MySQL server has gone away... SOLVED

[David Vergin]

Let's document this concisely for the archives:

The error message:

  DBD::mysql::st execute failed: MySQL server has gone away at...

was caused by a $dbh->disconnect() statement that inadvertently ended up
occurring before the $sth->execute() that produced the error.

Thank you Brian Smith and Sinisa Milivojevic for responses that helped point
out the solution.

Regards to all,
david vergin