No shutdown for NORAD Santas

DENVER – Despite a partial government shutdown, kids will still be able to call in to the NORAD Tracks Santa toll-free telephone number on Christmas Eve. Hundreds of volunteers dressed in Christmas hats and military uniforms will be on duty Dec. 24 to receive children’s calls from around the world who want to know when Santa will be arriving. NORAD Tracks Santa is based out of Peterson AFB, Colo., and funded by DoD’s budget that was approved earlier this year. The call-in line is now in its 63rd year. The tradition came about after a mistaken phone call to the Continental Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs in 1955. CONAD, as it was known then, monitored a far-flung radar network looking for signs of a nuclear attack on the U.S. A Colorado newspaper ran an ad inviting kids to call Santa, but mistakenly listed CONAD’s phones as the hotline number. Some 1,500 civilian/military volunteers answer the phone calls from kids at its 1-877-HI-NORAD number, which infuses the holiday with childlike wonder. "They're all really sweet, small voices," said Madison Hill, a volunteer who helped answer the phones over the past two previous years. (Source: The AP 12/23/18) Golden Triangle Note: Happy holidays Mississippi!