[R-sig-Geo] write.nb.gal doesn't include correct ID

[Chris Fowler]

I am trying to write a rather large neighborhood list to a .gal file 
using the following code
write.nb.gal(Q1.nb, "Map 
Data/subWeights.gal",oldstyle=FALSE,shpfile="submap.shp",ind="ind")

where ind is an array of numbers representing FIPS codes at the census 
tract level (I also tried it using "STFID" which is the same data as a 
column in the shapefile submap.shp) while I don't get any errors, my 
.gal file uses the sequential id number from the shapefile (a 
meaningless 1 to n number assigned by ArcGIS in the creation of the 
shapefile). I have tried (in ArcGIS) converting the number assigned by 
ArcGIS to my FIPS codes using Field Calculator, but this doesn't seem to 
change anything. My concern is that the problem is perhaps the length of 
the FIPS codes which are 10 or 11 digits each?

Is there something that I am missing that will allow me to use the more 
meaningful FIPS codes in the gal file?

Thanks,

Chris Fowler