Choosing a Variable Column from the db

[tjbarr]

I have a table that is structured like this

var_code fips_code 1969 1970 1971 1972
1010 01000 111 222
1011 01000 22 11
1012 01000 23 25
1013 01000 .26 .22

I have a dropdown listbox in which the user selects years on a previous page. So assuming that selection is 1969 and is called $yr_ch ---
How on this page can I write my sql statement to pick only the values under 1969?

The table is too large to put all the years under one column called years.

[tjbarr]

Can you put a variable column name in an sql statement?

[tjbarr]

I need to know how to build an sql statement from a selection.
e.g. a person chooses population and years 1986 and 1987.
Then I need to build an sql statement
Select from tbl_pop population,pop_1986,pop_1987.