Solved!!
I figured out what the problem was. I had two columns that were labeled identically in my items table and itemcategory table. I changed the itemCatID to itemCat in the item table, and left the itemCatID alone in the itemcategory table.
To recap (the final process that produced the needed result):
1. I changed the WADAitem recordset code (from Dreamweaver "Server Behaviors" panel) to:
SELECT item.*, itemcategory.ItemCatName
FROM item INNER JOIN itemcategory ON item.ItemCat = itemcategory.ItemCatID
(click on "test" (Dreamweaver) and you'll see the result of the inner join in the last column)
2. I inserted the ItemCatName binding (from the "Bindings" panel).
NOTE: The column ItemCatName in the Bindings panel is the result of the inner join listed above; it's NOT an actual column in the table. This principle will work for categories, states . . . whatever information that will be duplicated from record to record.
THANKS TO JASON for all your help!