filling in the blanks

I have a table layout that is using the iterative model for separate 
tables, and I want the layout to be consistent, but when nulls are 
returned for some values, the rows are offset a bit.  What can i return 
to fill in those spots ?  I have tried returning a space (i.e. " "), 
which has the same results.  I also thought about returning   but 
the & is escaped automatically as an &. 

I guess I should also mention that we are currently using an old build 
of barracuda as well (from over a year ago).

Am I overlooking something obvious?
Jason