Fred,
The Reference Marker object can provide a variety of different appearances.
There are two parameters in the Object Info palette you may want to experiement with -- 'Config' and 'Appearance.' config will change the marker config between elevation, section and detail, whereas Appearance will show different "typical" ways of displaying each marker type.
I think you'll find that checking this out will solve your problem. If you'd like, you can prefdefine the appearances you prefer and save them as symbols that explode as objects when placed in the drawing. then you can just drag them from the Obj Info palette into the drawing.
Give it a try!