Senior Citizens

Senior citizens who participate in the Lunch Bunch program at Westminster Senior Center enjoy being creative.Just ask 81-year-old Maude Little, who will be one of about 35 seniors taking part in a craft day beginning at noon Feb. 8 at the center.Mrs. Little, who has been going to the senior center for 15 years, will learn how to make a Valentine's Day centerpiece from members of Roland Backhaus' horticulture class at the Carroll County Career and Technology Center.Members of the horticulture class have been visiting the center to demonstrate and help seniors make craft projects for the past several years.

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. is putting con artists on alert -- and he's turning to seniors for help.His office is spearheading the state's first widespread effort to crack down on mail and telemarketing fraud with a program called Senior Sting, in which volunteers help to identify potential schemes.Yesterday, about two dozen seniors gathered at Bykota Senior Center in Towson to sort through mail solicitations and telephone logs that 500 seniors collected in their homes in November.

Bill Moore and David Markin have formed a mutual admiration society.At least 50 years separate the retired C&P district manager and the eighth-grade sports fanatic, but that distance vanishes when the two get together.Mr. Moore tells war stories and shares newspaper clippings. David is fascinated. David talks about soccer and shares dreams. Mr. Moore is encouraged.A few months ago Bill Moore and David Markin didn't know one another. Now they're friends. They're also one of the early successes of a fledgling Baltimore County volunteer program that matches senior citizens with middle school students who might be slightly lost in the transitions of those between-years.

Deerfield Senior Services and Stevens Forest Elementary School have formed an educational partnership to encourage Howard County senior citizens to work with students at the school.Clients of Deerfield Senior Services -- a day care provider for Howard seniors -- will work with students in the school's One-to-One mentor program on academics.The senior citizens will volunteer at school activities and create displays at the school. Students will be able to learn from the seniors about their life experiences.

Tuition increases and first-time senior citizens fees may be the cause of a reduction in enrollment at Anne Arundel Community College, staff members say."The economy may be responsible for the decline (in enrollment)," said college Vice-President and Dean of Student Services Augustine Pounds. "We will have a better idea once we've gathered all the information."Pounds introduced preliminary information, which shows a 3 percent decline in full-time student enrollment, at Tuesday night's monthlymeeting of the college's board of trustees.

A 2-year-old girl died in a fire last night that was blamed on someone playing with matches, while a resident of a senior citizens high-rise was found dead in another blaze, Baltimore fire officials said.The child, Kaycie Storie, was found dead in the living room of her home in the 400 block of S. Smallwood St.Her father and brother, 9, escaped the 8 p.m. fire unhurt, Battalion Chief Hector Torres said.About the same time, a fire broke out on the top floor of a 10-story apartment building for senior citizens in the 800 block of N. Arlington Ave. Chief Torres said investigators had not determined the cause of that fire, which started in an apartment where an unidentified resident was found dead.

For 200 senior citizens at the Florence Bain Senior Center in Columbia, it was a welcome break in the routine, with entertainment, refreshments and door prizes, overseen by a group of energetic younger people.For members of Omega Psi Phi fraternity's Columbia-based Tau Pi Chapter, last week's "Holiday with Omega" party was a chance to build some bridges with the community on the occasion of the group's 20th anniversary."We want to establish a relationship with the seniors," said James T. Dixon, chairman of the Social Action Committee of the Tau Pi Chapter.

For 11 months, residents of Monument East Apartments took snapshots of their lives, small glimpses of their big struggles to perch alongside moments of unbridled joy. The pictures captured loneliness, the celebration of childhood, the good times mixed with the bad.A collection of these photographs, along with pictures of four East Baltimore murals, has been put on display in the Rotunda Gallery at City Hall until Oct. 30.The exhibit represents two of...

Finding that a county agency had incorrectly assessed matters, the Howard County Board of Appeals unanimously approved last night a proposed 25-unit complex for independent senior citizens in rural West Friendship.At issue was Ahmad Bagheri's plan to build the townhouse-style project on 13.75 acres in the 11000 block of Frederick Road.Last month, the county Planning Board rejected the plan, noting a technical staff report from the county Department of Planning and Zoning that said the site was outside the public sewer district and would require an extension of those lines.

Katherine Krieg, 86, should be on her way to the Caribbean this weekend for a rare trip outside South Baltimore and the very first cruise of her life. Instead, she's out $750."I had a very little in savings, and my three daughters had helped me out with the money," Mrs. Krieg said. "I don't know why anyone would do this to older people like us."Eighteen regulars at the Allen Center for Senior Citizens on South Charles Street had saved for months for a Caribbean cruise aboard New York-based Regency Cruises.