Where will night owl shoppers go?

My father was raised Southern Baptist and my mother was brought up Catholic. That means I rant and rave about something, then feel guilty long afterward.

I feel real guilty about poking fun at Kmart. I stated recently that most money spent at Kmart probably goes to the Martha Stewart Insider Trading Defense Fund or to that fellow who dances around on TV in his Joe Boxer underwear. Most of the money spent there likely will go to their hundreds of thousands of creditors, according to The Detroit News.

The corporation announced it was declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closing many stores across the country, including our Carson City Super Kmart Center.

Now there will be no place in the city for insomniacs, night workers and sleep walkers (my people) to shop in one place for a strange array of items, such as soap, head cheese and a magazine holder that has a lamp sticking out of its top.

I read a lot of magazines so I bought two racks. Why take the chance of eyestrain? The head cheese was crossed off my list once I asked someone wandering around the store what it was. It's not cheese made from the milk of the most productive cow at the dairy, so I won't be buying that at Kmart -- or anywhere else -- anytime soon.

Not on the list: I started compiling a chest of drawers for my bedroom last year using pieces sold only at Kmart. The rest of the pieces had to be purchased now instead of later because the pieces might not be available anywhere again.

It would have been inconvenient not to have enough space for underwear and socks once the store turns off its blue light for the last time. But it's going to be hellish for everyone who loses their jobs -- Kmart employees and people employed by their creditors --because of the bankruptcy filing.

The corporation also is under investigation for issuance of $28.8 million in retention loans given to top executives and misuse of the company's fleet of jets by, of course, executives, the Associated Press reports.

These and other stupid acts of mismanagement likely attributed to the bankruptcy. Many people will be paying for their misdeeds and plain, old-fashioned idiocy.

After seeing the responses to the Appeal's recent query about Kmart I realized that many people care deeply about where they shop; almost as deeply as they care about what they buy. And since the closure announcement, more Carsonites seem aware of how their spending impacts what quantity and quality of services the city can provide.

Perhaps this won't be the end of Kmart in Carson; just a long vacation. It'll be difficult for the building owners to find a tenant for the herculean space Kmart now occupies. Let's all hope it or some other big box retailer -- or group of retailers -- soon will be able to serve us ably from that location.

At least Martha Stewart might lose her shirt after paying all of her lawyers, and the underwear guy likely will have to don some outerwear to make a living.

Sometimes change can be a good thing.

nnn

Carla Bennett from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, replied to my e-mail asking whether it's cruel to dress up animals for our entertainment. Here is what she wrote:

Hi,

Well, I don't think it's so bad -- because mostly it's done by people who really care about the animals and pamper them. I guess I deal with so much downright cruelty that dressing a dog (or other animal who's agreeable with this) up for a short while isn't so bad, although, as you say, it may be annoying to the animal. On the other hand, some dogs seem to actually enjoy it -- or the attention, anyway.

(But I do think rodeo acts that have men "dressing" frightened goats, sheep or other animals before shrieking crowds is extremely cruel.) Also, I would like to point out that the animals on some (not all) greeting cards have been to the taxidermist before being photographed, so if you buy greeting cards with animals on them, be aware of this and look closely before making your purchase.

All good wishes,

Carla

Taxidermied animals can't be annoyed by anyone, but people who dress up pets -- whether the animals are dead or alive -- still annoy me, even if PETA says it's OK sometimes. The thought of any animals on greeting cards being dead and stuffed and dressed is a lot like eating a double-decker head cheese sandwich!

Terri Harber works on the Nevada Appeal's news desk.