Hi, glennmcelroy, according to what your refer, your point is to assign different level permission to different  users. Some stuff have permission to edit and contribute, while others have read-only permission to one certain item or certain column.

SharePoint Permission may solve your problem. With the help of SharePoint Permission, you can customize column permission to different users based on their management levels.

If you want to learn more information, please visit

http://www.sharepointboost.com/permissionboost.html

If you have any further problems, write to support@sharepointboost.com

sharepoint permission, permission, sharepoint webpart, sharepoint service, sharepoint item, item, column, sharepoint 2007