Issues on design - decorate with text aligning, and clipping altering depths.

[karossii]

So the attached PTN file is my problem file.

I have two circles I want to decorate with text. I want the one, 'ALABAMA' to be centered across the top. The other, 'CRIMSON TIDE' should be centered across the bottom. It should also be flipped, reading left to right. (see the picture of the logo, if you're not familiar with it and in case I described that poorly.)
I first tried this with arcing the text in a regular text tool - but that distorts the letters greatly along the arc (much like the 'decorate with text' does if you select 'warp to fit' for the glyph mode. Is there a way to turn off the warp to fit in the standard text tool with an arc?
And if I cannot get the text tool to NOT warp the type, how can I fix the circles decorated with text to align as desired?

Second issue; the central circle SHOULD be set to 0.125" depth. The 'A' should be 0" depth. The larger circle should be 0" depth. The connected lines tool shape should be 0.125" depth. The text will be carved to the centerline depth. This is how it is all set up.

However, because of the overlapping shapes of different depths, I had to use grouping, and clipping options. But when I do, the central circle drops down to something like 0.375" depth (guessing - it still says it is 0.125"), and the 'A' in the center is about 0.125" above that, roughly 0.25" from the surface. Not sure why this interaction is happening, nor how to fix it.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!