‘Sugar’ Calms Case of 1040 Terror

Stress weighed on Susanne Manners as she arrived at the West Hollywood post office, tax returns in hand, on the last possible day for filing. Then she saw Sugar.

The 4-month-old spaniel mix was part of a ploy by several animal organizations to provide last-minute tax filers at selected post offices Monday with stress relief, in hopes that some would even consider dog adoption.

It worked. Manners, who started her day with no intention of adopting a dog, was soon filing out papers for Sugar.

The fourth annual Take the Bite Out of Tax Day also was held at post offices in San Francisco, Detroit, New York and San Diego.

“Taxes are never fun,” said David Miramontes, a 40-year-old hair stylist. “But these dogs made me forget about my taxes.”

Taxpayers at other area post offices only wished they had something to take their minds off their troubles.

A blocks-long line of vehicles inched its way into the downtown U.S. Post Office on Monday night as procrastinators arrived to file before the midnight deadline.

In Orange County, late-night postal customer Guy O’Ffill of Orange took pity on another who had no stamps. He reached into his back pocket and offered him postage, advice on where to mail his return, and assurance that “everything’s going to be OK.”

“We’re all in this together, so we might as well try to be nice about it,” O’Ffill, 38, said.

Outside the Santa Ana Processing and Distribution Center in Costa Mesa, some taxpayers brought coffee for the postal workers accepting envelopes from “drive-by filers,” said Mike Campbell, a postal worker on the job until midnight. Some people were so grateful for a post office open late, they offered to wait in the traffic line again to bring workers a pizza. “I’ll get you double cheese and pepperoni,” one filer bellowed as he drove away.

This year’s Tax Day--the deadline for filing state and federal returns--was typical, postal officials said, with neither more nor fewer people than usual in line. “It’s the same every year. People just wait,” said Melissa Basco, area manager at the Santa Ana office. “But it is fun, too. We get to get out and be with people.”

Or dogs.

“She took the edge off,” Sugar’s potential new owner said.