We all know the word "valentine" from the February day when sweethearts exchange red-frilly cards. But it's also the name of a third-century saint who literally lost his head, a ninth-century pope whose reign lasted only 40 days, three Roman emperors, a silent movie heart throb, a peppy Mexican hot sauce, the first woman in space... and a town in Texas.

In fact, this tiny town has one particular attraction that truly does enchant people, drawing attention from every state and many foreign lands: The Valentine Post Office. The post office opened in 1886, shortly after the trains started running, and it has continued its proud public service ever since. Today, Postmaster Leslie Williams runs the one-room adobe PO, not only serving local residents, ranchers and businesses, but also serving thousands of customers worldwide who mail batches of their valentines to her each year. Why would they mail them to this faraway station? People around the world send their pre-addressed and stamped valentines to be re-mailed bearing this fanciful postmark:

That's what passes for logic among the boneheaded/goober headed/Kochheaded muckamucks who are using their lofty perches in Congress, atop the USPS managerial hierarchy, and in Washington's corporate lobbying suites to undermine our invaluable public postal system. Elimination and privatization of this civic asset is their goal, and for several years now they've been using ideological flimflam, legislative monkeywrenching, and political deceit in constant attempts to disable or dismantle piece after piece of the system--including trying to shut down the little jewel in Valentine.

In July 2011, word wafted out to Jeff Davis County that the venerable post office on Highway 90 was on USPS's list of 3,700 offices across the country under review for closure. Budgets, you know--USPS is running about $5 billion a year in the red, explained a postal spokesperson who'd been dispatched to this outback to calm the locals. He sympathized with their loss, but said with a sigh: "The postal service has to look under every rock, to save every dollar, to try to keep the service alive."