DGunner:
Thank you again - sorry if this is a wild goose chase question; just wondering if it could be done...
Actually, it's an increasingly common one. I was hoping that wasn't where you were going but it is so let's deal with it.
This feature is something that many of us more experienced users would love never to have been introduced. The Access team has good reason for introducing it as it helps novices to better understand the sorts of things that can be done, but while it's an easy introduction, it is also something that can lead to complications & frustrations further down the line. My strongly held belief is that you are a lot better off without it. Once you start to know what you're doing you leave the table design as just that - table design. User interaction with the data is what Forms are for. However, I've already covered that approach in the earlier reply.
In the table design itself you don't have the same capabilities that are available to you in a Form. There are no Event Procedures that allow you to make changes on the fly when you move from one record to another. That's not a surprise. Table designs were never created to support user interaction beyond the basics.
So, what can you do?
In your position I would accept that direct configuration of the SQL is not possible so I would include all records in your SQL, but I would also include an extra column that shows [txtStatus] as well. Idiot users should never have access to the raw data anyway. If you plan to give access to anyone that can't be trusted to use it properly then more fool you. For users that can be trusted this should be perfectly adequate. Never select an item that has a value other than 'Active' in that column.
This approach should not be considered to be adequate in the standard user interface. In a Form do it as shown earlier. However, you should be safe to use it solely with those responsible enough to have direct access to the raw table data.
PS. Now I've reformatted your post I can see this is pretty much what you already have so I just have to say I don't believe there's a better way than what you're already using. Not in the table design.