The other day, Durham's Institute for Southern Studies reported a story of greed, defiled history, and cultural degradation. Serious stuff. But their story is also such a great example of stupidity, cretinous thinking and gooberdom, it has landed in our Stupid Thing of the Week feature.

It looks like the city "leaders" of Oxford, Ala. don't have much use, much less respect, for the important Native American history in their midst. As if to prove it, they approved the destruction of a large, 1,500-year-old Native American ceremonial mound, and are using the dirt as fill for a new Sam's Club store, operated by Wal-Mart.

The Mississippian culture that lived in the Southeast before Europeans arrived built and used these mounds for a variety of rituals. But that didn't matter one damned bit to Oxford Mayor Leon Smith, who says he doesn't believe the mound is man-made, and that, in any case, it was only used "to send smoke signals."

One more little detail: Smith's political campaign has financial connections to companies who stand to make a bundle in the $2.6 million, no-bid project. But Smith says the Sam's Club project is worth all the trouble, because, "What it's going to be is more prettier than it is today."