just had a problem with my apache today... was getting some error messages saying denied.
here is how i fixed it - http://www.raditha.com/blog/archives/000896.html
think it was due to an upgrade to apache a while ago and i just hadnt restarted apache since then...not 100% but adding that to some of my vhosts seemed to fix it...
vertikar.net
http://www.vertikar.net/article.php?story=20080619232246813