Bluenose special

To welcome Burning Man participants to town, the Wal-Mart on North McCarran Boulevard posted a notice in the photo department. It’s actually a photocopy enlargement of the notice that the corporation puts into photo processing orders of which it does not approve:

“We are returning your order without certain prints. We have established guidelines in our Photo Centers prohibiting us from printing those images which we have classified as unsuitable. All your negatives or digital images have been returned to you in your order.”

Across the bottom of the notice was scrawled, “Attn all Burning Man customers.”

The corporation’s photo processing operations have often been a source of public controversy. In 2002, a Salina, Kan., woman sued Wal-Mart after a store called the police because her order contained photos of her toddler daughter in the bathtub.

In 2003, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced plans to shut down Wal-Mart photo labs in his state because they were allegedly dumping pollutants. A settlement was reached.