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mr.SixIlERvij
FITZHUGH/SUN HERALD PHOTOGRAPHER
This S2 million post office in Bay St. Louis is scheduled to open Jan. 13.
MURAL
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agency, and if there are no takers, to a state then a local agency. If no government entity is interested, it will be offered to the public.
As for Raynaud’s mural on canvas, which is glued to the west wall, the Postal Service wants it to stay in the building, available for public view.
Bay St. Louis Postmaster Thomas W. Hill says he would like to have the mural moved to the new building and
plans to ask his superiors for approval.
But that’s a costly process, and the Postal Service is looking at cuts to its budget. About 10 years ago, the painting was cleaned and restored and relocated within the post office building. A move would mean repeating the process, at an estimated cost of $1,500, Hill said.
Others want to have the mural, or at least want to be assured that it remains in the city.
Neville R. Jacob of the Museum Committee of the Hancock County Historical Society has formally asked that the Postal Service turn the building over to the society for use as a
museum and fine arts center. But the < society doesn’t have the money to' buy it.
“We’re trying to get them to release it to us — the building and the mural, but we’re asking for the mural! even if we don’t get the building,” Jacob said. “We’ve approached [Rep.] Trent Lott to help us get the building for a museum.”
Paul J. Raynaud Sr. of Gulfport, nephew of the artist, said he and his relatives are hoping the mural stays in Bay St. Louis.	|
“I was hoping they would move it ^ to the new post office,” Raynaud said. • "But we want to preserve it if at all possible.”