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COVINA, Calif. – Law enforcement officials in Southern California say the gunman who killed nine people in a Christmas Eve bloodbath at his ex-in-laws' Covina home intended to flee to Canada but was severely burned before he killed himself. Police said Friday that after the shooting, 45-year-old Bruce Jeffrey Pardo used a homemade device to spray racing fuel around the home and that the vapor was ignited by a pilot light or candle. He suffered third-degree burns on both arms when it exploded. Authorities say Pardo's Santa suit actually melted onto his body before he fled. After Pardo shot himself...

COVINA, Calif. - A man who carried out a Christmas Eve massacre and arson dressed as Santa at the home of his former in-laws apparently intended to flee the U.S., but his plans were dashed after the inferno he created severely burned his arms and melted his red costume onto his body, police said Friday. Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, a laid-off aerospace worker, apparently shot some of his nine victims execution-style in a plot to destroy his ex-wife's family after a costly divorce that was finalized last week. He had an airline ticket for a Christmas morning flight to Canada and...

COVINA, Calif. (AP) - Stinging from an acrimonious divorce, a man plotting revenge against his ex-wife dressed up like Santa, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party and slaughtered at least six people before killing himself hours later. Three people were listed as missing after Bruce Pardo's rampage - his ex-wife and her parents - and it was feared their remains were among the ashes of the home, which Pardo set ablaze using a bizarre homemade device that sprayed flammable liquid.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- At least three people were found dead after a man dressed as Santa Claus started shooting at a Christmas Eve party in suburban Los Angeles, police said Thursday. Bruce Jeffery Pardo is a "person of interest"

Coroner's officials say there are "several" more bodies in the ashes of a Christmas party shooting by a man in a Santa suit at a house in Covina that subsequently caught fire. Assistant Chief Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office said today investigators sifting through the ashes of the house have come across more dead than the three already uncovered. Winter would not say exactly how many were found. Police say the man suspected of opening fire at the party while dressed as Santa Claus has killed himself. The body of 45-year-old Bruce Jeffrey Pardo was found...

In a bizarre Christmas Eve rampage, a 45-year-old man in a Santa Claus outfit showed up at a party in a Los Angeles suburb and opened fire at a group of revelers, killing at least five people and injuring several others, including two children, the authorities said on Thursday.

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) _ A group of Santa impersonators are on the naughty list of Arizona law enforcement officials. A YouTube video posted Monday shows four people dressed as Kris Kringle, white beards and red hats included, covering three speed and red light enforcement cameras in Tempe. Two are covered with boxes - one decorated with Christmas wrap - and the third is blocked with what appears to be a red sheet. The Jackson 5's ``Santa Claus is coming to town'' plays during the more than two-minute video. At the end is a message that reads: ``Ho Ho Ho! Death...

’Tis the season … to be green. No, not even the traditions of Christmas are immune to the efforts of global warming activism. No, it’s not Al Gore’s, “How Greenhouse Gases Stole Christmas,” but a children’s story is pushing a similar green agenda. The recently published book by Anne Margaret Lewis called “Santa Goes Green” is about a boy who writes Santa and asks him to help raise awareness about global warming so that his adopted polar bear won’t lose its home. “You see, it’s like this Santa,” the book reads. “I’ve adopted a polar bear named Leopold. He is...

He's a huge, strangely dressed man who sneaks into people's homes at night, then yells, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" at the top of his lungs. Who wouldn't be afraid of Santa Claus? Authors Denise Joyce and Nancy Watkins know at least 250 toddlers who are. The two recently published a book called "Scared of Santa: Scenes of Terror in Toyland" that shows photos of children on St. Nick's lap -- most of whom are desperate to leave. "Scared of Santa"

When a Santa hat was placed on a spire at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, the joke was lost on authorities who had it removed because it was a risk to health and safety. A team of 10 firefighters using two fire engines and a support vehicle with a hydraulic platform spent an hour lowering the seasonal headgear, which had been fastened to a 60ft spire about the college entrance known for centuries as the Gate of Humility. The culprit remains a mystery, but it is thought to be a student playing a practical joke following an end-of-term night out....

The family of a 10-year-old girl who received an MP3 video player for Christmas was shocked when it found the player was loaded with explicit songs and pornographic movie clips. Cookeville resident Daryl Hill said his daughter was thrilled to find that Santa had left an MP3 player under the tree -- until she turned it on. "Within 10 minutes, my daughter was crying," Hill told Nashville, Tenn., TV station WSMV. There were video clips of XXX-rated sex scenes and the pornography on the player. "I wish I could take the thoughts and images out of her head," said Hill....

