"Our nation"?? The USPS has operated as an independent, "quasi-government" agency since the 1970's. It receives no taxpayer dollars. It is a stretch to make this a reflection on "our nation" or "they" who took "pray" out of our schools.

The organization should take care of it's problem of hiring a sex offender and the post office should have considered that this was a stamp selling bonanza operation. USPS shoud worry about how to increase their business and keep it's employees working. Smart move to stop mail when they are laying people off.

what ever is what ever, than you die.

Find another one, and move there.

Damn sexual perverts. They have ruined everything. I said before and I say again, these douche bags need to be jailed, forever. I am not talking about those who have peed in public when they thought no one was looking, or rapists, as they are considered criminals like murderers and thieves and should be tried and convicted in much the same way. I am talking about those who prey on children. That is the sickest kind of individual there is. There is a prison in Montana or Wyoming, that sits empty at this time. I have said that all those convicted of sex crimes against children should be housed in a prison, far from population, and kept there until they die, if their crimes don't fit the criteria or are committed in a state with no capital punishment. Enough land around the prison to allow for farming and perhaps the building of a small factory where they can build furniture or something useful. No phone calls allowed, limited TV, and absolutely no internet access. If these people cannot be trusted to live within the parameters set forth by the law that they live away from schools and areas heavily populated with children, and so far they have proven that they cannot, then put them someplace where they can live out their purposeless lives. Each state will provide funding for those that are sent from their respective state and continue until the end. If the states cannot keep these cretins in their own prisons, then this is the next best alternative. At least this way, they can be productive, farm to provide for some of their own sustinance, taught to sew to make their own clothing, etc. Whatever it takes to keep these people away from society forever. I am all for killing the worst of them but not every state has capital punishment as an option. It would be worth it to me for some of my tax dollars to go toward this end. Please excuse any mis-spellings. I get angry when I write about these icks of society so I tend to go on.

First problem with this an most stories about sex offender, it does not tell what his offence is. He could have had sex with a 17 year old when he was 19, still feel good about labeling him for life.

Also, one supposed pervert should not kill a cool program for kids. Though I almost would bet the strapped post office is just using this as an excuse for cutting funding.

I agree whoever THNK is doesn't THINK or they would know how much stimulus $$$$$$ went to USPS, to help pay wages and benefits.

after one volunteer was recognized as a sex offender, the Postal Service is dropping the program

One pervert volunteers and they drop the program. Dont they have a state sex offender site where they can check out the persons name to see if its a sex offender. I know this would take a few minutes for each volunteer but is that too much trouble so the postal system can make $$$$

I guess kids could just email letters to santa instead. That is what they want to happen. SO they can justify jacking up the price of a stamp. JC Penny is getting rid of their big catalog - that means USPS loses more money. Some pervert get ahold of some kids address - lets stop the program, more money lost.

Stop taking Christ out of Christmas. I feel this is just another way to thwart Christianity. It just won't do.

Merry Christmas to you. from the USPS

I can't believe a whole nation of children have to suffer because of one sex offender. Kick him out of the program, run all volunteers name through the sex offender registry and the problem is solved.

One more thing to take away "Christmas" and just make it a "holiday". This whole thing has gotten out of hand. No more Christmas presents, Christmas trees-- now we just have holiday presents and holiday trees...

Good job, USPS. No more letters to Santa. It's a sad, sad day in America.

If Wal-Mart has a store up in North Pole Alaska, they now have an opportunity to exploit a potential marketing bonanza. The children could drop off their letters at the local Wal-Mart with the assurance they would get to Santa, then they could hire the same people who volunteered for the post office to work for them. They simply need to have a satelite office located in North Pole, Alaska for the postmark. Think of all the millions of toys people would then purchase from Wal-Mart for their little kids for X-mas.

Don't blame the postal service you asses, blame the sickos who have sex with children.

