Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990                   TAG: 9004170609
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

MAILBOX FIRES RUIN TAX RETURNS

Sixty-five envelopes containing tax forms were only singed and are in good enough condition to forward to the Internal Revenue Service, said Jennifer Toth, an IRS spokeswoman. Another 37 tax returns suffered too much damage to be mailed, she said.

The two fires started sometime after 6 p.m. Saturday, said Leroy Studivant, manager of general mail facility operation for Hampton Roads. The damage to about 300 pieces of mail was not discovered until Monday morning, he said.

Some of the tax forms were too severely burned to determine who had mailed them, said Phyllis Friedman, Studivant's assistant.

"We've got a lot of ashes," she said. "I have one where all you can read is the date of birth on the form. And the more we handle them to get information, the more they fall apart."

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is investigating the fires.

"It's right at tax time, and you can realize the consequences," Studivant said. "We've got to worry about cancellation and penalties."