Brian,
I've tried all of the things you listed; no luck. I found reference to this issue on a Mambo message board. Apparently there is a way to modify the com_content>content.html.php file and fix the issue. My understanding is that this file assigns the front page's category ID to the news item listed on the front page. Someone suggested adding a line of code underneath this function that re-assigns the news item's original category ID. However, the code they suggested didn't work, and I assume its because it is set up for Mambo. Any suggestions on what code would work for Joomla?
Here is a link to the message board post that includes the code and explanation.
Assigning templates to content frontpage items! 
- Mambo - A PHP & MySQL Content Management System
The good news is that once I get this issue sorted out my Joomla page (
Fairman's - Home ) will be functioning exactly as I want it to!
Thanks again,
Mike