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News & Features
From the Idyllwild Town Crier weekly newspaper, 12.03.09 edition.
Santa & post office
work a deal
By Marshall Smith, Staff Reporter
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and his spirit continues to glow
in the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) management — specifically
San Diego District Manager Dallas Keck and Sue Brennan, USPS public
relations representative, Office of the Postmaster General in
Washington, D.C.
For many years, the Town Crier has continued a tradition begun by its
first publisher and editor Ernie Maxwell. Santa’s Mailbox, painted by
Maxwell, is placed at the Idyllwild post office branch in the first
week of December. Generations of children have placed their letters in
the box, confident that their letters would catch Santa’s eye. But, in
a grinchly glitch, local post office employees recently told the Crier
that, owing to a decision from USPS San Diego District management, the
tradition would be broken and the box would have to be placed
elsewhere.
The regional decision came as fallout from a 2008 USPS decision to
restrict a venerated USPS program called Operation Santa. In place
since 1912, Operation Santa allowed postal employees and volunteers to
open and answer letters to Santa. In the 1940s Santa letter volume
increased to the point where the Postal Service invited charitable
organizations and companies to participate. One town in Alaska, North
Pole, ratcheted up the operation to become a town-wide holiday
event. In North Pole, letters are answered by “elf” volunteers
and postmarked “North Pole.” But in 2008, an incident involving a
letter-answering volunteer who purportedly was a registered sex
offender caused USPS to suspend the North Pole program.
On Nov. 20, in response to swelling national opposition including
Alaska’s congressional delegation, the USPS reversed the suspension,
enacted more stringent security guidelines, and gave local post office
districts the ability to decide to participate in Operation Santa or
not. And therein lay the rub for Idyllwild.
According to USPS spokesperson Brennan, following heightened security
guidelines is labor intensive and some districts, like San Diego, might
not have the resources to participate. New guidelines prohibit
volunteers from having access to children’s family names and addresses.
USPS personnel redact last names and addresses on each letter and
replace addresses with internal post office codes. “These guidelines
are in place to protect the children,” said Brennan. “Redacting the
information is labor intensive and because the economy has hit us as
hard as it has hit every other segment of the population in this
country, some locations no longer have the resources to operate the
program as required by the guidelines.”
Brennan ruefully told the Crier late on Nov. 30 that the San Diego
District had reaffirmed its decision not to participate in Operation
Santa. Cost was the reason. “This program is very near and dear to the
hearts of postal employees from coast to coast,” she said. “I’m sorry I
couldn’t do more to help you.”
San Diego District press contact Eva Jackson, when contacted by the
Crier, said, “Our district manager (Keck) has made the decision.”
Jackson supplied Kemp’s e-mail and phone number.
When contacted, Keck echoed Brennan’s regret over the situation. “The
whole thing causes some of us a great deal of sadness,” he said, but
noted his continuing security concerns.
When it was explained to Keck that the Idyllwild situation does not
involve volunteers answering letters to Santa, that Santa’s mailbox is
locked for the entire time it is at the post office, and that only
Crier personnel (and Santa) see the letters prior to publication, he
relented. Just before deadline, Keck e-mailed his approval to the Town
Crier.
So no “Bah Humbug!” for Idyllwild children. Thanks to Brennan, Kemp and
others interviewed for this article, a long-established Idyllwild
Christmas tradition will continue.
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