WALBRIDGE – A name, Social Security number, address, phone number.
They’re all things we use to identify ourselves, to obtain credit, buy a home or travel.
When one of those is compromised, it can be uncomfortable at best and a legal mess at worst.
Henry and Norma Fleischmann know about the best and fear the worst.
They’ve lived in Walbridge for 37 years in a modest brick ranch on quiet Park Lane. Over the years,
though, the street name has increasingly been causing them grief.
About 12 years ago, the first junk mail with the incorrect address arrived: 305 Park Lane St. Since then,
almost no mail comes with the correct address: 305 Park Lane.
"I would say 90 percent of the mail received now has the wrong address. It’s almost
overwhelming," said Norma Fleischmann.
The bills and mailings with the incorrect address encompass every type of service.
There’s the monthly utility bill from First Energy with a mailing address of 305 Parklane St. and a
property address inside of 305 Park Lane. Time Warner Cable, Dillard’s and AARP all list their address
incorrectly. The only company that consistently gets the address right is Teamstar, which handles Henry
Fleischmann’s pension from Consolidated Freightways, where he was a truck driver for 30 years.
A 2009 statement from the Wood County Auditor has 305 Parklane St., but that was corrected with the help
of Mayor Dan Wilczynski.
About eight months ago, Fleischmann came to the village office for help, the mayor said.
Wilczynski called the Wood County Auditor and talked to an employee.
"She checked their records and they had it as Park Lane Street," Wilczynski said.
The mayor asked her to further check the official record, and she called back to say it was Park Lane.

The mayor asked if the name was changed in the auditor’s data base, would that lead to corrections in
other databases.
"She thought it would … and we kind of thought that would take care of it."
But it hasn’t. If anything, the issue’s worsened, the Fleischmanns contend.
"We have told these people and told them. You might as well be talking to a wall," Henry
Fleischmann said.
Once in a while, his wife said, a sympathetic and tenacious clerk will help – especially when she offers
to take her business elsewhere if the correct address can’t be entered into the company’s computer.
The street confusion can be an inconvenience or veiled warning.
Norma Fleischmann said last fall she tried to use a credit card to send flowers in North Carolina. The
next day, the florist called back and said her credit card was denied. They determined that the florist
was entering Park Lane as the billing address, and the computer was rejecting it.
When the couple tried to open a certificate of deposit with a local bank, they received sterner news,
Norma Fleischmann said.
"A week later, a lady called and said, ‘why are you using two addresses? That could be fraud.’"

Representatives from their insurance company and a medical clinic have also told them that using two
addresses is fraudulent.
That keeps the couple in contact with village and postal officials, trying to clear the street’s name
once and for all.
The mayor has since gone to the Walbridge post office to change the street name. He plans to contact the
federal post office, too.
That is the only solution the Fleischmanns think there is. They believe somewhere along the way Park Lane
Street was entered into the federal post office data base, which is very difficult for other companies
to override.
Council President Ed Kolanko also went to the post office to try to get the issue resolved.
"At the Walbridge post office they’ve been very helpful and friendly. They know the problem exists
and they’ve sent it on to the person in charge of making those corrections," he said.
"Unfortunately there’s not a timeframe."
Although Wilczynski said he hasn’t received any other complaints from Park Lane residents, he understands
Fleischmann’s concerns.
"It certainly is a big deal for him," the mayor said. "He’s had some serious issues,
issues with people thinking he’s trying to pull a fraud on someone."