Radio Button Checked Value

Hello,
I'm using OpenCart 1.5.5.1 and an extension for one page checkout. I placed a 'login block' on top of the Shopping Cart form and it's elements are still linked to the extension.
Everything Works! except... the 'register' - 'guest checkout' radio buttons won't stay checked after submission. The content of the form refreshes as designed but neither of the radio buttons will stay checked.
Here's the code snippet for the radio buttons:

<p><?php echo $text_checkout; ?></p>  
  <?php $i = 0; ?>
    <?php if ($i == 0 && !$customer_logged && $simple_customer_action_register == Simple::REGISTER_USER_CHOICE) { ?>
                <tr>
                    <td class="simplecheckout-customer-left">                       
                    </td>                    
<td class="simplecheckout-customer-right">
                      <label><input type="radio" name="register" value="1"<?php echo $register == 1 ? 'checked="checked"' : '' ; ?>reload="customer_register" /><b><?php echo $text_yes ?></b>&nbsp;<b><?php echo $text_register; ?></b>&nbsp;</label></br>
                      <p><?php echo $text_register_account; ?></p>
                     <label><input type="radio" name="register" value="0"<?php echo $register == 0 ? 'checked="checked"' : '' ; ?>reload="customer_not_register" /><b><?php echo $text_no ?>&nbsp;<?php echo $text_guest; ?></b></label>                    
                     
                    </td> 
                    </tr> 
               <?php $user_choice = true; ?>
            <?php $i++ ?>     

Any code I place within the <label></label> tags stops the reload function.
I'm attaching two files, one is the checkout template (where my new login block is) and one is the customer template which is called by the checkout template.
Thanks in advance for any help you might give.
checkout-tpl.txt
customer-checkout-tpl.txt