Dr. Brendan Wyatt, a Selma ophthalmologist, doesn’t laugh when he hears the recurrent rumor that the Wal-Mart here is closing.

That’s because Wyatt and his wife, Dr. Deidre Russell, an obstetrician, have been the target of similar rumors off and on since they moved here four years ago. He’s hoping to lay those rumors to rest once and for all.

Wyatt said he ordinarily doesn’t pay much attention to rumors, but this particular one is so persistence and so widespread that it has become difficult to ignore.

Wyatt said that, in fact, he has learned of several instances in which patients scheduled visits to other ophthalmologists because of the rumors. He added that the only possible explanation he can think of to account for the rumors is the fact that he regularly travels to Montgomery to perform operations.

Wyatt said the whole episode reminds him of a game he played in kindergarten. Everyone gathers in a circle and one person whispers something into the ear of the person sitting next to him and so on around the circle until it comes back to the first person – in a form invariably much different than what was first said.