I finally resolved the problem after much experimentation. Thanks for looking.
In the Pilcrow theme on the page edit view there is a “screen options” tab at the top. When you drop this down, you see check boxes for menus that allow you to turn off the comments. I didn’t have to change any code, just find a somewhat hidden menu option.
Moderator, I’m sorry. I think this is the way to use pastebin:
Here is a link to what I find in the function.php:
http://wordpress.pastebin.com/vMVGRkdn
