[creedo]

Try installing cookie's home tab. It allows full control over what does and doesn't appear on the home screen, as well as the quicklinks grid you get when you scroll down. It does also allow you to turn on or off the missed calls/texts notification bar.

You are also given the ability to scroll sideways to a new batch of links, or to scroll up and down to additional home screens that you can fill with something different (different style clock, music player, whatever). You can choose 4 rows of quicklinks instead of three. It's really quite pimp. Takes up some memory but it's not bad, especially if you choose to keep just 3 rows of links.