my (  $dbh, $lat, $long, $range ) = @_;

        my $increment = .3;
        my @sql_parms =  ( $lat - $range, $lat + $range, $long - $range, $long + $range ) ;
        my $query = "SELECT fips FROM county WHERE latitude  > ? AND latitude  < ? AND longitude > ? AND longitude < ? ";

        my $county_ref = $dbh->selectcol_arrayref($query, {}, @sql_parms );

        if( ! scalar @$county_ref ) {
                if ( $range > 3 ) { 
                        return undef;
                }
                return find_near_counties( $lat, $long, $range+$increment );
        }

        return $county_ref;
}
1;