What:

Dobson Letter Carriers Terry Cook and Tim Caudle will be honored Thursday at Dobson Post Office with two of the highest honors bestowed upon federal employees. Cook will receive the 2014 U.S. Postal Service Joseph M. Kaplan Safe Driver of the Year Award, and he and Caudle will be honored for achieving Million Mile Club status.

Cook was selected for the Safe Driver Award from more than 20,000 letter carriers in the Capital Metro Area, which covers postal facilities in eight districts and in five states and the District of Columbia. He and Caudle each earned Million Mile Awards for driving at least 30 years in the workplace without incurring a preventable motor vehicle accident. Both awards are given by the National Safety Council.

When:

Thursday, August 14, 2014 @ 9 am

Where:

Dobson Post Office, 214 W. Kapp St, Dobson, NC 27017

Background:

Established in 2004, the Joseph M. Kaplan Safe Driver of the Year Award was created to recognize outstanding drivers throughout the country who have driven a significant number of miles/years behind the wheel without incurring a preventable accident. Cook, a local resident, has served as a rural carrier since for 39 years, delivering to the Salem Fork, Devotion, Kapps Mill, Redhill Creek and Haystack areas.

The award pays tribute to Joseph M. Kaplan, who took significant actions to keep others safe as president of the Southern California Chapter of NSC for more than 60 years. The National Safety Council (www.nsc.org) saves lives by preventing injuries and deaths at work, in homes and communities, and on the roads through leadership, research, education and advocacy.

Caudle, also a local resident, is a 34-year postal veteran who delivers mail to the Level Cross, Stony Knoll, Rockford, and Copeland sections of Dobson. According to the NSC, the Million Mile Club status is to professional driving as reaching the peak of Mt. Everest is to the sport of climbing.