'Red Nose' detected at North Pole

　　CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN — Santa Claus is coming to town.

　　NORAD, the U. S. Canadian North Aerospace Defense C ommand that keeps watch on the skies to spot missiles a pproaching North America, said on Monday it is detectin g unusual activity in the North Pole region.

　　NORAD analysts, highly trained and always on the al ert in their mountain bunker, have concluded that the m ysterious object is none other than the nose of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

　　"While such activity is not unusual for this time y ear, it does appear to be earlier than previously seen, " NORAD said in a tongue-in-cheek report.

　　Because this is Santa's first trip in the new mille nnium he may be conducting additional tests on his deli very equipment, NORAD theorized.

　　Boys and girls, both naughty and nice, will be able to stay in touch with NORAD starting at 7 p.m. EST on D ec. 24 as it tracks Santa's ride on the worldwide web a t http://www.noradsanta. org and on American Online key word: Track Santa.

　　NORAD has been tracking Santa's trip since 1955 whe n a department store "Santa Hotline" telephone number a dvertised in a local newspaper turned out to be the "op erations hotline " at NORAD's predecessor. Surprised mi litary personnel started getting calls from six-year-ol ds who wanted to talk to Santa. The senior officer on d uty, Col. Harry Shoup, explained to them that he was "h elping" Santa— and a tradition was born.

　　(Reuters)