Mark,
Thanks for the suggestion, there were about 10 other lines or so that I needed to fix in regards to whitespace. Unfortunately, this did not resolve the issue. I am not sure how or why, but Smarty has got be attempting to parse it and in the process killing it. I can't think of way to enscapsulate the code, like you would with javascript using {literal}{/literal}. By the way I tried using {literal}. Back to the drawing board....1:19a.m. .....I should be sleeping....
Thanks, (I am still open to any suggestions that will resolve this issue)
Glen