Senior Citizens

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.

The charge for many senior citizens classes will quadruple starting later this month, and instructors and students fear the higher fees will result in too few students to continue some courses.The classes, conducted at the Florence Bain Senior Center for county residentsover age 60, have been offered by Howard Community College at a $5 fee for nearly a decade. School officials blame state budget cuts for forcing them to hike the fee to $20 for the 20-hour courses.A group of students has submitted a petition to the school protesting the increased fees, and many students say they expect enrollmentto drop when the spring programs begin Jan. 22.Already, administrators have trimmed the spring course offerings to 16 from the usual 18 in anticipation of some reduced enrollment.

A CARNIVAL atmosphere filled the air as thousands of people crowded the halls of Wilde Lake High School for the 50+ Expo on Friday.The first-time event, sponsored by the Howard County Office on Aging, provided one-stop shopping for information on everything from financial planning, employment opportunities and Medicare benefits to surfing the Internet and housing.Volunteers met visitors at the door and handed them program guides to the more than 100 exhibits and seminars, as well as bags to hold the giveaways -- key chains, smoke detectors, rulers, whistles, refrigerator magnets and brochures.

WASHINGTON -- Though enticed by proposed new prescription drug and long-term care benefits, the nation's largest senior citizen group is not ready to endorse the president's health care reform plan -- which would severely limit spending for the elderly's favorite federal program, Medicare."

Catherine Tate styles hair and gives manicures. Lucille Linsenmeyer calls bingo and writes a house newsletter.The volunteers do different things on different days at different places. But their goals are the same: to provide companionship and a link to the outside world for senior citizens in the county.Volunteers to Assisted Living Facilities for the Elderly have been serving as friends and helpers to seniors living in private boarding homes since 1988, when the county started the program.

Magic Partnership wants to build condominiums at Marvin Gardens, just south of Liberty Road. With the proposed 55-unit retirement home, the developers could have a monopoly on this kind of housing for the elderly in South Carroll."

Senior citizens are plunging into water aerobics at Western Maryland College's pool.With gentle stretches and soft steps, two men and 14 women, aged 60 and older, dance aquatic routines to their favorite melodies for an hour each week."

Baltimore County officials are launching a program to alert senior citizens by phone to crimes against the elderly, as police cope with the latest rash of burglaries against older residents.Officials said senior citizens who agree will have their phone numbers added to the Police Department's automated dialing system.When crimes are committed that affect the elderly, the phone system will call and play a recorded message informing residents about a pattern of crimes.`Intended to protect'The program -- using a system known as Telephone Reassurance Information Auto Dialer (TRIAD)

Depressed about his dwindling eyesight, Leon Rose turned to Florence Bain Senior Center in Columbia for help and support. There he met others who were grappling with the changes that aging produces. The confrontations with aches, pains and occasional mental lapses made for a bond among the seniors who attended programs at the center. In those friendships, Rose found so many interesting life stories that he decided to write a book. His encounters with personalities at the center are chronicled in "September Songs: Personal Profiles of Active Seniors."

SHELTER ISLAND, N.Y. -- Snugly sheltered by geography and sensibility from the workaday bustle of Long Island's North Fork and the glamour of the Hamptons to the south, this summer resort island has become a kind of year-round Elder Dorado. More than a third of its 2,300 winter residents are over 60, which is twice the average nationally and in the metropolitan area. The percentage may be even higher in summer when the population swells to about 10,000. But even when gray is a primary color, it is not an ethnic, racial, religious or socioeconomic group.