By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch Eatonville's post office will be rededicated Friday in memory of a Mount Rainier National Park ranger and former resident of the town who died in the line of duty. In a ceremony scheduled for 11:30 a.m., the Postal Service and U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert will formally designate the building on Center Street as the Margaret Anderson Post Office. The facility will still be known as the Eatonville Post Office. A small plaque will be placed, and Reichert will be joined by Anderson's father, Paul Kritsch, local dignitaries and postal officials as speakers. Reichert, whose 8th Congressional District constituency includes the Eatonville and Mount Rainier areas, proposed the honor after Anderson was shot and killed in the park Jan. 1, 2012. The recognition, which requires congressional authorization, was approved by the House of Representatives in November 2012 and by the Senate last May. Anderson, 34, was trying to stop a motorist who drove through a mandatory checkpoint in the park for vehicle tire chains without stopping. The driver shot Anderson, a law enforcement ranger, before fleeing on foot. After an armed manhunt, searchers found him dead the next day of exposure to the winter elements. Anderson lived in Eatonville with her husband, who also was a park ranger at the mountain, and their two children. After her death, the family moved out of state. To accommodate the ceremony, Center Street will be closed to automobiles from Mashell Avenue to Orchard Avenue from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday. The closure will disrupt vehicle access to the post office, Town Hall, the public library and some nearby businesses.
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