Thanks for your help.

I changed the line in the new install to:
<div id="navColumnOneWrapper" style="width:"> <?php echo BOX_WIDTH_LEFT; ?>"><?php require(DIR_WS_MODULES . zen_get_module_directory('column_left.php')); ?></div></td>

with no change.

So I changed it to:

<div id="navColumnOneWrapper"> style="width: <?php echo BOX_WIDTH_LEFT; ?>"><?php require(DIR_WS_MODULES . zen_get_module_directory('column_left.php')); ?></div></td>

and no help there either. Noticed the right column has a similar syntax, so I pit it back.

Any other ideas?