diff --git a/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/auth/authz/AuthPolicy.java b/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/auth/authz/AuthPolicy.java
index cd5dfd0ec574c4b811394801176e0f39ecf3a407..10eb3144b1bc6f40b8ed7bbd3d1b6921e7df3371 100644
--- a/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/auth/authz/AuthPolicy.java
+++ b/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/auth/authz/AuthPolicy.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ public class AuthPolicy
 //   private String dbUserName;
 //   private String dbPassword;
 
-
+/*
    public AuthPolicy(String userName, String[] userGroups)
    {
       this.userName   = userName;
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ public class AuthPolicy
 
       LOGGER.finer("User [Groups]: " + userName + " [ " + String.join(" ", userGroups) + " ]" );
    }
-
+*/
 
 
 
@@ -160,17 +160,10 @@ public class AuthPolicy
 
    public String[] filterAuthorized(String[] pubdidArr)
    {
-      //this.dbConnUrl = dbConnUrl;
-      //this.dbUserName = dbUserName;
-      //this.dbPassword = dbPassword;
-
       LOGGER.finer("with String[] trace");
-      return filterAuthorized(new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(pubdidArr)));
-   }
 
-   private String[] filterAuthorized(ArrayList<String> pubdidList)
-   {
-      LOGGER.fine("with List <String> trace");
+      ArrayList<String> pubdidList = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(pubdidArr));
+
       switch(access)
       {
          case PUBLIC_ONLY :
@@ -271,10 +264,6 @@ public class AuthPolicy
       AuthPolicyDb adb;
       synchronized(AuthPolicyDb.class)
       {
-         //AuthPolicyDb.dbConnUrl  = this.dbConnUrl;
-         //AuthPolicyDb.dbUserName = this.dbUserName;
-         //AuthPolicyDb.dbPassword = this.dbPassword;
-
          adb = new AuthPolicyDb();
       }
 
@@ -298,7 +287,6 @@ public class AuthPolicy
    private List<String> pubdidsNotAuthorized(List<AuthPolicyDb.PubdidGroups> pubdidList, String[] userGroups)
    {
       LOGGER.fine("trace");
-      //LOGGER.finer("userGroups: " + String.join(" ",userGroups));
 
       List<String> pubdidsNotAuthorizedList = new LinkedList<String>();
       ListIterator<AuthPolicyDb.PubdidGroups> it = pubdidList.listIterator();
diff --git a/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/auth/authz/AuthPolicyDb.java b/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/auth/authz/AuthPolicyDb.java
index 03e9ff83f25b159cd6122ae7423dee931c310953..f8c166c24bbe543878da981f2f955c5e887eca41 100644
--- a/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/auth/authz/AuthPolicyDb.java
+++ b/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/auth/authz/AuthPolicyDb.java
@@ -31,20 +31,8 @@ public class AuthPolicyDb
 {
    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(AuthPolicyDb.class.getName());
 
-   private static final String DB_DRIVER = "org.postgresql.Driver";
    private static final AuthZSettings settings = AuthZSettings.getInstance("authpolicy.properties");
-   static public AuthZSettings.DBConn dbconn = settings.dbConn;
-
-   private Connection conn;
-   private Statement  st;
-   private ResultSet  res;
-
-   AuthPolicyDb(){
-      conn = null;
-      st   = null;
-      res  = null;
-   }
-
+   private static final AuthZSettings.DBConn dbconn = settings.dbConn;
 
 
    public class PubdidGroups
@@ -59,36 +47,8 @@ public class AuthPolicyDb
    }
 
 
-/*
-   private String convertToVlkbPubdid(String obscorePubdid)
-   {
-      final String PUBDID_PREFIX = dbconn.obscorePublisher;
-
-      if(obscorePubdid.startsWith(PUBDID_PREFIX))
-         return obscorePubdid.substring( PUBDID_PREFIX.length() );
-      else
-         return obscorePubdid;
-   }
-
-   private Set<String> convertToObscorePubdids(Set<String> vlkbPubdids)
-   {
-      final String PUBDID_PREFIX = dbconn.obscorePublisher;
-
-      Set<String> obscorePubdids = new HashSet<String>();
-
-      for(String pubdid : vlkbPubdids)
-      {
-         String obscorePubdid =  "\'" + PUBDID_PREFIX + pubdid + "\'";
-         obscorePubdids.add(obscorePubdid);
-      }
-
-      return obscorePubdids;
-   }
-*/
-
    public List<PubdidGroups> queryGroupsPrivateOnly(Set<String> uniqPubdids)
    {
-      //Set<String> uniqObscorePubdids = convertToObscorePubdids(uniqPubdids);
       Set<String> uniqObscorePubdids = uniqPubdids;
       String commaSepObscorePubdids  = String.join("\',\'", uniqObscorePubdids);
 
@@ -97,24 +57,20 @@ public class AuthPolicyDb
       String TheQuery = "SELECT obs_publisher_did,groups FROM obscore "
          + "WHERE (policy = 'PRIV') AND (obs_publisher_did IN (\'"+commaSepObscorePubdids+"\'));";
 
-      // FIXME use separate table holding  _only_  private data-id's
-      //String TheQuery = "SELECT obs_publisher_did,groups FROM permissions "
-      //   + "WHERE (obs_publisher_did IN (\'"+commaSepObscorePubdids+"\'));";
-
-      //LOGGER.finest(TheQuery);
+      LOGGER.finer("Connecting to: "+dbconn.uri()+" with optional user/pwd: "+dbconn.userName()+" / ***");
 
