EDITORS: A November 19 article slugged TICKET-KING by the Toronto Globe and Mail and distributed by the Scripps Howard News Service described how much money Jet Set Sports paid to secure ticket monopolies from VANOC and the U.S. Olympic Committee. This information should have been attributed to the Seattle Times newspaper.

The Grinch who stole the holiday season last year is still lurking around the cash register this season. The difference: This time retailers are wide awake and waiting for him.

Last year, they were blindsided by a 3.4-percent drop in sales. Today, they are heading into the holiday season with much leaner levels of inventory, so they don't get stuck with piles of unsold product.

Dear Debt Adviser,

Help, I'm about $30,000 in debt. I have about $50,000 in my retirement. I will be 59 1/2 years old in January. I had to go on disability from a fall at work. My house is paid for. Should I just take money out and pay off my loan? Could I just hire someone to (advise me)? I don't know what to do and am at my wits' end. I am not behind on any bills.

-- Doris

The five Guantanamo detainees who are about to be charged with the 9/11 murders had planned on being tried by military commissions because, as they see themselves, they are soldiers, not criminals.

To make the best possible impression at the holiday office gathering, stand with your arms at your side or behind you, try to make eye contact with other guests, be an active listener, smile and by all means, avoid the mistletoe.

Be careful that you don't poison your car with ethanol, the alcohol fuel made mostly from corn.

Phil Sielatycki came close to an accidental overdose at a Shell station in Apex, N. Car.

He parked his Audi, swiped his credit card and lifted a yellow fuel nozzle on a blue pump marked "E85 -- 85 percent Ethanol."

The rate of suicide and depression on college campuses is rising, and last month the trend hit St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.

Hard.