FrankenDrupal issues

I've got 3 mystery issues I need some help with:

1) I'm getting this (unfortunately familiar) error message on my localhost (WAMP) on every page:

Notice: Use of undefined constant rife - assumed 'rife' in C:\wamp\www\includes\bootstrap.inc on line 998

Bootstrap.inc, Line 998:

if(!function_exists(rife)){
function rife($string){
if(file_exists($string)){
require($string);
}

}}

Commenting out the above statement gets rid of the error but I'm not sure why it was there to begin with & if it's needed for anything. (I'm also not clear on why it's a problem locally but not on the live site since I'm using the same bootstrap.inc file.) Is it safe to ignore or should I be worried?

2) I'm also getting weird layout on IE7 on the local site only-- the main wrapper is left-aligned instead of centered & part of the footer is displaced below where it should be-- copied all css files, .tpl files & blocks from the live site (which looks fine) but it's still doing it. It looks fine on Firefox & Safari. What else could be affecting the layout?

3) Last but not least, we're supposed to be able to put small graphics (touts) in the left sidebar as well as the right, but this has never worked properly and I can't suss out the problem. Here's the relevant portion of the left sidebar code:

$class = "touts";
if($m_data[levels][0]=="visitor-info") $class = "touts_vi";
$section_replace =
array(
"contact-us",
"privacy-policy",
"site-map",
"ncdenr",
"credits",
"search",
"page-not-found"=>"about-us"
);

$touts = get_data("SELECT * FROM touts WHERE position = 'left'");
$touts_data=null;
foreach($touts as $tout){
$tout_alt_text = $tout[alt_text]; if(!$tout_alt_text) $tout_alt_text = $tout[file_name];

if($tout[location] == $m_data[levels][0] or $tout[location] == $section_replace[$m_data[levels][0]])
    $touts_data= 
    '<a href="'.$tout[link].'"><img style="border: none" src="/images/touts/'.$tout[file_name].'" alt="'.$tout_alt_text.'" /></a>';

}

echo '

'.$touts_data; ?>

The touts table looks ok to me, and commenting out the location line puts a tout on every page, but with it in there, none of the left-side touts show up. I've been asked if we can put something in the left sidebar for the Nature Research Center section, so it would be great if somebody could help me figure out how to do that.

Anybody want to take a crack at one or more of these issues?

I'm on IRC for most of the afternoon-- tried to connect to #drupal-nc but looks like nobody's home.

-Nik