I came a cross some documentation for OL that says that
"As of OpenLayers 2.7, there is no support for selecting features from more than a single vector layer at a time. The layer which is currently being used for selection is the last one on which the .activate() method of the attached select feature control was called."

So, I need to rethink the way points get drawn on the map. Using vector layers exclusively provides a certain amount of freedom in that I can build a single javascript function to create vector features on the map. Vector layers handle all needed types: points, lines and polygons. I have a static vector page that I understand here: http://hcmc.uvic.ca/grs/map/vector.html

I'll continue working on it to figure out how to drop features on it using my js function.