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Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson's personal Xanadu built on a million candy cane dreams and Underoos-bottom nightmares, has been suffering dearly from neglect as its owner reconfigures his life in Bahrain. First, his large staff of llama wranglers and cotton candy engineers were barred by officials from reporting to work due to hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages. Then, after he managed to somehow come up with the money, Jackson decided to shut down the estate and lay his staff off:

Employees who received their back pay Thursday were told they were being laid off because the state had shut down the ranch, the syndicated television news magazine "Entertainment Tonight" reported on its Web site Thursday night.

But [Jackson spokeswoman Raymone K.] Bain indicated the ranch was still operating, at least on a limited basis.

"Reports indicating that Neverland has been closed or 'shut down' for good are inaccurate," she said in her statement. A call to the ranch's manager, Joe Marcus, was not immediately returned.

We hope there is at least a happy middle ground to this unpleasant matter that can satisfy all parties perhaps keeping the amusement park open and staffed, for example, while shuttering some of the more underutilized features of the estate, such as Captain Eo's All-Organic Ice Cream Parlour & Lubery and the wildlife-free petting zoo.