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Caught unaware

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Timing may be everything.

But that doesn’t rule out the possibility of an occasional snafu.

Congress this week overwhelmingly passed legislation making June 19 – or Juneteenth – a national holiday.

President Joe Biden signed the bill into law today (Thursday) and it was announced the first observance of the new holiday would be Friday since June 19 this year falls on Saturday.

Less than 24 hours is scant time to get the word out about Friday’s holiday status.

Banks, for example, typically close on national holidays.

Donald N. Sherman II, past president of McClain Bank, said it would be business as usual on Friday.

Sherman said McClain Bank follows the lead of the Federal Reserve, adding at mid-day there was no word from that quarter.

Neither had there been any notification from the trade association for banks.

He added that he anticipates the bank will observe the holiday in 2022.

The website for First United Bank states the bank “observes holidays in accordance with the Federal Reserve Bank.”

But given the short notice on the new holiday, First United will be open Friday, according to a bank spokeswoman.

 Likewise, don’t count local postal workers among the federal employees who will have a long weekend.

It isn’t anticipated that there will be any interruption in mail delivery and the post office in Purcell will be open.

That’s the word from Postmaster Mike Riddle, who explained there is a “finite number of holidays” that allow the day off for postal workers.

For example, when Martin Luther King Jr., Day became a federal holiday, it was at the expense of individual holidays marking the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

In their place, the nation now observed Presidents’ Day.

It isn’t know if further consolidation will follow the addition of Juneteenth.

“I can’t have an opinion,” Riddle said.

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