tie failed

[John Fleming]

Could someone please translate this to n00bese with helpful 
suggestions/comments?  It doesn't happen with all messages.  I just noticed 
this while tailing the mail log.  THANKS - John

Feb 21 22:26:10 Luke spamd[5590]: spamd: setuid to elizabeth succeeded
Feb 21 22:26:10 Luke spamd[5590]: bayes: cannot open bayes databases 
/var/.spamassassin/bayes_* R/O: tie failed: Permission denied
Feb 21 22:26:10 Luke spamd[5590]: spamd: processing message 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for elizabeth:1006
Feb 21 22:26:10 Luke spamd[5590]: bayes: cannot open bayes databases 
/var/.spamassassin/bayes_* R/O: tie failed: Permission denied
Feb 21 22:26:10 Luke spamd[5590]: bayes: cannot open bayes databases 
/var/.spamassassin/bayes_* R/O: tie failed: Permission denied
Feb 21 22:26:10 Luke postfix/smtpd[6346]: disconnect from 
somedomain.com[204.16.32.68]
Feb 21 22:26:22 Luke spamd[5590]: spamd: clean message (1.5/5.0) for 
elizabeth:1006 in 12.3 seconds, 2567 bytes.