diff --git a/lib/control.inc b/lib/control.inc
index a7e2338..2d43df6 100644
--- a/lib/control.inc
+++ b/lib/control.inc
@@ -69,25 +69,26 @@ function generateLink($action) {
 function checkSession() {
     global $default;
     
-    session_start();
     $session = new Session();
     $sessionStatus = $session->verify();
-    // ??: do i need all this stuff?
+    
     if ($sessionStatus["status"] != 1) {
         // verification failed, redirect to login with error message
+        $default->log->debug("checkSession:: session check failed");
         $url = "/login.php?loginAction=loginForm";
         
         $redirect = $_SERVER[PHP_SELF];
-        //echo "redirect url = $redirect<br>";
         if (strlen($redirect) > 1) {
-            // not redirecting to login, so this session verification failure
-            // represents either the first visit to the site
-            // OR a session timeout etc. (in which case we still want to bounce
+            $default->log->debug("checkSession:: redirect url=$redirect");
+            // this session verification failure represents either the first visit to 
+            // the site OR a session timeout etc. (in which case we still want to bounce
             // the user to the login page, and then back to whatever page they're on now)
             $url = $url . "&redirect=" . $redirect;
         }
+        $default->log->debug("checkSession:: about to redirect to $url");
         redirect($url);
     } else {
+        $default->log->debug("checkSession:: returning true");
         return true;
     }
 }