quick hack to do it in core/icon_api.php:

prints the status icon

function icon_get_status_icon( $p_icon ) {
$t_icon_path = config_get( 'icon_path' );
$t_status_icon_arr = config_get( 'status_icon_arr' );
$t_priotext = get_enum_element( 'priority', $p_icon );
$t_none = NONE;
if ( !is_blank( $t_status_icon_arr[$p_icon] ) ) {
return "<img title=\"$t_priotext\" src=\"$t_icon_path$t_status_icon_arr[$p_icon]\" alt=\"\" />";
} else {
return " ";
}

In fact, that does seem to be a very simple and effective way to fix it. Implemented.

icon_api.php -> 1.14