DOH! I am so embarrassed. Of course I use strict always, this was slapped into a new file from some old code so I was going to tighten the bolts later.

Thanks for all the useful feedback, the regular function was getting called from the same package so that's why I was doing that ...

... yes, I know I am obnoxiously using the wrong DBI method to return a string (I am only expecting one row back, I have other functions to handle arrays, hashes, AoA's etc.. )

Thanks for the inheritance tip, that's why I'm getting into fixing this old stuff.

As far as CPAN goes, all that stuff is useful, sure, but it's not doing things -my- way!! :) I leave the glory for all you guys ...

-mr.dunstan