longisland

A St. James mother says she and her severely disabled children encountered a scrooge-like Santa at a local mall.

Lori Burke visited the Smith Haven Mall on Tuesday with her wheelchair-bound children and attempted to take a picture with Santa. Burke says she noticed the Santa booth was empty, and saw a sign indicating not to take pictures without buying a package. However, she asked Santa anyway.

"He got up, walked in between the kids and over to the cash register area and said you can take a picture of the scene," says Burke.

Burke says the Santa did finally sit for a snapshot with her kids, but she posted her experience on the Smith Haven Mall's Facebook page. The mall allegedly deleted her post and put her in touch with the Colorado company that coordinates Santa's schedule.

The company told Burke it has a very soft policy that allows people to take pictures on their own.

"We were told when they were born that they wouldn't live past two," Burke says about her children. "Every day is a gift and that's how we treat it. And that's how Santa should treat it, too."

A spokeswoman from the Colorado company told News 12 that the Burke family has been invited back to take real pictures with Santa.

A St. James mother says she and her severely disabled children encountered a scrooge-like Santa at a local mall.    Lori Burke visited the Smith Haven Mall on Tuesday with her wheelchair-bound children

Long Island

LI | Weather

LIFORECAST

The worst of it, the coldest and then temperatures will start to get a little bit warmer and the breeze will die down. So we have this bitter blast in place, bitter blast in place for one more day. In the morning. We're at 27 at the bus stop. It's going to feel more like 15. So you just bundle up, at least it's dry. The sunshine helps in the afternoon. We make it to 40 for most of the day. It will feel like the twenties with the strong winds, we still have winds gusting close to 30 in some spots. Right now, you the strongest winds are tonight and then by tomorrow morning they get a little bit better. The wind will be shifting more to the west, southwest. Eventually that will allow our temperatures to get a little bit warmer. 6 a.m. 29 in Glencoe feeling like 2129 in Southampton feeling like 20. And you see the afternoon, we barely get to 40 in most spots. And throughout the day, wind chills are in the twenties. So it's another cold one just like today, we have a little bit more in the way of sunshine. And then Thursday we start to warm up clear skies overnight. No more flurries around more of a southwest wind. Thursday is my pick of the week for lots of sunshine. It will be a beautiful seasonable day. On Friday, clouds are going to move in and we have rain for the evening. So Friday afternoon, Friday night, it's raining a break on Saturday. We're in the fifties for the weekend and showers will return through early next week. It's unsettled. We'll get back to a breeze and some chilly weather for the middle of.

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St. James mom: Smith Haven Mall Santa said no to photo with disabled kids