Update: Elves in North Pole, Alaska, work to save program to answer children's letters to Santa program
UPDATE: Hey, never tell one of Santa's helpers that he can't get something done. Apparently the folks who have been answering letters in the tiny Alaska town of North Pole are not going down without a fight. They are trying to save the program that lets volunteers answer the letters that children address to "Santa Claus, North Pole". Chief Elf Gabby Gaborik, told the Associated Press that he met with Postal Service officials to try to work out a compromise to save the program. "This is our identity," he said. "This is North Pole, Alaska."
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Boy, the Grinch is out in full force this year. We already heard that we probably won't be spending as much money on the holidays this year. And Santa wants his H1N1 shot ahead of everyone else before the kids come sit on his knee.
Now, a sexual predator who volunteered to answer letters from Santa has messed up a longstanding tradition of Kris Kringle responding to kids' letters sent to the North Pole, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Since 1954, the Postal Service has sent letters generically addressed to "Santa Claus, North Pole" — as many as 150,000 annually — to the tiny Alaska town of North Pole. Volunteers there would answer as many letters as they could as if they were signed by the right jolly old elf himself, sending them back with envelopes that featured the North Pole postmark.
But last year, a postal worker in Maryland recognized an Operation Santa Claus volunteer there as a registered sex offender.So the Postal Service tightened its restrictions on how letters to kids would be answered, prohibiting volunteers in such programs to have access to children's last names and addresses. Instead the service is supposed to redact the addresses and convert any names into codes before turning the letters over to any volunteers.
Those restrictions are just too difficult to deal with because of a lack of resources among Alaska's postal facilities, an agency spokesman said. So any children's Dear Santa letters that wind up in Alaska may end up being recycled instead of answered.
North Pole Mayor Doug Isaacson has called on Alaska’s congressional delegation to intervene, saying the Postal Service is “running roughshod” over the city whose very identity is tied to the holiday. If someone doesn't fix this mess before Christmas, I bet some Postal Service bigwigs will find nothing but coal in their stockings.-- Sherry Robinson
[AP]
Sharon Kennedy Wynne has sunscreen in her blood. She may have been born in Buffalo but she got here as fast as she could, in time for kindergarten. She grew up in St. Petersburg, graduated from the University of Florida journalism school, and even got married at Sunken Gardens. She's one of the few adults we know who actually loves taking her kids to the beach. She has two sons and with 10 years of parenting under her belt, she's starting to feel a little less out of her league. She comes from a large family and loves to debate, so brace yourself when the hot topics come up.
Amy Hollyfield is a workaholic mother of two young
daughters, blessed to have a work-at-home husband who makes their life possible. She was born in Detroit and moved around a lot as a kid (read: Air Force brat). She has lived in Florida since the month after she
graduated from Northwestern University. She lives for the yelps, hugs and kisses that greet her on nights that she makes it home before bedtime.
Sherry Robinson was born in the Sunshine State but she feels more comfortable inside a mall than outside at the beach -- thank goodness her husband is the outdoorsy type. He takes their two sons on night hikes, beach runs and bug hunts while Sherry does her best to take care of the homestead -- and find out what is new on the store shelves. A graduate of the University of South Florida in 19noneofyourbusiness, Sherry has been at the Times for nearly 20 years. And with nearly 10 years of parenting experience, Sherry is eager to offer up some great dish on raising kids and keeping your sanity.
Guest blogger Tracey Henry, a.k.a. Suburban Diva, is a frantic, slightly frazzled mother of four. She is a freelance humor writer and author which is the only thing that parenting four children ages 12-1 trains you for, except perhaps court jester and professional bull rider. She and her husband have lived all over the country, but settled in Florida eight years ago because the beachcombing is so much better here than on the banks of the Mississippi. Their family time includes a lot of sport -- both watching and playing -- and fun in the sun and surf. Catch her in Whoa, Momma! and on her site, 
Sherri Day and her husband welcomed their daughter into the world in early 2008. So far, she describes parenthood as exciting, exhausting and exhilarating. A self-described Southern belle with small-town values and big-city idealism, Sherri was born in rural Georgia. She received her bachelor's degree in journalism from Clark Atlanta University and her master's of journalism from the University of California at Berkeley. She is the Brandon bureau chief for the Times. Sherri moved to Tampa from Brooklyn four years ago.
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