The Older Americans

Act sets forth the types of programs for the country's senior citizens.

Fayette Senior

Services, enacted in 1978, conducted an open hearing for those citizens

60 years of age and over, so their needs and requirements could be gathered.

Title III of the Older Americans Act requires a hearing to address these

needs.

The only citizens

over the age of 60 who spoke were Bill Haithco and Joe Haggerty. Haithco

said that he found fault with a comment made to him, while playing cards

with a lady, who is legally blind. He said that FSS Executive Director

Andy Carden passed by and asked the lady if she was letting Haithco cheat

her.

"Cheat

is a bad word," Haithco said, "and I told Andy Carden he needed

to apologize to everyone." Carden did so in the dining room.

"There

is not one cultural activity planned at the senior center and if I wish

to take a trip with seniors, I must do so through the Fayette County Recreation

Department," Haithco continued.

Asked about

the matter later, Carden replied that through the JOY (Just Older Youth)

Club, trips are always planned. This month, the group, which is an active

seniors club and is a part of FSS, offers a mix of cultural, educational

and social activities. This month it is planning to go to the Cherry Blossom

Festival in Macon, and in April, it will travel to the High Museum of

Art, the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, the Jarrell Plantation, and attend

"Once Upon A Mattress" at the Southside Theater Guild and Agatha's:

A Taste of Mystery.

The annual

dues for membership are $20 plus the cost of the events, which can range

from $8 up, according to the event.

Haggerty said

that last year he paid $5 a day for lunch, which is standard for Title

III applicants. FSS has 14 slots open under this act. They are filled

according to needs and those staying from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. pay $20 a day.

Haggerty said that he left and came back, and was told he had to now pay

$20 a day instead of $5 a day. Kate Calcaterra, center director, said

that anytime someone leaves the program for more than three weeks, that

Title III slot is given to someone else. Haggerty left the community for

nearly two months and his slot was given to someone else.

Also speaking,

but not really eligible to do so, were several paid employees of FSS who

left at one time or another of their own volition.

Fran Plunkett

said the center needed to have more transportation available to go to

doctors and cultural events. She also felt that the center should put

together volunteers who could do minor repairs to the homes of seniors.

Ann Hudson,

also a former employee, said that the luckiest seniors were those who

were on the receiving end of Meals on Wheels. "They are met with

smiling faces," she said, "and the drivers are not reprimanded

for hugging someone. There are so many rules inside the center that the

employee is made to seem a bad person if they step outside of them."

The Fayette

Senior Services is operated as a nonprofit organization and has 19 members

on the board of directors. They meet each second Wednesday at 4 p.m. at

the center. The organization directs Information and Referral, Case Management,

In-Home Services, Meals on Wheels, Emergency Response, the Friendship

Center, the Friendly Visitor program, the Wellness Program and the JOY

Club.

It is at 390

Lee St., Fayetteville, and can be reached at 770-461-0813.

The county

commissioner who serves as liaison to FSS is Chairman Greg Dunn.