I finally found my problem, A very big thanks to all who helped me. The problem was such a dumb mistake that I regret even posting my solution. I have to explain though.
I had received an email about a month ago regarding an exploit within apache through the use of mod_alias and mod_rewrite. I had disabled both those modules in my httpd.conf file whenever I read that security alert. after fighting this problem with qmail admin for quite some time I finally caught my problem. the definition of the <Directory /path/to/cgi-bin> was correct. it had the +ExecCGI and I also tried the ScriptAlias as suggested. about 2 screenfulls of text down in my httpd.conf I finally see a </IfModule> statement. further investigation showed me that my cgi-bin directive was set inside a <If mod_alias.c> container. :S! that was the problem, I enabled mod_alias and tried it, sure enough it worked like a charm. I am going to move that <directory> statement up in my httpd.conf and disable mod_alias again. Thank you very VERY much for all your help I am soooooo thankful. but alas..... it was user error as usual Sincerely, Adam Ossenford
