how do you turn OFF faces in Iphoto?

If you close the Faces section in the Info panel does it open up the next time you view a photo with a face in it? I can close that section for all photos in the library and never get a face box in any mode (other than the Faces mode).

Sometimes, yes. When it happens, that's how it happens. Doesn't happen all of the time but I just made it happen exactly that way.