Post office says 'ZIP!' and it's goodbye, Linda

THE TOWN FORMERLY KNOWN AS LINDA -- Olivehurst is a fine town as far as Mariel Paterno is concerned.

Folks there are friendly and hard-working. They cheer on their high school football squad, the Blazers, with gusto.

"I got nothin' against Olivehurst," the woman said.

But as much as Paterno appreciates her neighbors in the Yuba County town just south of hers, she does not want to be one of them.

She is, after all, a lifelong resident of Linda.

Which is why the 72-year-old was so infuriated when she received a letter recently informing her that she no longer lived in the town of her birth. Thanks to new ZIP code boundaries, drawn to accommodate all the new houses in the area, Paterno and the proud residents of Linda's west side are now the reluctant denizens of Olivehurst, CA 95961.

"The whole thing of it is, I was born right here in Linda. My father had peach orchards here. We went through the flood of '86. And now they want to call us Olivehurst?" Paterno said, pausing to emphasize her indignation. "We were Linda before Olivehurst was settled."

That may be. But new settlements, including the 12,000 homes planned for Plumas Lake about 12 miles south of here, have turned rural Yuba County into one of the fastest-growing swaths of California. The county's population is expected to more than triple to 201,327 by 2050, according to state projections.

As a result, communities are outgrowing their ZIP codes.

"It's unfortunate," said Augustine Ruiz, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service's Sacramento District. "But eventually we run into a number crunch."

Government mail delivery is a high-tech affair these days, Ruiz said -- one that depends on different combinations of five-digit ZIP codes and four-digit "add-on" numbers.

Machines use those numbers to sort magazines, bills and letters so mail carriers have them in order when they walk a route. If there aren't enough numbers, carriers must do the sorting by hand, which makes for slower delivery, Ruiz said.

"Nothing we can do about it," Ruiz said of the ZIP code reconfigurations. "It's just progress."

Dan Logue, however, begs to differ.

Linda's representative on the Yuba County Board of Supervisors has sent letters to postal administrators in Washington, D.C., (addressed from Linda, of course) objecting to the change.

"When you have a town that's over 150 years old and some bureaucrat says, 'Gee, let's draw these guys into some other town,' that's going to be a real problem," Logue said. "We're Linda. Not Olivehurst. We produce more sales revenue than any other part of the county."

Technically, Linda residents currently use a Marysville ZIP code. But the mail arrives just fine even if the sender addresses it to Linda. Under the new rules, Linda is split in half. Nothing changes for those who live on the east side of Highway 70. But those residing on the west side will be required to use Olivehurst. In all, the change affects nearly 4,000 addresses.

Logue said all this confusion would be cleared up if Linda got a post office of its own.

It's high time, he says.

"We've already got our own fire service, our own water service," Logue said. "Why not?"

Linda isn't incorporated, but it is the largest community in Yuba County, with a population of 13,474 according to the 2000 census. Marysville, the county seat, had 12,268 people in 2000. Olivehurst had 11,061.

A one-exit town along Highway 70 about 40 miles north of Sacramento, Linda fancies itself the "Gateway to Beale" because of its proximity to Beale Air Force Base. The town is home to Yuba College, a Wal-Mart that recently expanded into a Wal-Mart Supercenter, and watering holes with names such as The Branding Iron and Long Branch Saloon.

Linda is named for the steamship that brought gold miners here in 1849.

The town has braved tragedy.

The flood of 1986 washed away hundreds of homes here.

Down at the Country Butcher shop along Feather River Boulevard, Dale Hall grumbled about the new ZIP code. He's printed the old ZIP on thousands of business cards and envelopes, alongside his shop's logo, a collage of link sausages, carved hams and a blue ribbon.

Postal officials say he has a year to change to an Olivehurst letterhead. Hall has no plans to.

"They must think I'm nuts," said Hall, standing behind a refrigerated case of tri-tips. "The postman knows where I am."

Ruiz urged residents to take a deep breath. He said parcels sent to Linda addresses will almost certainly find their way, so long as the ZIP code is right. He said the Postal Service would also entertain an appeal.

That's not enough for Linda stalwarts, such as Paterno.

She wants official recognition of her address on Jay Street -- in Linda. "I don't want Linda to evaporate," she said.

No matter what the post office says, Paterno said she won't ever change her address to Olivehurst. Nice as those folks are.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Todd Milbourn can be reached at (916) 321-1063 or tmilbourn@sacbee.com.