"Allow from all" entry in .htaccess necessary to load static content

[eluser]Xoundboy[/eluser]
This is my first post in this forum so I'd like to first say "Hi" to all you good Codeigniter people.

I just downloaded CI 2.02 and have been finding it very simple and straightforward / well implemented. However one thing almost tripped me up....

I placed a link to a js file into one of my views like so:

Code:

<script type="text/javascript" src="<?php echo site_url("application/views/js"); ?>/jquery.flot.js"></script>

... it generates the correct URI for this resource but the js file won't load giving a 403 error: "You don't have permission to access /serverPanel/application/views/js/jquery.flot.js"

The only way I can get it to load is by putting "Allow from all" into an .htaccess file in the root of the views directory. Why is this necessary? It seems wrong to me. Is there some config I need to set somewhere or am I putting my static files in the wrong place?