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Some gifts from Kris Kringle are better kept wrapped. A man in a Santa hat was arrested Sunday night for investigation of drunken driving after he was spotted outside Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood wearing a wig, a red lace camisole and a purple G-string, police said. ... The suspect was booked into jail after his blood-alcohol level measured just above the state's legal limit of .08, police said. He was later released on $5,000 bail. The man, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 280 pounds, also wore black leg warmers and...

Strange Santa Scene Makes Bremerton Man's Comment on Christmas By Steven Gardner (Contact) Friday, December 21, 2007 BREMERTON Santa's keeping watch over a West Bremerton neighborhood in a way that has some offended and everyone else at least a bit curious about the motive. In the front yard of a house on the 300 block of Olympic Avenue stands a crucifix about 15-feet tall, bearing Santa Claus in place of Jesus. Jake Tally of Bremerton walked by the display Friday and chuckled, but didn't pretend to understand the message. "I don't really know what to think. I know it's about...

BREMERTON, Wash. - Art Conrad has an issue with the commercialism of Christmas, and his protest has gone way beyond just shunning the malls or turning off his television. The Bremerton resident nailed Santa Claus to a five-metre crucifix in front of his house. "Santa has been perverted from who he started out to be," Conrad said. "Now he's the person being used by corporations to get us to buy more stuff." A photo of the crucified Santa adorns his Christmas cards, with the message "Santa died for your MasterCard." The display is also Conrad's way of poking fun at...

Dear Ellen, We punish our children for lying, but at Christmas we lie to them about Santa. Now what? Signed, Dad with a guilty conscience... Dear Dad, This Christmas conundrum plays out across the globe as perplexed moms and dads ponder just how to handle Santa Claus. What to do with Santa, the primo, culturally anointed Christmas icon? Santa placemats, greeting cards, candles, magnets, cookies, napkins and wrapping paper litter the house. Rover spends the day trying to chew off the mini-Santa suit a zealous celebrant couldn’t leave behind at the pet store. At Christmas, ordinarily non-fibbing parents find themselves...

'Santa Claus Is Coming To Get Me': Mental health charity sparks outrage with spoof Christmas carolsLast updated at 14:19pm on 20th December 2007  Traditional: But Christmas carols were given a radical make-over by a health trust in Salford A bad taste top ten of Christmas carols poking fun at mental illness has been slammed as "degrading" and "insensitive" after it was published with the backing of a social services department. The booklet contains a list titled "Christmas Carols for the Mentally Disturbed". It then names psychiatric conditions and suggests festive songs which would suit the illness. They include: Schizophrenia...

OTTAWA - There was absolutely nothing Ho Ho Ho about the letters Rosalyn Da Costa's children got from Santa on Thursday. In fact, they included filthy messages. They are two of 10 inappropriate letters dropped into mailboxes across Ottawa in the last two days and there could be more. On Thursday, Canada Post shut down it's Write To Santa program across the city while it joins Ottawa Police to hunt down the rogue elf.

They’re baaaaack! You know what I’m talking about — the swarm of advice-minded blogs and articles that inundate the Internet every December, dishing out the dos and don’ts of the infamous office holiday party. While overall fete etiquette is the aim of many, we’re going to get right to the juicy stuff. To hook up or not hook up at the office party, that’s the question – and a not so easy one for that matter. The office holiday party provides the seemingly perfect opportunity to get a little closer with somebody who has been, up until that point, eye...

Microsoft cuts off Big Man after he starts talking about sex acts, using foul language An artificial-intelligence Santa bot operated by Microsoft to talk to children wavered off topic saying: “It’s fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else....” Microsoft Tuesday confirmed the bot’s potty mouth and snipped Santa’s Web connection. “Yesterday we received reports that the automated Santa Claus agent in Windows Live Messenger used inappropriate language. As soon as we were alerted, we took steps to mitigate the issue, including the removal of language from the agent’s automated script. We were not...

A shop has sacked its Santa Claus for saying Ho-ho-ho. John Oakes, 70, got his marching orders after the store decreed that women might be offended because 'ho' is American slang for a whore. Instead, he was supposed to say Ha-ha-ha. "They're are trying to kill the spirit of Christmas," said Mr Oakes, who has been a Santa for ten years. \ He was also found guilty of singing Jingle Bells at the Myer department store in Cairns, Northern Australia. He said: "The manager told me my services were no longer required. "When I asked her why, she replied, 'You...

