function getCounties(state, counties) {
	document.forms['search'].county.options.length = 0;
	if(state == ""){
		document.forms['search'].county.options[0] = new Option("Select a State");		
		return false;
	}

	var http_request = false;

	if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari,...
		http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
		if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
			http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
		}
	} else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // IE
		try {
			http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
		} catch (e) {
			try {
				http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
			} catch (e) {}
 		}
	}

	if (!http_request) {
		alert('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
		return false;
	}

	http_request.onreadystatechange = function(){
		var c = counties.split(",");
		if (http_request.readyState == 4 && http_request.status == 200) {
				var selectCounty = document.getElementById("county");
				var xmldoc = http_request.responseXML;
				var i = 0;
				while(root_node = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('county').item(i)){
					selectCounty.options[i] = new Option(root_node.firstChild.data);
					selectCounty.options[i].selected = false;
					if(c.length > 0){
						for (var x=0; x < c.length; x++){
							if(root_node.firstChild.data == c[x]){
								selectCounty.options[i].selected = true;
							}
						}
					}
					i++;
				}
		}
	}
	http_request.open('GET', '/counties.html?state=' + state);
	http_request.send(null);
}