Allison Stice covers crime and courts for the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. She graduated from the University of Maryland and has lived in the Ivory Coast and France. | 
Public safety officials in the town of Bluffton are preparing for their yearly visit from Santa Clause, but he won’t be arriving in a sleigh.
Clause and the Mrs. will be riding through neighborhoods on a firetruck, escorted by volunteers from the Bluffton Township Fire District beginning the evening of Dec. 10 through Dec. 21.
A schedule of which neighborhoods they’ll be visiting is expected soon, according to Capt. Randy Hunter. Hunter says that, in addition to spreading holiday cheer, the rounds “help Santa and his little elves become more familiar with the area.
“This, of course, will make it a little easier for him to make his rounds on Christmas Eve.”
Meanwhile, at the Bluffton Police Department station at Buckwalter Place, a tree set up Wednesday is ready for gifts to be delivered.
The garland?
A roll of crime scene tape.