Open Script Solution

			   $sql = 'SELECT ticket_id, concat(ticketid,": ",subject) AS label FROM '.TICKET_TABLE.' WHERE email='.
                                  '(SELECT email FROM ost_ticket WHERE ticket_id = '.$id.') AND status '.
                                  '= "open" AND ticket_id <> '.$id.' ORDER BY `created` DESC ';

                           //if dept returns nothing...show only tickets without dept which could mean..none...
                           //and display an error. huh?
                           $depts=$thisuser->getDepts(); 			                         
                           if(!$depts or !is_array($depts) or !count($depts)){
                           //if dept returns nothing...show only orphaned tickets (without dept) which could mean..none...and display an error.
                              $qwhere =' WHERE dept_id IN ( 0 ) ';
                           }else if($thisuser->isadmin()){
                              $qwhere =' WHERE 1 '; 
                           }else{
                              //limited depts....user can access tickets assigned to them regardless of the dept.
                              $qwhere =' WHERE (dept_id IN ('.implode(',',$depts).') OR staff_id='.$thisuser->getId().') ';
                           }
 
                           $sql = 'SELECT ticket_id, concat(ticketid,": ",subject) AS label FROM '.TICKET_TABLE.' '.$qwhere.' AND email='.
                                  '(SELECT email FROM ost_ticket WHERE ticket_id = '.$id.') AND status '.
                                  '= "open" AND ticket_id <> '.$id.' ORDER BY `created` DESC ';