xorg 6.8.1 and gnomepanel issue

[Damian]

I'm not quite sure if this is a gnomepanel related issue, metacity, or
xorg, but here we go. When enabling xorg's composite extension and
utilizing xcompmgr to create shadows, all windows neglect/ignore the
gnome panel at the top and bottom of the screen by simply overlapping
it. Maximum window sizes no longer conform to the entire screen minus
those two panels; they simply take up the entire screen real estate.
This makes it impossible to access the panel menus and window list
without minimizing the other windows first to uncover the gnomepanels.
I'm running gnome 2.8.2, 5.3-RELEASE, and xorg 6.8.1 with composite on.
Thanks, and I apologize if this is not a gnome centric issue.

Damian