Few people know how very bad these laws have become and how the “surplus” of people being on the registry who are just NOT DANGEROUS makes the laws be much less effective in protecting children. But it sure does a good job of frightening parents and anyone who cares about kids’ safety, which is most of us, doesn’t it? The expansion of the laws in recent years just makes it harder for law enforcement to do an effective job and makes it easier for the truly dangerous to slip through the cracks.

The dangerous combination of unscrupulous, opportunistic politicians, drama-driven, sound-bite “news” people like Nancy Grace-types plus overly zealous states attorneys wanting to make a name for themselves all came together and fed the hysteria about these laws. Then add in the mix of a few horrific child abduction/slaying cases and stir. There is no other crime where a few horrific cases that everyone is angry about could be used to change the laws so that NOW the large majority of people on the sex offender registry are not dangerous, and especially are not dangerous to children.
The term sex offender is so diluted now, it's hard to know if the man (usually) who you see on the registry is a truly dangerous Gerrido or a guy who got caught urinating on the road, or a 19 yrs. old who have very consensual sex with his 15 yr. old girlfriend, or though sleazy, the man who had sex with an underage prostitute who lied about her age and looked and acted older. All (and more of these types) are on the registry along with the burgeoning numbers of teens or even adults who unknowingly downloaded porn that has child (15, 16 yr. old sex girls) porn included. Would most men care what age the girl is if they're looking at porn and she LOOKED of age and was enticing. There are so many of these on the registry, it is disgusting. For the religious fanatics who ASSUME that anyone who downloads porn and it has sexy 15 yr. olds (or even younger Tracey Lord types) and they are just getting prepared to rape children, I say “hogwash”, get a grip on reality. There is a huge difference between looking at a 7 or 8, or 9 year old child sexually and a teenager who looks ready and posed voluntarily. These laws need to be changed !!!
They are just out of control.
For anyone who wants to learn more and especially to help, go to http://www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org/
or http://www.false-allegations-team.com/
and/or read “Sex Offender Laws Failed Policies, New Directions” edited by Richard G. Wright
You can also check out the film narrated and produced by Sean Penn “Witch Hunt” and see just some of the damage these laws have caused. There are too many innocent men in prison and on the registry because of the hysteria that's run rampant in the U.S. And the more who aren't dangerous who are on there, the easier it is for the truly dangerous to hide and not be paid as much attention to. This is how Gerrido escaped the attention he deserved. Not to mention the tons of money these laws have been costing us. So they cost more and do less of what they were set up to do.

Peon:

Stop taking Christ out of Christmas. I feel this is just another way to thwart Christianity

Hopeisnotlost

One more thing to take away "Christmas" and just make it a "holiday

How is this story, in any way, connected to removing the religious symbolism of Christmas? I wasn't aware the North Pole was part of Christian dogma.

What a crock of....feces. One bad apple screws over millions.

Let me get this strait - A sex offender that the "SYSTEM" is supposed to have a handle on gets caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and this government agency, (yes - it's government, quasi or not), takes the same knee jerk reation as all of our politicians and ends it for everyone.

It's a disgrace the system can't protect us properly. It's a bigger disgrace that our government punishes the innocent with an all or nothing proposal, much like they are doing now with other issues.

Dennis270

Where, in my post, did I make any reference to religious symbolism or anything Christian? I was referring to all that has been Christmas, including Santa. Please read things more carefully.

Cindy Lou Who is going to be soooo pissed off! Sad.

Again,Thanks for NOTHING United States Postal Service! Scrooge has a lump of coal for you.

you mean Santa. I don't think Scrooge delivers. =D

typical post office answer to a problem. used to work there and they have no ideas beyond... ok, they have no ideas at all. no wonder they're going out of business.

it was just announced that usps lost almost $4 billion last year, and now, because of their own mistake, they are refusing business that would put dollars in the coffers. are we all positive this isn't a government operation? just asking......

Oh, you mean the communists who run ACLU?

We could put prayer back in if you like. Muslim prayer, Jewish prayer, but let me guess, you are wanting christian prayer.

Prayer to start with is fiction, secondly, who's prayer gets to be used?