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School bans Santa from wearing red - because it reminds pupils of Coca-ColaLast updated at 16:37pm on 21st November 2007Santa Claus is being forced to wear a green suit when visiting a school this year, after teachers decided the traditional red outfit would remind pupils of Coca-Cola.  Education chiefs have also banned the annual Christmas grotto - favouring an eastern European version of the festive season instead. Staff at the Steiner School in Brighton, East Sussex, claim the red-suited Santa is a symbol of "modern commercialism" and reminds children of Coca-Cola adverts. Scroll down for more... Father Christmas and...

SAPULPA, Okla. (AP) - Police here know whether this particular Santa Claus has been naughty or nice. An officer responding to a call Christmas morning of a disturbance on the city's east side found James Lahl dressed as Santa Claus and hitting a street sign, according to a report. Lahl, 53, had pulled a no parking sign from the ground and was beating another street sign with it, police allege.

3. Damn, O.J. wants new kitchen knives this year. 8. Off my lap, Fatty. 2. Mrs. Clause, those batteries are for the children's toys!

To the Editor: "Last week I substituted at a local elementary school in Lebanon County. The lesson plan required me to read the 1882 poem “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore to two classes of students. While I can appreciate the poem for its literary value, the subject matter is offensive to me, and the reading of this poem to the children imposed values upon me which are against my deeply held religious beliefs. I could not in good conscience present the notion of Santa Claus as a truth to the children, and stated so. No public school...

BETHEL — While controversy swirls over a substitute teacher who told first-graders that Santa Claus doesn’t exist, a local dairy farmer and church deacon has put the same message in a very public place. By erecting a sign along the eastbound side of I-78, between the Bethel and Grimes exits, Leonard H. Martin has taken it upon himself to shatter the myth of Santa Claus for any youngster able to read the message from the back seat of a car as their parents drive by. It marks the second consecutive year that Martin has posted what he termed a spiritual...

For the man who has everything — or someone really desperate to find a last-minute gift — Joel Krupnik and Mildred Castellanos have an answer: Their red-suited Santa Claus figure, holding a bloody knife in one hand and a severed doll's head in the other, went up for auction on Christmas Day. Already, bidding had reached $200 and "might go higher, maybe even to $500," the New York Post quoted Krupnik as saying. Lest anyone be offended — and some people were — Krupnik had explained earlier that the macabre holiday display outside the couple's midtown Manhattan home was intended...

REINDEER-drawn sleds have been slammed as environmentally unfriendly, because the carrot-munching animals produce the greenhouse gas methane in their wind. Now Santa has been urged to ditch his sleigh team and start travelling on public transport to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. It has been calculated that Santa's team of nine reindeer would emit methane with a global warming impact equivalent to more than 40,600 tonnes of greenhouse gases on the 122 million mile Christmas Eve dash to deliver presents around the world. That would make his marathon sleigh ride almost as environmentally damaging as an aircraft, which would...

Gun-Toting Santa Featured on Christmas Card By Nathan Burchfiel Dec 23, 2005 (CNSNews.com) - The latest reason for gun control and gun rights activists to sharpen their rhetoric is a Christmas card released by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. The card features an armed Santa Claus attempting to shield three children from a terrorist. The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) sent the card to members of Congress, President Bush, and others who support gun rights. The terrorist portrayed on the card is wearing a turban and trying to...

12 Reasons to ban Santa (if you are a liberal!) 1. Santa’s preference to have the inexperienced Rudolph, the son of Donner, drive the sleigh appears to be an egregious example of "good ol’ boys" nepotism. To make matters worse, he promised Rudolph, the bourgeois shift manager, that "he would go down in history," while the working class reindeer are consigned to the ash heaps of relative obscurity. 2. Rumor has it that Santa is mistreating the elves in some type of sweatshop situation, clearly taking advantage of their diminutive stature. They are unquestionably overworked as they fill all the...

A Dorchester man named Santa gave his conflicted family the yuletide gift of contrition yesterday by ’fessing up to killing his cousin at a Christmas party two years ago. Torn between anguish and fidelity, Benjamin Santa’s tearful mother would speak no evil of her son, even as he was spirited away in chains from a Boston courtroom. “I couldn’t even hug or kiss him,” Luz Caban said of Santa, 24, the oldest of her four children. “There’s no Christmas for us.” Santa, wearing sunglasses, his braided hair pulled back in a ponytail, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to...

