OTISFIELD, Maine (August 14, 2009)--The U.S. Postal Service has decided to leave a rural Maine town's lone mailbox in place after a protest that included a phone blitz, pressure from elected officials and a blockade to prevent the box's removal.

Regional postal spokesman Tom Rizzo said in a statement issued this week that the agency had reversed its earlier decision to remove the mailbox in Otisfield.

Otisfield's plight drew national attention, and letters of support for the town's 1,700 residents came from as far as away as Louisiana and California.

A professor from Monterey, Calif., is using the story for his critical-thinking class.

Marianne Izzo-Morin, the town's administrative assistant who had vowed to padlock herself to the box if necessary, told the Sun Journal of Lewiston that the outpouring of support is "unbelievable."