Stray Social Security checks found in Shelby

January 4, 2001

By Hayes Hickman, News-Sentinel staff writer

The check's finally in the mail for several Knoxville area Social Security recipients after their assistance checks went missing since Friday, only to be found at a Memphis post office. Neither the Social Security Administration's Knoxville office nor area postal officials could offer an explanation for the misguided mail, which included monthly checks bound for area ZIP codes 37917, 37918 and 37920.

The Supplemental Security Income payments should have been delivered last Friday, Dec. 29, said Tom Blevins, an SSA supervisor.

The mistake quickly became known when several recipients called their local post offices about the delay.

"I have no idea what happened, but somehow they ended up in Memphis," Belvins said. "This is a rare event."

Tony Maples, U.S. Postal Service customer relations coordinator in Knoxville, only guessed at the reason why the mail missed its mark, citing the recent inclement weather that may have rerouted air mail to trucks or a possible mislabeling.

"I can't verify exactly what happened," Maples said.

Blevins said he wasn't sure exactly how many assistance checks were lost in the shuffle but estimated "at least 100."

Nevertheless, Blevins assured that all of the payments were accounted for and forwarded to Knoxville Tuesday night and were scheduled to be delivered Wednesday.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/21294.shtml

-- Doris (nocents@bellsouth.net), January 04, 2001