ACLs and zone ".", Why doesn't it work anymore?

[Jeremy Fowler]

I just upgrade my RH Linux server to 6.1. My old named.conf file had a acl
for zone "." which was a quick and easy way for me to limit who used the DNS
server for internet access. I worked fine with the version of Bind that
shiped with RH Linux 5.2, but named crashes with it now. Is there a better
(easier) way of limiting internet access without going through the hassle of
setting up a proxy server? Not that I would mind setting one up, it's just
I've never done it before.