Levee bolstered with sand berm
October 2, 2005
Reporter's note: Last Sunday, "Since You Asked" admitted failure in trying to learn the origin of the name Lomo Crossing, the railroad crossing on Highway 99 between Yuba City and Live Oak. We thought it's probably a Spanish name. Since then, Sutter County Sheriff Jim Denney said, an elderly Live Oak woman approached one of his corrections officers with this explanation for the name: Back in the 1850s, when there was just a dirt road connecting Yuba City and Live Oak and train engines were called locomotives, the crossing was called a locomotive crossing. School kids shortened the name to the more easily pronounceable Lomo Crossing.
Unless someone comes forward with a better explanation, we'll accept that one. And thanks to that unnamed Live Oak resident.
Q: What is going on Riverside Drive in Linda? There has been a lot of truck traffic. I'm wondering if the Yuba River levee is weak.
A: A sand berm is being constructed to supplement flood protection already provided by the levee, said Richard Webb, president of Reclamation District 784. The berm will be on the land side of the levee and will extend approximately from the Shad Pad area east of Highway 70 to a point behind the Linda Wal-Mart store, he said.
The berm is designed to contain water that seeps under the levee. It will vary in depth from 5 feet to about two-thirds as high as the levee. The berm's distance from the levee will range from 90 feet to 300 feet, said Webb.
The berm is part of a levee improvement project that also includes levees along the Bear River and Western Pacific Interceptor Canal.
The berm project is scheduled for completion by Nov. 1.
Q: I head a rumor that postal customers west of Highway 99 in Yuba City will be served by the Marysville Post Office. If I receive a package that is too big for my mailbox and I am not home when it is delivered, I would have to go the Marysville to pick it up. Our Yuba City Post Office has some problems but this would not be a good solution.
A: There was some talk about moving "a few" Yuba City postal routes to the Marysville office because of a space shortage at the Yuba City office. But it never went beyond talk, said Ralph Petty, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service's Sacramento district.
"There's no plan now at all for anything like that," said Petty.
Even if the change had been made, Yuba City customers would have picked up their packages at the Yuba City office, he said.
Since You Asked runs on Sundays. It is written by reporter Rob Young. Questions can be sent to him in care of the Appeal-Democrat, P.O. Box 431, Marysville, CA 95901; or faxed to (530) 741-0140. You also may e-mail him at ryoung@appeal-democrat.com.
