[CentOS] File access in Apache 2.4

Folks

I'm having file-access problems in Apache 2.4 under Centos 7. In particular:

- I have a file that's readable to every user and every application, (writeable by only one user), but my CGI scripts cannot read it.

- Some of my CGI scripts need temporary storage for some files. They are, for example, some internal log files, tnat get cleaned up over time, but I want to be able to look at them (as root). Where would you suggest they be placed? I've tried /tmp/my_private_files/, and /var/tmp/my_private_files/, but Apache fails to find even the directory.

Any suggestions?

PS: Centos 6 had no such problems, and the file locations worked just fine.

David