you could use colgroups:
<table>
<colgroup>
<col class="visible_class"/>
<col class="visible_class"/>
<col class="invisible_class"/>
</colgroup>
<thead>
<tr><th class="col1">Header 1</th><th class="col2">Header 2</th><th class="col3">Header 3</th></tr>
</thead>
<tr><td>Column1</td><td>Column2</td><td>Column3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Column1</td><td>Column2</td><td>Column3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Column1</td><td>Column2</td><td>Column3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Column1</td><td>Column2</td><td>Column3</td></tr>
</table>
your script then could change just the desire <col>
class.