Bama - your post is a good illustration of what is wrong with our schools - perhaps you should spend more time worrying about the fundamentals (reading, writing (ie grammar), math and science) and less on issues like forced prayer. I think the problem is more that the governments (local, state and federal) let people with very low levels of education and learning have any voice whatsoever on the education system.

we should teach every one how to pray to the dark lord and make sacrifices in his name, Blessed is the night of death!!!!!!!

Remember there is no right and there is no wrong

Ya'll sure love your Fictional Characters, eh? But yet don't care about the lives of actual living human beings. What an amusing, yet tragic irony.

Jinchuriki2000 It's Knight of Death, you moron.

No right and no wrong? What if someone slit your tires or stole your car? You wouldn't call the cops cos it's not wrong, huh?

Go smoke some more of your dope...

What are they gonna do. Change your tires for you.
Most likely just take a report and let you deal with the insurance company.

They are not in the business of car recovery, Only if they actually see your vehicle and put 2 & 2 together would they actually stop the criminal, maybe.

Since they San Diego police can't catch the 70 yr old bank robber, and all you hear about is bad cops doing stuff like raping a young girl before they take her home, guards raping inmates and another tazing a 10 year old because she wasn't behaving, I don't have much hope that the police can help in a lot of situations. I not putting down good hard working cops, but we seem to only hear about the bad ones. They are only people and just because they are supposed to protect and serve, they can't be everywhere at once. They can only do so much. Unfortunately their are bad people in every line of work it seems.

And you can't understand sarcasm when you see it.

And people are getting off the subject here. Put it in a letter to yourself.

Except your mail which is delivered sans a bill everyday, or allows you to send a letter pretty darn cheap. Forgive me if I'm wrong but that Is the Service, right?

Go ahead and pay the UPS and FedEx prices if you want, policespeeder. I'll take the post office over them any day... especially after last year's UPS fiasco where my next day package was over 3 weeks late while everything from USPS came quickly and on time.

Perhaps you could have a pool at church and Pay For It Yourself.

Poor persecuted Christmas. sniff sniff. Whatever will we do with a little less of the Biggest, most publicized Consumer Moneymaker of the Year with an output of wasted energy you could probably see from Mars? Oh wait, i know! Spend a little less of our of Taxpayer Dollars to perpetuate Your Religious Beliefs! Sweet!

Christmas isn't a religious holiday anymore. As you said it's a consumer holiday. Christmas is celebrated with eggnog and presents sent by a jolly old fat guy. There is nothing religious about the holiday anymore. So in that sense it is a great loss for USPS to not provide services for a 2 month long letter marathon that encourages kids to force their parents to spend money to buy these gifts, mail the gifts out, take the stupid family portraits, mail those horrid holiday cards out also, and all the other stupid things families do out of habit and spirit of another less economically miserable time.

Sorry it annoys me to no end when people refer to Christmas as a religious holiday.

Please take some individual responsibility. If Christmas has become a consumer holiday instead of a religious holiday in your house, that is not the fault of Macy's or the government or Obama, that is your fault. The holidays are only what you make them and if you make them a time to celebrate Christ and family (or whatever you believe) then that is what they will be.

Actually, we do have quite a lot of religious references at Christmas, no we don't go to church for midnight mass, but we have our angels and crosses. But you can't put an argument about SANTA and cards not being sent to him as a RELIGIOUS holiday. I did go to 14 years of Catholic school and I don't recall when Santa burst in after the 3 wise men's gifts and bring Jesus a toy train he wrote to Santa about wanting for his birthday.

Please take some individual responsibility. If Christmas has become a consumer holiday instead of a religious holiday in your house, that is not the fault of Macy's or the government or Obama, that is your fault. The holidays are only what you make them and if you make them a time to celebrate Christ and family (or whatever you believe) then that is what they will be.

Well said, JeanNicole!

This is just the beginning - we haven't seen anything yet. No prayer in school (by the way it never was forced prayer - those who wanted to did, those who did not want to didn't), no Christmas, no pledge of allegiance. ACLU rules, similar to the third Reich. I guess that works out just right - Hitler is in the white house (whenever he decides to stay at the white house) and surrounded by Marxists and taking away our freedoms one by one. Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Hitler surrounded by Marxists? Oh, thats right, you don't know the difference. Try this:look up Faschist, then look in the mirror.

