chuckey,
this is a very common problem,
MESA doesn't like being pushed out of the system, so when you install, you need to --force it:
rpm -Uh --force ./ati_driver_packagename.rpm # Obviously replacing the real package name in there
Be ready to deal with (and I'm listing all the problems, so don't take it as an insult to your intelligence; I just don't know how much of a newbie you are):
-kernel source (it's just an rpm you need to install
-having the wrong driver (i.e. Xorg vs XFree86)
-POSIX shared memory
-agp modules improperly installed
-gcc libraries out of date
-other?
Don't worry though, most of the dependencies listed are installed with SUSE by default.
If you have more problems, try
here or
here first.
Good luck with the rest of the install
Steve