J.C. Penney hasn't really made much of a dent in New England. There were too many similar regional department stores like Grant's and Ames and Zayre's that were just as cheap and more established locally. Then Wal-Mart and Target came in with even cheaper underwear, bypassing Penney's and putting the locals out of business.
 

Where I'm from, Targets are only built if your community has a certain income threshhold. I grew up near a fairly sizable city that has a good amount of retail and fast food places, but the area is pretty poor, so you get a Walmart, a Penney's and some Dollar Stores. 

One half of the Walmart I grew up near is in a city and the other half is in a village that borders that city. Depending on which side you exited after committing a theft, you'd either deal with the city police or the county sheriff's office. The sheriff's office is usually the one that aggressively prosecutes you and the city slaps you with a low misdemeanor. 

Acerbic corrections aside, one of the things I learned at my own peril early is sacrasm almost never plays well in the paper. Very early on in my career, I wrote a column about the dedication of a monument that looked like a phallic symbol at an industrial park. The column was so over-the-top sarcastic that I knew no one would take it seriously, but people did. The lesson I learned is people believe what the read in a newspaper, even if what they're reading are dick jokes.

Yeah, people who ask for their names to be kept out of the police log is one of our most frequent requests. If someone calls and is reasonable, I simply tell them it's the policy of the paper and if they have an issue with that they can speak to my editor. If they're indignant, I tell them I'm willing to follow their case through the adjudicatory process.
I once got an angry phone call from a guy who was arrested for domestic assault and battery. He was accused of beating his wife so badly she ended up in the hospital. He didn't dispute the accuracy of the article, he just thought it was unfair there was a story in the first place. When I failed to exhibit the appropriate sympathy for him, he barked "I hope you never find yourself in my shoes!!!" I assured him I wouldn't, and hung up the phone.

I don't get confrontational when someone complains about something I've written because there's not much I can do about it after it's in print. If I've made an obvious error, I'll apologize for it and offer to run a correction. I don't have the patience anymore to stay on the phone and argue about simple grammar and spelling rules with idiots like the one in the Gawker story you linked to.
Speaking of corrections, I wrote a story a few years ago about a local miscreant who started shooting at people when a drug deal went bad during a party. He was arrested and charged with about a dozen different things. As often happens, once the DA's office got the case, they dropped an attempted murder and a couple of other weapons-related charges because they would have been difficult to prove in court since the witnesses were afraid of this kid and wouldn't testify. So the kid called me up and demanded a correction. It read something like this: "In a previous edition of the paper, it was reported that (suspect's name, age and address) was arrested and charged with a series of felonious offenses. Some of them have been dropped, but charges of possession of a class B substance with the intent to distribute, trafficking cocaine, conspiracy to violate the controlled substance laws, and the sale of narcotics near a drug-free school zone or park are still pending. The paper apologizes for any confusion that may have resulted for the reader." 
I didn't hear back from the kid again.