show avatars in forum posts only (not comments) ?

I am using the following (slightly modified) node-forum.tpl from Flatforum which displays user-pictures in the forum post and the comments (if profile_useImage=1) - but i want to display the avatars only in the forum post, not the comments - Site|Theme|show user pictures in comments on/off does not work, i think because i'm using Flatforum.. is there some way to make the avatar only show in the first post of the thread?

<?php
  if (!_is_forum()) {
    include('node.tpl.php');
    return;
  }
  $curr_user = user_load(array('uid' => $userid));
  $sig = $curr_user->signature;
  $loc = $curr_user -> profile_location;
  
?>
<div class="comment forum-comment comment-<?php print $row_class; print $comment->new ? ' comment-new forum-comment-

new' : ''; ?>">

  <div class="comment-left">
    <div class="author-name"><?php print $name ?></div>
    <?php profile_load_profile($curr_user);if ($picture && $curr_user->profile_useImage) {print $picture;}?>

    <?php if (module_exist('flatforum')): ?>

      <span class="author-posts">
        <?php print t('Posts:') . ' ' . $posts; ?><br />
	</span>
      <span class="author-regdate">
        <?php print t('Joined:') . ' ' . $joined; ?><br />
	<?php echo t('Location:') . ' ' . $loc; ?><br />
	<?php print user_badges_for_uid($uid); ?>
	<?php print user_badges_for_uid($comment->uid); ?>
      </span>
    <?php endif ?>
  </div>

  	<div class="comment-right">
	<div class="comment<?php if ($comment->status == COMMENT_NOT_PUBLISHED) print ' comment-unpublished'; ?>">
    	<div class="title"><?php print check_plain($comment->subject) ?></div>
    	<?php if ($comment->new) : ?>
      <a id="new"></a>
      <span class="new"><?php print $new ?></span>
    <?php endif ?>
<div class="links"><?php print $submitted ?><br /> </div>
    <div class="content">

      <?php print $content ?>
      <?php if ($sig): ?>
        <div class="author-signature">--<br /><?//php print check_markup($sig); ?></div>
      <?php endif ?>
      <br class="clear" />
      <div class="links"><br />
	<?php print $links ?> 	</div>
    </div>
  </div>

</div>
</div>
<br class="clear" />