DeKalb residents no longer need to search for places to spend their hard-earned money: T.J. Maxx will be opening Sunday.

The retail chain will host a grand opening from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at the Oakland Place shopping center, located along Sycamore and Barber Greene roads.

The store specializes in low-priced merchandise, offering 10,000 new items each week including fashions for the family and the home.

"Our buyers travel all over the world to get new things for the store," spokeswoman Renee Katziff said.

No sales are set to take place on opening day, Katziff said, because the store's prices are set at sale price all the time.

"Our stores do very well," Katziff said. "People get very excited when they hear that TJ Maxx is coming."

Last week's tragedies may affect the business' opening, but store representatives are optimistic.

"We continue to do very well," Katziff said. "Even in troubling times."

TJ Maxx is not the only store set to open soon in DeKalb: Borders Books and Music, Pier One Imports and Michaels are being built near TJ Maxx.

TJ Maxx will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 756-1400.

As New York's firefighters struggle to restore their city and make sense of the rubble around them, it's hard not to wonder how the city of DeKalb will be affected by last week's tragedy.

How we would react if DeKalb was suddenly to become the victim of an attack?

"I don't know what specific changes would occur domestically," DeKalb fire chief Pete Polarek said. "If the government were to go to war with another country, people would act accordingly — stores would still provide goods and services, children would still go to school."

But what if the danger struck closer to home?

"If a similar catastrophic event were to take place in DeKalb," Polarek said. "Being an unnatural or natural event, the city would react similar to New York."

Certain steps are set to be taken in situations of emergency, which have been in place for some time, Polarek said. The first would be to use whatever natural resources the city may have, and then move on to state resources once those have been depleted.

"The first stages of an event would be to try and preserve life and minimize property damage," Polarek said. "That's our first priority."

If all local and state resources were depleted, and the city maintained a state of emergency, the Governor would be contacted for additional resources, and perhaps call on other surrounding counties to assist us, going on to contact the President if all else failed.

"It's a team effort," Polarek stated. "Fire, police, public works, and all other divisions in the city would be working together. The key players would all be aware of their roles, and assemble in a pre-arranged emergency operation center."

When asked if the fire department has received many calls from locals concerned with the possibility of DeKalb being affected by the looming threat of war-like conditions, Polarek stated that no calls of that nature have been received.

In an effort to comfort the public, similar to the effort being made by New York firefighters right now, Polarek assured citizens that the city has a very strong emergency plan that is updated and maintained.

New technology is allowing pet lovers to locate their loved ones when they run away, even if their pets were to lose a collar.

The Taking Animals Into Loving Shelter Humane Society will be holding a low-cost microchipping clinic for pet identification.

"The microchips can be used for companion animals including dogs, cats, rabbits and ferrets," Kathy Stelford, president of the board of directors for TAILS, said. "Horses also can have the microchip implanted."

The microchips are inserted under the skin in the animal's neck and shoulder area. A chip, about the size of a grain of rice, is placed into the head of a hypodermic needle and then injected under the skin.

Kathy Hubbard, a member of the TAILS board of directors, said the insertion of the chip is relatively painless.

"The chip is placed in the back of the neck area where a veterinarian would usually give a pet a vaccination shot because there aren't many nerves in the neck area of most animals," Hubbard said.

The implanted chips only contain a number that the chip manufacturer places on them. That number is then cross-referenced to a database that both the manufacturer and TAILS have. The database contains information about the type of animal, its physical characteristics, and the owner's name, phone and address.

The information from the chip is gained through the use of a scanner that is given to TAILS, veterinarians and police by the manufacturer for free.

The scanners are hand-held wands about the size of an electric razor that can retrieve an identification number from the microchip below the animal's skin. An 800 number is given to owners who have lost their pets. TAILS also has a number for owners to call if information regarding their pet is needed.

"This method is better than tattooing or branding for animals like horses because tattoos and brands are on top of the skin and can be altered, while the chips are under the skin and can't be easily removed," Hubbard said.

The chip is intended as a back-up to a collar because collars can be dislodged or purposefully removed.

"Animals should still be given collars," Hubbard said. "For an animal that is found by a neighbor, the collar is the best way to get a pet back, since your neighbor is not going to have a scanner."

Stelford added that most animal control centers also have scanners that can read the chips.

The $15 cost for microchipping an animal includes a donation to TAILS that will go to help building the new multi-purpose animal shelter in DeKalb County, Stelford said.