PHP and Javascript

Hello, I am currently attempting to integrate a javascript authentication procedure with some variables pulled from a MySQL database using PHP. The problem I am encountering is that once the first value is pulled, then that value seems to be set for the duration. I have even attempted to restart all of my httpd processes and the MySQL server, but the variable still seems to be set. These are the lines of code I am attempting to incorporate <?php $query = "select capacity from mrbs_room where id=$room_id "; $people = mysql_query($query); <- this is supposed to pull a value for a capacity of a room echo mysql_error(); ?> This is the javascript I have tried to use for validation, (I would consider using server-side validation, but for the fact that I have inherited this system and all of the other validation is done using javascript and client side. people = parseInt(document.forms["main"].people.value); if( people > <? echo $people ?> ) { alert("There are too many people\nfor this table."); return false; } What seems to be happening is that the value 2 is being assigned to $people, and this will not change, even for rooms with capacity of 16. I have verified that the tables are not corrupt by passing the $query string direct to the mysql command line and it returns the correct value each time. If anyone can help me with the syntax or solution to this problem, I would be most grateful Many Thanks Darren Paxton