No more letters to Santa

STEVE WILSON

 

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Starry eyed children around the world are writing letters to the jolly man at the North Pole, but this holiday season they are not likely to get a response from Santa or his helpers.

The US Postal Service is dropping a popular effort begun in 1954 in the small town of North Pole, in Alaska's interior, where volunteers tackle up to 150,000 letters addressed to Santa.

Postal Service officials say privacy concerns loomed last winter when a postal worker in Maryland recognized a volunteer in the agency's Operation Santa programme as a registered sex offender. The postal worker interceded before the individual could answer a child's letter.

The Postal Service now prohibits volunteers in such programmes to have access to children's last names and addresses.

Postal Service spokeswoman Pamela Moody says dealing with the tighter restrictions is not feasible in Alaska.