Groovy/Grails SimpleTemplateEngine Freezes

def ccIdToEmailMap = [:]
	def emailTemplateFile = Utilities.retrieveFile("email${File.separator}emailTemplate.gtpl")
	def engine = new SimpleTemplateEngine()
	def clientContacts = ClientContact.list()
	for(ClientContact cc in clientContactList)
	{
		def binding = [clientContact : cc]

                    //STOPS (FREEZES) EITHER HERE OR....
		def template = template = engine.createTemplate(emailTemplateFile).make(binding)

                    //OR STOPS (FREEZES) HERE
		def body = template.toString()

		def email = [text: body, to: cc.emailAddress]
		ccIdToEmailMap.put(cc.id, email)
		println "added to map"
	}
	return ccIdToEmailMap

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
   "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">


<html>
<head>
<title>Happy Holidays from google Partners</title>
</head>

<body>
    <table width="492" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border:2px solid #acacac;margin:8px auto;" align="center">
    	<tr>
    		<td colspan="5" bgcolor="#c1e0f3"><img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/cardbg.gif" width="492" height="10" border="0"></td>
    	</tr>

    	<tr>
    		<td width="6" bgcolor="#c1e0f3"><img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/sidebgl.gif" width="6" height="453" border="0"></td>
    		<td style="background:#fff;border:1px solid #acacac;padding:2px;" width="228">
    			<div style="width:208px;margin:4px 8px 0px 8px; color:#515151;">
    			<font face="Times New Roman" size="2">
    			<span style="font:14px 'Times New Roman',times,serif;">Static text that is the same for each email
    			<br>&nbsp;<br>
    			More text
    			<br>&nbsp;<br>
    			We wish you health and happiness during the holidays and a year of growth in 2009.
    			</span>
    			</font>
    			</div>
    		</td>
    		<td style="background:#c9f4fe;border-top:1px solid #acacac;border-bottom:1px solid #acacac;" width="5"><img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/vertbg.gif" border="0" height="453" width="5"></td>
    		<td width="247" style="background:#fff;border:1px solid #acacac;"><img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/snowing.gif" width="247" height="453" border="0"></td>
    		<td width="6" bgcolor="#c1e0f3"><img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/sidebgr.gif" width="6" height="453" border="0"></td>
    	</tr>
    	<tr>
    		<td width="6" bgcolor="#c1e0f3"><img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/sidebgr.gif" width="6" height="38" border="0"></td>
    		<td colspan="3" style="border:1px solid #acacac;" align="center"><img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/happyholidays.gif" width="480" height="38" alt="Happy Holidays" border="0"></td>
    		<td width="6" bgcolor="#c1e0f3"><img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/sidebgr.gif" width="6" height="38" border="0"></td>
    	</tr>
    	<tr>
    		<td width="6" bgcolor="#c1e0f3"><img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/sidebgr.gif" width="6" height="120" border="0"></td>
    		<td colspan="3" style="background-color#fff;border:1px solid #acacac;padding:2px;" valign="top">
    			<img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/gogl_logo_card.gif" width="140" height="40" alt="google partners" border="0" align="right" hspace="4" vspace="4" />
    			<font face="Times New Roman" size="2">
    			<div style="padding:4px;font:12pt 'Times New Roman',serif;color:#515151;">
    			<span style="font-size:10pt"><i>from:</i></span>

    				<div style="padding:2px 4px;">
    					<% clientContact.owners.eachWithIndex { it, i -> %>
    						<% if(i < (clientContact.owners.size() - 1)) { %>
    							${it.toString()},
    						<% }else { %>
    							${it.toString()}
    						<% } %>
    					<% } %>
    				</div>
    			</div>
    			</font>
    		</td>
    		<td width="6" bgcolor="#c1e0f3"><img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/sidebgr.gif" width="6" height="120" border="0"></td>
    	</tr>
    	<tr>
    		<td colspan="5" bgcolor="#c1e0f3"><img src="http://www.google.com/holiday2008/cardbg.gif" width="492" height="10" border="0"></td>

    	</tr>
    </table>
</body>
</html>

def ccIdToEmailMap = [:]
    def emailTemplateFile = Utilities.retrieveFile("email${File.separator}emailTemplate.gtpl")
    def engine = new SimpleTemplateEngine()
    def template = engine.createTemplate(emailTemplateFile)
    def clientContacts = ClientContact.list()
    for(ClientContact cc in clientContactList)
    {
            def binding = [clientContact : cc]
            def body = template.make(binding).toString()
            def email = [text: body, to: cc.emailAddress]
            ccIdToEmailMap.put(cc.id, email)
            println "added to map"
    }
    return ccIdToEmailMap

def emailTemplateFile = null
	def ccIdToEmailMap = [:]

	emailTemplateFile = Utilities.retrieveFile("email${File.separator}emailTemplate.gtpl")
	def engine = new SimpleTemplateEngine()
	def template = engine.createTemplate(emailTemplateFile)
	for(ClientContact cc in clientContactList)
	{
		//there was a locking problem when we tried to create the template for too many client contacts
		//i believe it was caused by lazy-fetching of the person/owners.  So, I fetch them before we bind
		//and make the email body.
		def criteria = ClientContact.createCriteria()
		cc = criteria.get {
			eq("id", cc.id)
			fetchMode('relationship', FM.EAGER)
			fetchMode('relationship.person', FM.EAGER)
		}
		def binding = [clientContact : cc]
		def body = template.make(binding).toString()
		def email = [text: body, to: cc.emailAddress]
		ccIdToEmailMap.put(cc.id, email)
	}

	return ccIdToEmailMap