With a World of Help, Santa Finds Smooth Sledding

Last-minute preparations for Santa Claus’ all-night trip around the globe were going without a hitch Friday thanks to the often-unsung cooperation of everyone from mail carriers to air traffic controllers to State Department officials.

Claus was unavailable for comment on Christmas Eve, but sources close to him willingly agreed to talk about the extensive teamwork that goes into the annual gift-giving operation.

“We have put him in several times,” said Bill Reavely, the Federal Aviation Administration’s area manager at the air traffic control center in Palmdale, which handles all air traffic in Southern California.

“We see him tracking on the screen,” Reavely said. “You can’t quite make out the reindeer, but he has ‘Santa 1’ tags on him. He starts right after dark, comes down from the North.”

In keeping with the holiday spirit, Jessie Locke of the special delivery unit at the main U.S. Postal Service office in Los Angeles laughed off the ignorance of a reporter who asked whether mail carriers deliver children’s letters to Santa via a specially equipped sled.

“No, they don’t go by sled,” she said. “They drive one of our LLVs, those are our larger postal vehicles. There is quite a bit of mail they have to carry there.”

Locke said every letter and card is delivered to Claus at the North Pole “and every one is given special attention.”

In Washington, meanwhile, federal officials said they did not anticipate any problems with Claus’ annual visit to the United States.

Pam Chavez, the visa duty officer at the State Department, said that unlike most international travelers, Claus does not need a visa to enter the country.

“He gets a waiver,” Chavez said. “We just let him come in every year. It’s automatic for Dec. 24, one night stay.”

And she said the government was not concerned that Claus might violate the terms of this arrangement. “He always returns as he said he would. We trust him. He’s been coming in every year, so we don’t have a problem with that.”

Meteorologist Harry Woolford of WeatherData Inc., which provides weather forecasts for the Los Angeles Times, said that despite a few high clouds in the skies over Southern California, “there will be no travel delays for Santa tonight in the L.A. Basin.”

“I’m on a first-name basis with Santa, by the way,” Woolford went on. “I’ve been here four years and we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well.”

Woolford, who works out of Wichita, Kan., said that Claus had not yet called for a weather forecast, but that he expected he soon would.

“High winds are usually the worst thing for him,” he said. “It blows the reindeer and the sleigh, so you really have to hang on. The snow or rain doesn’t really bother him that much. Rudolph always leads the way.”

Although much of the Christmas Eve speculation around the nation centered on Claus--”Can he make it down the chimney? What kind of cookies does he prefer? Should I make the milk nonfat?”--at least one organization was turning its attention to his reindeer instead.

Jennifer Bofinger, media spokeswoman for the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said despite the shabby treatment of deer in general, her organization has not received any complaints about how Claus treats his reindeer.

“And I’m surprised really,” Bofinger said. “We get a lot of complaints about everything. Probably around Easter, I’ll get some about Peter Rabbit, but he’s on his own.

“PETA does not believe that animals should be used for any purpose and Santa does use his deer as work deer. But I do not believe that he mistreats them. But I’m not really sure, because I haven’t talked to him lately to get the full story.”

As for reports that Claus and his reindeer might be nothing more than an elaborate media hoax, nobody questioned in connection with this story was willing to comment for the record.

Psychologist Lilli Friedland, however, did address the question of whether it is wrong to introduce children to Santa Claus.

“On the contrary,” she said, “all kids believe and need to believe in ideals and fantasies when they are little. One of the special little things about growing up is learning that there are these very special people in the world, like Santa Claus.”