ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 16, 1997 TAG: 9704160079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER THE ROANOKE TIMES
The tax-return drive-through at the post office had more customers than the drive-through at McDonald's across the street.
Maria Julian had the look. The it's-five-hours-before-midnight-on-April- 15-and-I-haven't-filed-my-tax-return- yet look.
She frantically scanned the rack of tax forms in the lobby of Roanoke's main post office and grabbed a few. "We have a big, big mess," she explained.
It's a complicated "mess." Julian moved from Kentucky to Roanoke County last June, so she has to file state returns in both states. She worked for UPS at Christmas and now works for Manpower at Elizabeth Arden, which means two W-2 forms.
Her husband, an engineer, lives in Texas, where she plans to move when their house is sold. She's glad Texas doesn't have a state income tax.
Julian didn't plan to be at the post office on tax day. The Columbia native went to the IRS office earlier this year for help. They gave her the proper forms, and she mailed them to Texas for her husband to fill out.
He told her over and over, "I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it." Tuesday, she held a Federal Express envelope that contained her two daughters' completed returns. He had managed to fill out their daughters', but not their own, she said.
"I didn't want to talk to him today," she said with a sigh.
She left the post office about 7:30, but said she would be back shortly to mail an extension form.
Bruce Falabella usually gets his return in on time, but he cut it a little closer than usual this year.
Falabella, a mechanic from Goodview, went to his son's T-ball game Tuesday afternoon, had his wife sign their return and headed for Roanoke.
"We didn't have a big return so we weren't in a big hurry to file this year," he said.
The carnival-like atmosphere outside the post office was an added bonus for Falabella and his two sons. Jacob, 6, and Durham, 4, raced around the sidewalk, wound up by free Dr Pepper, clam chowder and bagels handed out by local restaurants. Radio station Q-99 broadcast music from its mobile diner.
"I thought I was just going to the post office," said Jacob Falabella.
In the parking lot, a steady stream of traffic flowed through the tax-return drive-through, which had more customers than the McDonald's across the street.
"They laugh and joke - and cry," mail handler George Ferguson kidded about the drive-by mailers. "Just like I cried." Ferguson mailed his return when he started his shift, which was to end at midnight.
Dan Dixon, general president of the local American Postal Workers Union, was spreading tax-day cheer. The union bought 1,500 stamps to give to last-minute filers.
"Every 32 cents helps," Dixon said.
Inside, postal clerk Eileen Powell, decked out in an American flag-covered blouse and a red, white and blue ribboned boater hat, was pulling out the leftover Christmas stamps and selling them to taxpayers ... "since they're in the giving mood," she said with a grin.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB