Christmas Memories Pt 2: Santa's Helpers

Last week I started a series on my fond Christmas Memories (Blog here)

As a child I had memorized the Rankin Bass mythology and easily debated another first grader on how Kris Kringle chose December 25th to deliver presents in honor of Christ's birthday (see "Santa Claus is Coming to Town) or how Rudolph learned to fly.

Things changed quickly when I was eight-years-old.

In the early afternoon we visited Santa Claus in Greenwood, Indiana and then traveled south, towards home, and again visited Santa near Franklin. Immediately I questioned his ability and, more importantly, his willingness to be in two different places in such a short time.

I was then introduced to a new concept: Santa's helpers.

Somehow the malls and parents were in collusion with Santa to ensure that the massive demands of children were accurately and quickly reported back to the North Pole for processing.

No surprise to those who know me: I was skeptical.

Isn't it funny how we can remember those pivotal moments from our childhood? The loss of our innocence leaves marks in our memories that we never shed and this was one of those moments.








Pic: The world's largest Christmas tree display rises up the slopes of Monte Ingino outside of Gubbio, in Italy's Umbria region. Composed of about 500 lights connected by 40,000 feet of wire, the 'tree' is a modern marvel for an ancient city.

Santa battling sex offenders? Are they everywhere?

The USPS is now struggling to shield children from sex offenders and risks during the Santa letter campaign. The Postal Service isn't cancelling the program entirely, but is requiring the child's address to be replace with a code to maintain privacy. Some local branches, especially rural areas, don't have the capacity to install these security measures.

From the USPS press releases: "Last year, a postal worker in Maryland recognized an Operation Santa volunteer there as a registered sex offender. The postal worker interceded before the individual could answer a child’s letter, but the Postal Service viewed the episode as a big enough scare to tighten rules in such programs nationwide. The agency now prohibits volunteers from having access to children’s family names and addresses, said spokeswoman Sue Brennan."

The fear for children target by pedophiles is all to real and frightening. Enter your zip in the National Sex Offender Registry and prepare for a heart attack.

Sex offenders and pedophiles are EVERYWHERE!

A local radio station (Thanks to the Malcolm Out Loud, 820am in Tampa) profiled Predator Patrol and founder Judy Cornett.

http://www.safetyzoneadvocacy.org/Predator_Patrol.html

Some amazing facts from her website:

• 70% of children who are abducted are taken on the way to or from school.

• 36% of children, who are victims of sex crimes, have known their predator for more then a year at the time of the incident.

• More then 20,000 images of children are posted on the Internet each week.

• Approximately 20 new children appear on porn sites each month, many kidnapped or sold into the sex trade.

• 40% of people charged with child porn sexually abuse children.

• 1 of 5 children who use a computer chat room has been approached by a pedophile.

• The chances of being caught for a sexual offense is approximately 3%.

• 93% of juvenile sexual assault victims knew their attacker, 34.2% were family, 58.7 acquaintances and 7% were strangers.

• Nearly 30% of child victims are age 4-7.

• 1 out of every 5-7 boys are sexually assaulted before they are 18.

• 1 out of every 3-5 girls are sexually assaulted before they are 18.

• 89% of sexual solicitations were made in either chat rooms or in instant messages.

• 13 million youth use instant messages.

• 1 in 33 receives aggressive sexual solicitation.

I admire and respect Judy Cornett's conviction and walking the walk to get these evil pedophiles off the streets. There is no truer evil that these sex offenders and pedophiles that shame and violate innocent children while eliciting rage, hate and anger in those their care givers.





This is an old
article from the St. Pete Times. It helps give the Predator Patrol history and struggles that are the back story to the foundation and Judy's advocacy.



Pic and full story: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6496250&page=1