SOUTH BEND -- Santa Claus is not being dispatched from the Food Bank of Northern Indiana. And people shouldn't give donations to a possible rogue Santa telling people he has been sent by the food bank. Nick Dalton, interim president and chief executive officer of the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, said he took a call from an angry local business owner earlier this week. The business owner, whom Dalton did not name, was upset because a Santa, who said he was from the food bank, did not show up for a scheduled event at his business, Dalton said. The...

No Christmas season would be complete without “Nutcracker” performances, Bing Crosby holiday music and the stop-motion animated TV classic “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”     Though times have changed, these cherished holiday traditions remain frozen in Christmas nostalgia. But a closer look at these Ghosts of Christmas Past reveal shockers and unpolitically correct moments that could benefit from a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Present.      Beloved Christmas tradition: “Holiday Inn”      Year: 1942      Christmas legacy: Irving Berlin wrote the song “White Christmas” for “Holiday Inn.” Performed by Bing Crosby, the movie’s star, “White Christmas” became an instant Christmas classic...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Drunken Santas on a rampage in New Zealand, armed German robbers in Santa disguises, a British St. Nick wanted for flashing, and a Swedish vandal in a Santa outfit are giving the big man in red a bad name this year. Reports of "Bad Santas" breaking the law or otherwise wreaking havoc have been circulating around the world. Armed with a gun, a man in a Santa outfit held up a furniture store in the German town of Ludwigshafen on Saturday and forced two cashiers to open the safe. He filled his sack with cash, locked the...

Cubans have not taken to saying "Merry Christmas," which is not surprising since the atheist state had the holiday crossed off the calendar from 1969 to 1997. Most use "Happy Holidays" as their greeting and tend to see New Year's Eve as a bigger seasonal holiday. That's when President Fidel Castro's government celebrates the anniversary of the revolution that brought him to power in 1959 and authorities put on street fairs with salsa music and cheap beer. "Few people say 'Happy Christmas.' The young have no idea what it means," said Carmen Vallejo, a Catholic dissident who works with cancer-stricken...

About 40 drunken Santas rioted in New Zealand, robbing stores, toppling garbage bins, smashing bottles and assaulting security guards. Wearing Santa Claus costumes, they rampaged yesterday afternoon through central city streets in Auckland and vandalised a giant Christmas tree in the foyer of the Sky City Casino, the Herald on Sunday reported. They were taking part in an organised example of "Santarchy", Alex Dyer told the paper, describing it as "a worldwide phenomenon designed to dismantle the commercialisation of Christmas". Three men were arrested on charges of being drunk and disorderly, and two security guards needed medical treatment for cuts...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. HAVANA (Reuters) - Eight years after Communist Cuba restored December 25 as a national holiday in a gesture to Pope John Paul II, there is not much Christmas spirit to show for it. Christmas decorations are mostly to be found in the more expensive shops and tourist spots, and there is no Santa Claus waving at children on the street corner. Santa, viewed as a symbol of capitalist consumer society, is banned from storefront displays and can only be seen in private homes. Cubans have not taken to saying "Merry Christmas,"...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A group of 40 people dressed in Santa Claus costumes, many of them drunk, rampaged through New Zealand's largest city, robbing stores and assaulting security guards, police said Sunday. The rampage, dubbed ``Santarchy'' by local newspapers, began early Saturday afternoon when the men, wearing ill-fitting Santa costumes, threw beer bottles and urinated on cars from an Auckland overpass, said Auckland Central Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty.She said the men then rushed through a central city park, overturning garbage containers, throwing bottles at passing cars and spraying graffiti on buildings.One man climbed the mooring line of a...

Joel Krupnik and Mildred Castellanos decked the front of their Manhattan mansion this year with a scene that includes a knife-wielding 5-foot-tall St. Nick and a tree full of decapitated Barbie dolls. Hidden partly behind a tree, the merry old elf grasps a disembodied doll's head with fake blood streaming from its eye sockets.

LONDON (AFP) - British police said they were on the lookout for a man dressed as Father Christmas, a serial flasher exposing himself around a small town on England's south coast. The man has indecently exposed himself to young women five times in Swanage, three times while wearing a Santa Claus outfit, said Dorset Police. Three girls in their mid-teens were his first victims, with two women aged 18 and 23 next. The final three incidents all happened last Sunday -- while the offender was dressed up as Father Christmas. The man approached the women but did not touch them....