I agree. I wish that they children did not have to lose a great program just because this particular one did not complete due diligence on their volunteers.

djm, your history is warped. No, it's WRONG. Read a book sometime, ok? And just so you don't feel so bad, you are more than welcome to pray in a classroom, the pledge of allegiance hasn't been banned, and Christmas rolls along just as it always has.

Let's talk facts and logic here. Although many more cases are reported, the number of cases that are classified as "substantiated" has remained steady or dropped slightly (Besharov, 1990; Ceci and Bruck, 1995). Nonetheless, the number of arrests for sexual offenses has increased markedly, from approximately 159,200 in 1976 to more than 247,000 in 1991 (US Department of Justice, 1978, 1992). Assuming that Kessen (1965), Besharov, (1990), Ceci and Bruck, 1995 are correct and the number of actual reports of child maltreatment has remained the same or slightly decreased since 1965, then all of the reported incidents of child maltreatment above the red line represent the number of reports that created wrongful convictions per year. A substantial increase which is corroborated by the U.S. Dept. of Justice report above. What this means is that 5,853 innocent men are convicted for child maltreatment every year.

One of the things that really boils my blood are these talking heads on television who tell their viewers that the recidivism rate for sex offenders is astronomical, yet they offer no proof of their claims. Well here is the proof and it comes from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service operated by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics.

"This report presents, for the first time, data on the re-arrest, reconviction, and re-imprisonment of 9,691 male sex offenders, including 4,295 child molesters, who were tracked for 3 years after their release from prisons in 15 States in 1994.

The 9,691 are two-thirds of all the male sex offenders released from prisons in the United States in 1994. The study represents the largest follow-up ever conducted of convicted sex offenders following discharge from prison and provides the most comprehensive assessment of their behavior after release. Highlights include the following: Within 3 years following their release, 5.3 percent of sex offenders (men who had committed rape or sexual assault) were rearrested for another sex crime; on average the 9,691 sex offenders served 3 1/2 years of their 8-year sentence; compared to non-sex offenders released from State prisons, released sex offenders were four times more likely to be rearrested for a sex crime; the 9,691 released sex offenders included 4,295 men who were in prison for child molesting." Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released From Prison in 1994 by Patrick A. Langan Ph.D.; Erica L. Schmitt; Mathew R. Durose, November 2003.

From: http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=198281

So there you go. Now compare the above with these recidivism statistics for other crimes, again from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics:

Of the 272,111 persons released from prisons in 15 States in 1994, an estimated 67.5% were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within 3 years, 46.9% were reconvicted, and 25.4% re-sentenced to prison for a new crime. The 272,111 offenders discharged in 1994 accounted for nearly 4,877,000 arrest charges over their recorded careers. Within 3 years of release, 2.5% of released rapists were rearrested for another rape, and 1.2% of those who had served time for homicide were arrested for a new homicide. Sex offenders were less likely than non-sex offenders to be rearrested for any offense –– 43 percent of sex offenders versus 68 percent of non-sex offenders. Sex offenders were about four times more likely than non-sex offenders to be arrested for another sex crime after their discharge from prison –– 5.3 percent of sex offenders versus 1.3 percent of non-sex offenders.(Note: That's 1.3 percent of non-sex offenders who become sex offenders on a new charge.)

Tell me people, do the statistics justify the paranoia?

What happens in regard to this subject is what is happening right now. You take an incident like Garrido, adult sex offenders regardless of their crime becomes viewed in the same light they are viewing him. That's called stereotyping and it's a form of prejudice and bigotry. Something like Garrido happens and a cry for stiffer sex offender laws goes out to which politicians are all too happy to oblige because it gets them votes.

