that day," he said.

Postal workers have no plans to observe the 20th anniversary, said Edmond postmaster Larry Chandler.

"Employees have chosen to deal with those memories in their own way," Flener said. "It's quiet reflection. No great fanfare."