       List<PubdidGroups> pubdidGroups = new LinkedList<PubdidGroups>();
-      try
-      {
-         res = doQuery(TheQuery);
 
+      try(Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(dbconn.uri(), dbconn.userName(), dbconn.password());
+            Statement  st   = conn.createStatement();
+            ResultSet  res  = st.executeQuery(TheQuery);)
+      {
          while (res.next())
          {
-            //String pubdid   = convertToVlkbPubdid(res.getString("obs_publisher_did"));
             String pubdid   = res.getString("obs_publisher_did");
             Array groupsArr = res.getArray("groups");
 
-            String[] groups   = null;
+            String[] groups = null;
             if(groupsArr == null)
                groups = null;
             else
@@ -129,31 +85,12 @@ public class AuthPolicyDb
          logSqlExInfo(se);
          se.printStackTrace();
       }
-      catch (ClassNotFoundException e)
-      {
-         LOGGER.severe("DB driver "+ DB_DRIVER +" not found: " + e.getMessage());
-         e.printStackTrace();
-      }
-      finally
-      {
-         closeAll();
-      }
 
       return pubdidGroups; 
    }
 
-
-   private void closeAll()
+   private void logSqlExInfo(SQLException se)
    {
-         if(res  != null ) try { res.close(); } catch(Exception e) {LOGGER.severe("DB ResultSet::close() failed");}
-         if(st   != null ) try { st.close();  } catch(Exception e) {LOGGER.severe("DB Statement::close() failed");}
-         if(conn != null ) try { conn.close();} catch(Exception e) {LOGGER.severe("DB Connection::close() failed");} 
-  }
-
-   private void logSqlExInfo(SQLException se){
-
-      /* dbconn.print_class_vars(); */
-
       LOGGER.severe("SQLState : " + se.getSQLState());
       LOGGER.severe("ErrorCode: " + se.getErrorCode());
       LOGGER.severe("Message  : " + se.getMessage());
@@ -164,97 +101,5 @@ public class AuthPolicyDb
       }
    }
 
-
-
-   private ResultSet doQuery(String TheQuery)
-      throws SQLException, ClassNotFoundException 
-   {
-
-      /* https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/jdbc/basics/connecting.html :
-         Any JDBC 4.0 drivers that are found in your class path are automatically loaded.
-         (However, you must manually load any drivers prior to JDBC 4.0 with the method
-         Class.forName.)
-         */
-      // try {
-//      Class.forName(DB_DRIVER);
-      /* OR
-         DriverManager.registerDriver(new org.postgresql.Driver());
-         */
-
-      //LOGGER.finest(getRegisteredDriverList());
-
-      // FIXME seems DriverManager expects jdbc:postgresql driver scheme, it does not support postgresql:// scheme
-      // additionally:
-      // jdbc:postgresql:// scheme does not support username:password in the URL. 
-      // So:
-      // receive postgresql:// scheme with user:password and convert to jdbc:postgresql://
-      // by extracting userName and password from the URL-string and prepending 'jdbc:'
-      // 
-
-      /*         LOGGER.finest("DBMS URL: " + dbConnUrl);
-                 URI dbConnUri = new URI(dbConnUrl);
-
-                 String userInfoString = dbConnUri.getUserInfo(); 
-
-                 if(userInfoString == null) throw new AssertionError("DBMS URL must contain user:password but it is: " + dbConnUrl);
-
-                 String[] userInfo = userInfoString.split(":"); 
-
-                 if(userInfo.length < 2) throw new AssertionError("DBMS URL must contain user:password but it is: " + dbConnUrl);
-
-                 String userName = userInfo[0];
-                 String password = userInfo[1];
-
-                 String dbConnJdbcUrl = "jdbc:" + dbConnUrl.replace(userInfoString + "@", "");
-   //                     LOGGER.finest("DBMS URL: " + dbConnUrl);*/
-   //   LOGGER.finest("DBMS userName: " + dbUserName);
-   //   LOGGER.finest("DBMS password: " + dbPassword);
-
-   //   conn = DriverManager.getConnection(dbConnUrl, dbUserName, dbPassword);
-
-    //  st = conn.createStatement();
-
-      // } catch (Exception e){ e.printStackTrace();}
-
-      // new
-      LOGGER.finer("Connecting to: " + dbconn.uri() + " with optional user/pwd: " + dbconn.userName() + " / " + dbconn.password() );
-
-            Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(dbconn.uri(), dbconn.userName(), dbconn.password());
-            Statement  st   = conn.createStatement();
-            ResultSet  res  = st.executeQuery(TheQuery);
-         return res;
-      // new end
-      // return st.executeQuery(TheQuery);
-   }
-
-
-   private String getClasspathString() {
-      StringBuffer classpath = new StringBuffer("getClasspathString:\r\n");
-      ClassLoader applicationClassLoader = this.getClass().getClassLoader();
-      if (applicationClassLoader == null) {
-         applicationClassLoader = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();
-      }
-      URL[] urls = ((URLClassLoader)applicationClassLoader).getURLs();
-      for(int i=0; i < urls.length; i++) {
-         classpath.append(urls[i].getFile()).append("\r\n");
-      }
-
-      return classpath.toString();
-   }
-
-
-   private String getRegisteredDriverList()
-   {
-      StringBuffer drvList = new StringBuffer("getRegisteredDriverList:\r\n");
-      for (Enumeration e = DriverManager.getDrivers();
-            e.hasMoreElements(); )
-      {
-         Driver d = (Driver) e.nextElement();
-         String driverClass = d.getClass().getName();
-         drvList.append(driverClass).append("\r\n");	
-      }
-      return drvList.toString();
-   }
-
-
 }
+