perhaps instead of using the setTicker function, add the document.getElementById('newsTicker').innerHTML inside the $(document).ready(function():
$(document).ready(function() {
var options = {
newsList: "#news",
startDelay: 10,
placeHolder1: " "
}
document.getElementById('newsTicker').innerHTML = '<ul id=\"news\">\n\
<li>You can have a series of new items, either containing links...</li>\n\
<li><a href=\"http://www.forthwebsolutions.com\">Link to Forth Web Solutions Web Site</a></li>\n\
<li>Or alternatively you can have a news item with just text</li>\n\
<li>After the last news message, the list continues from the start</li>\n\
</ul>';
$().newsTicker(options);
});
Not really sure of the best way to integrate the solution into your ticker function, but the concept is to show the disabled content by default , and use javascript to change it if enabled. you will need to play with how to implement the idea.