my $sth;
			my $res;

			eval{
				local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "db_timeout" };
				alarm 12;
				$sth = $dbh->prepare($sql);
			
				if (! defined $sth) {
					print LOG "ERROR: insert prepare failed\n";
				} else {
					$res = $sth->execute;
				}
				alarm 0;
			};
			if ($@) {
				if ($@ !~ /db_timeout/) {
					print LOG "ERROR: Alarm during insert execute other than db_timeout: $@\n";
				} else {
					print LOG "ERROR: db_timeout: $@\n";
				}
			}