From previons page

activity in the North Pole.

The Santa tracking tradition
started in 1955 by! pure accident
after a local newspaper ran an ad for

department. store’s | “Santa
Hotline.” “ -

“By‘accident, the ad included a .

special phone number which turned

; out to be the Operations Hoiiine to .

Continental Air defense Command

(NORAD’s predecessor).

. Needless to say, the military per-
sonnel on duty were very surprised
to.” hear six-year-olds on ‘the
Opeiacions Hotline!

The'senior officer on duty at the
time was Col. Harry. Shoup (who
still resides in Colorado Springs).

_ Shoup tuok the first call and
quickly figured out what had hap-

pened.

Wher the kids asked if they
could speak to Santa, Shoup said he
was helping Santa and. told. them
they could see him on the radar
screens heading south from the
North Pole.

Local media heard of the calls
and reported the story locally.

The next year; the calls came
flooding in to Continental Air

defense Command from. children
who wanted to know where Santa
was. .

A tradition was born — a tradi-

tions NORAD assumed in 1957.

Since then the program has expand-
ed gradually over the years unc! it
hic the Internet in 1997. -
The 2000 Norad: Track Santa
team includes’ America Online

(AOL), who is hosting the site.

Analy tical G raphics inc. created the
site with NORAD as. well as all the
supporting imagery.

In addition, Globelink Services
International coordinated: the

extensive translation: required for.
the Web site.’

All the organizations and vohin-
teers: who help make ‘this’ global
NORAD Christmas project possi-' ~
ble do su at no cost to the taxpayer. _