By Beth Cooney Staff Writer December 15, 2005 If you are an insomniac who has caught a certain raunchy late-night infomercial, then you will get exactly what the Connecticut Gay Men's Chorus was spoofing when they dubbed their annual holiday performance, "Elves Gone Wild." Yes, a group of gay men with good voices have drawn their creative inspiration from the "Girls Gone Wild" series of videos and DVDs which feature drunken college beauties flashing their breasts, lifting their skirts and kissing each other in showers. "We weren't sure people would get it," Winston Clark, music director of the CGMC, says...

Newburgh - A Wal-Mart Santa Claus was arrested Monday for allegedly exposing himself to a 15-year-old boy and attempting to have the boy engage in oral sex with him at his home on Dec. 9, according to a City of Newburgh police press release. Ransford George Perry, 57, of Newburgh, has acted as an advocate for numerous children around Newburgh through a business called the Association Against Biased Educators. He is also a promoter for "talented children," and a Santa Claus at the Wal-Mart on Route 300 in the Town of Newburgh, police said. Perry was acting as an advocate...

NEW YORK - It's usually easy to tell where a person stands in the culture wars, but whose side is someone on when his Christmas decor is a blood-spattered Santa Claus holding a severed head? Joel Krupnik and Mildred Castellanos decked the front of their Manhattan mansion this year with a scene that includes a knife-wielding 5-foot-tall St. Nick and a tree full of decapitated Barbie dolls. Hidden partly behind a tree, the merry old elf grasps a disembodied doll's head with fake blood streaming from its eye sockets. No one answered the family's door to explain on Tuesday, but...

Yep, it's beginning to look a lot like (there's a war on) Christmas (after all).From those purveyors of innocent merriment at WNBC: Antonio Martinez stops to snap a photo of a knife-wielding Santa Claus holding a bloody head on display outside the home of Mildred Castellanos and Joel Krupnik, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2005, in New York. Krupnik says the display is intended to call attention to the commercialization of Christmas. Upper East Side Home Bedecked With Bloody Santa December 13, 2005 NEW YORK -- It was quite a sight in front of a multimillion-dollar Manhattan townhouse: a bloody-bearded Santa, holding...

THE highlight of any Christmas party for generations of children has been the moment when the lights dim, voices hush and the sound of sleigh bells signals the imminent arrival of Santa Claus. But that magic moment has come under threat from government advisers who have told teachers that children should be protected from the "terrifying" appearance of Santa at school Christmas parties. Pantomimes are also regarded as psychological "scene of crime" sites, with teachers told to seat nervous pupils near an exit. The advice, on the website teachernet.gov.uk , run by the communications unit of the Department for Education...

SALEM, N.H. -- A man dressed as Santa was arrested after he walked into a New Hampshire mall and dropped his pants in front of some teens, according to a Local 6 News report. Police said Richard Mullen walked into the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem and performed the act. "He continued doing this multiple times," Salem police spokesman Robert Larson said. "He was asked to leave the mall by mall security. On his way out of the mall, he dropped the pants one more time as a couple was walking in." Mullen did not work for the mall...

Salem — It wasn't eight tiny reindeer, but a police cruiser that took a Massachusetts man dressed as Santa Claus away from the Mall at Rockingham Park on Sunday, after he was arrested for dropping his pants in front of onlookers, police said. If Richard Mullen, 52, of Malden, Mass., hadn't been wearing sweatpants under his Santa costume, he would be facing charges of indecent exposure rather than disorderly conduct for allegedly dropping his Santa pants multiple times in the Salem mall Sunday afternoon, Salem Police Capt. Robert Larsen said. RICHARD MULLEN Mullen was released on $200 bail after the...

DENIS LEARY’S SICK IDEA OF HUMOR Tonight, Comedy Central will air a special by Denis Leary, “Merry F#%$in’ Christmas” (it first aired two nights ago and is scheduled to air again on Dec. 17). The show consists of several skits, a cartoon and musical performances. There is a skit about lesbian nuns, and a song by “Our Lady of Perpetual Suffering Church Choir” about a hooker. But by far the most offensive part of the show is the monologue by Denis Leary on the origins of Christmas. Here is part of what he says: “Merry Christmas. Tonight we celebrate the...

DENIS LEARY’S SICK IDEA OF HUMOR Tonight [November 29], Comedy Central will air a special by Denis Leary, “Merry F#%$in’ Christmas” (it first aired two nights ago and is scheduled to air again on Dec. 17). The show consists of several skits, a cartoon and musical performances. There is a skit about lesbian nuns, and a song by “Our Lady of Perpetual Suffering Church Choir” about a hooker. But by far the most offensive part of the show is the monologue by Denis Leary on the origins of Christmas. Here is part of what he says: “Merry Christmas. Tonight we...