Better print method for Spatial*DataFrames?

Hello,

I am attempting to use the sample code in "Applied Spatial Data Analysis 
with R" but cannot get this to work and get this error:

 > nc = readShapePoly(system.file("shapes/sids.shp", package="maptools")[1],
+ IDvar="FIPSNO", proj4string=CRS("+proj=longlat +ellps=clrk66"))
?????? read.dbf(filen) : unable to open DBF file

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Pete