The sex offender registration database is unconstitutional. The US Constitution specifically states, "Congress shall enact no law creating a class of people." By creating the sex offender registration database Congress and state government has created a class of people. They're called sex offenders. The only thing that is missing here are yellow armbands with the word Juden written on them. The sex offender registration database has been abused by prosecutors and now includes people who have had no contact with another human being in the commission of their crime. The result is that the sex offender registration database has now become bloated with people who are not dangerous to the public. The purpose of the sex offender registration database was to monitor serious sex offenders not to keep track of people who have been arrested for public urination, mooning and streaking. As an adjunct the sex offender registration database has now been provided to the public via the Internet. This has resulted in the public being given the ability to know when a sex offender is living as a next-door neighbor, which has resulted in a tremendous amount of paranoia. There are no rules regarding the release of a convicted murderer concerning where he can live after his release, but there are for sex offenders. Think about this for a moment. The general public would rather live next door to a person who might kill them than live next to a person who might have sex with them. Does this position make any sense?

Liz, I have to agree with you that upper management has no sense, that's why they become managers---they don't know how to read and case, nor deliver mail.

Why not just answer the letter yourself?

Take your saddened no spirited self to the Communist land and get the heck out of our country. You are just a bitter fool. Do you have children, do you nor Celebrate Christmas with your family. You are a moron!!!

I think that it is pretty cool to have a real letter come in the mail from "Santa", but FedUp you are right, if the USPS does discontinue the program it would not be too difficult to answer your own kids letter.

Lol at the thought of a parent answering their kid's letter.

"Dad, I got a letter from Santa. He says that he isn't getting me anything this year. It says 'I saw you steal the cookies from the jar and blame it on your sister. I see EVERYTHING. No presents for you!'"

Actually. . .that might work and may make the kids turn around. LOL

Exactly How does the town's economy depend on a volunteer operation? As for the USPS, since it is taxpayer-funded, and not for profit, perhaps a little less Free postage would actually be good for our Country's overall economy. Humm...

So, you are content with ruining the children's Christmas Spirit?? May God be with you cuz you need help!!

FedUp - It's called tourism. By the sound of it, North Pole's economy relies heavily on it. If they take away one of the holiday mainstays of the town, volunteering or otherwise, it will affect that small town's economy. If the registered sex offender is NOT from Alaska, he brought his money, and therefore, power as a consumer, to North Pole as a tourist. I'll bet a lot of their volunteers are out-of-towners who contribute fiscally to the town just by being there.

brian - Please read my comment again and find exactly where I said that the USPS should ruin Christmas for children. I said if North Pole institutes proper background checks of their volunteers, I do not see a problem with their continuance of writing letters back to children.

With wrongly addressed mail, they normally bring the item back to the sender, stamp intact and letter unopened. So if they're getting letters to North Pole for Santa and they decide to shred them, paid-for stamp and all...wow, that's worse than Grinch-like.

gloom doom fire and brimstone! lions and tigers and bears!

settle down. it's not that big a deal.

It really is not that big of a deal if you want your kids to have such a magical Christmas go out and by a rubber stamp that says North Pole and answer the letter yourself, that is what I would do for my kids. I would feel better with the letter coming from me anyway.

Somehow I feel that you have some anger issues that extend beyond the USPS.

Good. Save more taxpayer dollars we can use for something else.

why so angry???? Didn't Santa bring you gifts as a child?? Why so rude to others?? Does this affect you in some way??

Only a tea-bagger could jump from an elimination of a santa claus program by a non-governmental agency to Obama in three sentences. Unbelievable.

Carrie, I actually did that for a couple of years, in a very small rural New England town I lived in. I had the local store keep collect the letters in a box, I went by daily to pick them up and answer them, and returned them for the kids, who picked them up at the store when their parents stopped in. I had a NORTH POLE stamp, just like someone suggested in these posts, and the kiddies never knew the difference. The reaction was phenomanal - a lot of little happy faces, and the parents really appreciated it. Of course, this was a very small town where everybody knew everybody else - otherwise, I too may have been arrested for hanging out at the local store, watching little kids! I guess it wouldn't be practical in all cases!

Agreed, the post office is a total mess.