Unable to do checkout from CVS into Eclipse

[ddog]

I realize this may be an Eclipse issue (they said it wasn't....) but
perhaps someone here can help me with this.

I'm trying to use CVS from within Eclipse 3.xx . When I attempt to
check out files I get the following message:
The server reported an error while performing the "cvs checkout"
command.
  : cvs server: warning: cannot write to history file
/usr/local/cvs/CVSROOT/history: Permission denied
  : cvs server: failed to create lock directory for
`/usr/local/cvs/kwcom' (/usr/local/cvs/kwcom/#cvs.lock): Permission
denied
  : cvs server: failed to obtain dir lock in repository
`/usr/local/cvs/kwcom'
  : cvs [server aborted]: read lock failed - giving up

However, I can do file comparisons from within Eclipse. I can also
check out files via WinCVS using the same login credentials and
connection path. The person who put the files into CVS says he didn't
make them read-only. The connection seems to be breaking within
Eclipse. I'm a programmer and not an expert in these things and the
SysAdmins have all left for the weekend. If anyone has had this problem
I'd really appreciate the help!

Thanks,
Bill