The following was reported today on Wierd World News. It is a perfect illustration of the sort of silliness than comes of branding folks as sex offenders.
Apparently one of the folks volunteering to answer letters to Santa Claus is a registered sex offender. Hence, the United States Postal Service will no longer deliver mail a program called "Operation Santa."
The news report does not reflect why the person is registered. Is he a violent predator? A child molestor? Or is he one of the growing numbers of Americans trapped in the double binds of a sexophrenic culture? For all we know, the Good Samaritan writing to children was required to registering for consensual activity.
Bah, Humbug, said Scrooge. Our new Scrooge utters something similar: Bah, Humbuggery!
Can anyone shed more light on this silliness?
Here's the news report:
"Alaska – American children writing to Santa may not get a response, according to the Metro, a U.K. newspaper.
"Prior to this holiday season, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) had been delivering any mail addressed to “Santa Claus, North Pole,” to an Alaskan town called North Pole where volunteers write personal responses. This year, the USPS has stopped Operation Santa after it was discovered that one of the program’s volunteers was a registered sex offender.
"Until tighter restrictions are placed on the volunteer force, the program will not operate, and local officials report it “unfeasible” for these actions to take place in time for this year’s holiday.
"Letters not addressed to the North Pole specifically may continue to see response, as these letters may be forwarded to other outposts of Operation Santa."
http://dailyuw.com/2009/11/23/weird-world-news-sex-offenders-pen-north-pole-epis/