validation list/ worksheet protection

Hi,

I'm creating a worksheet for many users to input their trouble ticket data into. ive protected the sheet and put several validation lists on it. The validation lists I created are at the top of the sheet. When a user filters on their name they see what tickets they have open. however, when they filter on all they are able tos ee the validation lists that i have hidden. how can i prevent the user from seeing the hidden validation lists? should i move the validation lists to the end of the sheet? ive also placed protection on the sheet so the users are only able to edit a few columns - they are able to change data in the columns - but i only want them to be able to filter on their names rather than edit them. does anyone have suggestions?
-im kinda new to the excel thing, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
alexis

If there is no sensitive/confidential information in the spreadsheet, can you post a .zip sample of the file? If we see the setup, it may be easier to provide a solution.

EDIT TO ADD: In case I'm not misunerstanding you, if you want to keep the the actual information that the validation drop downs refer to, place them in a column somewhere off the sheet, then hide those columns.