try {
Class.forName(DB_HSQL_DRIVER);
conn = DriverManager.getConnection(DB_HQSL_JDBC + dbfilename,
DB_DEFAULT_USERNAME, DB_DEFAULT_PASSWORD);
// now set up lexical access object
lexdb = new LexAccessApi(conn);
} catch (Exception ex) {
System.out.println("Cannot open lexical db: " + ex.toString());
// probably should thrown an exception
}