I made the change as follows:
$sth = $dbh->prepare($InsertIntoMetar)
or die "can't execute the query: " . $sth->errstr;
I got the same result as before!
I'm thinking that this has to be do some "user" or "pass" issue but that doesn't seem possible since I "prepare" and "execute make statements against tables in this database in the same script prior to the one that is causing me trouble. I create tables "Like" metar numerous times and do many "alters" and "drops". This is the first time I actually try to update "metar" though!
Hope this helps! I am sure this is going to turn out to be something that is going to make me look VERY silly!
Thoughts?