permissions problem

I create a group:

INSERT INTO pg_group VALUES ('dba');

I create the following user:

CREATE USER admin IN GROUP dba;

Next:

grant all on table_name to GROUP dba;
select * from pg_class where relname = 'table_name';

Psql aborts with the following error:

ERROR: parser: parse error at or near ";"
mp=> select * From pg_class where relname = 'status';;
pqReadData() -- backend closed the channel unexpectedly.
This probably means the backend terminated abnormally before
or while processing the request.
We have lost the connection to the backend, so further processing is
impossible. Terminating.

Any ideas on what could be causing this and/or how to work around it? I am
running 6.4.2 on linux Red Hat 5.1.

Thanks, Michael