diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/PropertyGroupDaoJena.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/PropertyGroupDaoJena.java
index 31cf8e726..6bb652094 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/PropertyGroupDaoJena.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/PropertyGroupDaoJena.java
@@ -270,23 +270,9 @@ public class PropertyGroupDaoJena extends JenaBaseDao implements PropertyGroupDa
         group.setURI(groupInd.getURI());
         group.setNamespace(groupInd.getNameSpace());
         group.setLocalName(groupInd.getLocalName());
-        try {
-            if (groupInd.getProperty(PUBLIC_DESCRIPTION_ANNOT)!=null) {
-                // without the convenience method, just for reference
-                // String valueStr = ((Literal)groupInd.getProperty(PUBLIC_DESCRIPTION_ANNOT).getObject()).getLexicalForm();
-                String valueStr = null;
-                if ((valueStr=getPropertyStringValue(groupInd,PUBLIC_DESCRIPTION_ANNOT)) != null) {
-                    group.setPublicDescription(valueStr);
-                }
-            }
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-            log.error("error setting public description in groupFromGroupIndividual() for "+groupInd.getURI());
-        }
-        try {
-            group.setDisplayRank(Integer.decode(((Literal)(groupInd.getProperty(DISPLAY_RANK).getObject())).getString()).intValue());
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-            log.debug("error setting display rank in groupFromGroupIndividual() for "+groupInd.getURI());
-        }
+        group.setPublicDescription(getPropertyStringValue(
+                groupInd, PUBLIC_DESCRIPTION_ANNOT));
+        group.setDisplayRank(getPropertyNonNegativeIntValue(groupInd, DISPLAY_RANK));    
         return group;
     }
 	
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/VClassGroupDaoJena.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/VClassGroupDaoJena.java
index e99689808..d45fa222e 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/VClassGroupDaoJena.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/VClassGroupDaoJena.java
@@ -180,16 +180,7 @@ public class VClassGroupDaoJena extends JenaBaseDao implements VClassGroupDao {
         group.setURI(groupInd.getURI());
         group.setNamespace(groupInd.getNameSpace());
         group.setLocalName(groupInd.getLocalName());
-        try {
-        	DatatypeProperty drProp = (ModelFactory.createOntologyModel(OntModelSpec.OWL_MEM)).createDatatypeProperty(VitroVocabulary.DISPLAY_RANK);
-        	if( drProp == null ){
-        	    log.debug("No display rank in model for " + groupInd.getURI() );
-        	}else{
-        	    group.setDisplayRank(Integer.decode(((Literal)(groupInd.getProperty(drProp).getObject())).getString()).intValue());
-        	}
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-            log.warn("Cannot get display rank for " + groupInd.getURI() + " " + e.getMessage() );            
-        }
+        group.setDisplayRank(getPropertyNonNegativeIntValue(groupInd, DISPLAY_RANK));       
         return group;
     }