ANCHORAGE, AK – The popular program of answering Santa’s letters from the “North Pole” is being discontinued!

The program was started in 1954, in the Alaskan town of North Pole. The Postal Service had noticed letters arriving in the town addressed to Santa, and decided to organize a group of volunteers to respond to the thousands of children who wrote.

The 2,100 person town of North Pole prides itself on its Christmas connection, with stores like Santa Claus House, light poles that look like candy canes and streets called Kris Kringle Drive and Santa Claus Lane.

But the mood has changed, now that the USPS has declared it would no longer be running the letter answering service. This is mostly due to an incident last year, when a registered sex offender was recognized volunteering for Operation Santa! He was stopped before he could answer any letters, but the repurcussions have been felt nationally.

While the Operation Santa program will still exist, letters addressed to “Santa Claus, North Pole” will no longer reach the Alaskan town. And considering the residents only just found it, a dark mood has settled over the community.

Said Mayor Doug Isaacson, “It’s Grinchlike that the Postal Service never informed all the little elves before the fact. They’ve been working on this for how long?”

Unless a change is made in the next couple weeks, it is likely the cancellation will be permanent.