well, I kind of solved my problem.... not the way I would have liked. I have to copy each tpl file into my skin and then put this around the tpl code
is there another way to do this?
<div id="page">
<!-- #columns: holds the columns of the page -->
<div id="columns" class="widthPad">
<!-- Left column -->
<div class="floatLeft width73">
**** .tpl stuff here****
<div id="sidebar">
</div>
</div>
<!-- Left column end -->
<!-- Right link column -->
<?php
if($_GET['module'] == 'frontpage')
{
?>
<div class="floatRight width25 lightBlueBg horzPad">
<h3>Recent Reports</h3>
<?php MainController::Run('PIREPS', 'RecentFrontPage', 5); ?>
<h3>Newest Pilots</h3>
<?php MainController::Run('Pilots', 'RecentFrontPage', 5); ?>
</div>
<?php
}
?>
<!-- Right links column end -->
</div>
<!-- #columns end -->
</div>
<!-- #page end -->
<div style="clear:both;"></div>
</div>
<!-- #content end -->