I went with the optiongroup solution since it seemed more simplistic. Sorry to put you through trouble Naomi. Here is the code the worked out for me.

		.column8.controlsource = "crs_grid1.crsbox"		
		IF TYPE('.Column8.Text1.name') = 'C'
			.Column8.RemoveObject('Text1')
		ENDIF 
		IF !TYPE('.Column8.Check1.name') = 'C'
			.Column8.NewObject("optiongroup1", "Optiongroup")
		ENDIF 
		.column8.header1.ToolTipText = 'checkmark if Sending a box of orders to institution'
		.column8.header1.caption = 'Box'

		WITH .Column8.optiongroup1
			.Visible  = .T.
			.Enabled  = .T.
			.buttoncount = 3
			.option1.caption = "None"
			*.option1.top = 0
			.option1.width = 47
			.option1.left = 1
			.option2.caption = "Item"
			*.option2.top = 0
			.option2.left = 53
			.option2.width = 41
			.option3.caption = "Box"
			*.option3.top = 0
			.option3.left = 100
		ENDWITH 
		.Column8.optiongroup1.autosize = .t.
		WITH .Column8.optiongroup1
			.option1.top = 0
			.option2.top = 0					
			.option3.top = 0		
		ENDWITH 
		.Column8.Sparse = .F.
		*.column8.Check1.caption = ""
		.column8.Alignment = 2 		
		.column8.width = 200
		.column8.backcolor = RGB(255,255,0)
		.column8.forecolor = RGB(255,0,0)	
		.column8.fontbold = .T.

thanks again guys for helping out.

nick