University Daily Kansan Tuesday, October 25, 1977 Gerontology center coordinates research on aging By CATHY RISCH Staff Writer Life after 65 is the focus of studies in the new Gerontology Center at the University of Florida. Walter H. Crockett, Gerontology Center director and professor of psychology, said yesterday that because of an increase in the proportion of population over 65, the University is interested in increasing the number of research studies on early programs on the problems of growing old. The center, established in January, has an office at both the Lawrence campus and at the Mead center, the center will coordinate The center, which recently received a $57,174 grant from the Federal Ad- ministration, offers develop courses and coordinate research programs on the problems of growing old. "WE ARE TRYING to develop courses in all fields relevant to aging, such as biochemistry, economics, and political science," Crockett said. "In fact, there will Crockett said there were almost 20 different research projects dealing with the microbes. be a new lower level undergraduate course on the Biology of Aging very soon." "There are studies in the migration among the elderly and how it affects population distribution, studies on retirement communities, effects of drugs on the vision of elderly people, changes in the process of aging in cells," he said. "There also is a study on the social factors involved in diagnosing sinuity in the elderly, which is a very much over-diagnosed alment." The grant will be used to hire staff and administrators for the center and for initiating programs on georgetomy-related fields. Some of the money also will be used for a competition for two dissertation fellowships for graduate students. Crockett said the center would provide information and bring together people with similar interests. It also will recommend certain skills to develop and head programs. Thefts of city road signs costly to Lawrence Replacing stolen city road signs costs Lawrence between $3,000 and $9,000 a year, Arnold Wiley, superintendent of the Lawrence street department, said recently. The city has tried mounting the signs on the posts with rivets and welding them on, but it has not prevented the thefts, Wiley said. "All you have to do is drive down the stairs and look in the dorn windows," he said. Wiley said he thought University of Kansas students took most of the sians. "They just take the whole thing, pole and all," he said. Crockett said he hoped the center would stimulate research and interest in the program. KANSAS HAS the fourth largest population of people over age 65 in the United States. The national proportion is 10 percent and 12.4 per cent of Kansans are over 65. "They'll steal anything down there," he said. Students also leave the signs in their rooms when they move out, he said, and the housing officials call the city to have the sires taken away. Lawrence city limit signs are the most popular sign to seal, he said. ABOUT 300 TO 400 sign disappear annually. Wiley said, and the area north of Wiley is not visible. Wiley said that during Big Eight football games, the street sign with the name of the team was posted. Persons caught in the act of stealing or destroying a sign may be prosecuted. Wiley but it should be the last place they have to go. There is a big effort to help the elderly, even the infirm, to stay in their own homes for as long as possible." Additional charges may be filed, depending on the circumstances. Only about 20 per cent of those persons will ever live in nursing homes, Crockett nuns. If caught, the person will be taken to court and could be fitted at least $25, but fines vary by the amount of theft. IF A STUDENT runs a sign down with his car, for example, he may be charged with reckless driving and destroying public property. The city buys the blank signs and the printing separately and then assembles them. The printing on a city limit sign costs $12, while the and the blank signs, about $12, Wiley said. Wiley said he thought the only way to prevent stolen signs was to catch the thief in Wiley said that when a student was caught and prosecuted, signs did not disappear as well. "That means that 80 per cent will live in their own homes and live active lives." Crockett said the aged are becoming more vocal and more educated. "If they are caught, taken to court and finely, they pass the word around the fraternities that you don't get away with stealing signs," he said. "NOW THE MEDIAN is a high school education, the increase having come in the form of a national push." "As these people become old, they have been better educated and are more in touch with the social and political scene. They will be more insistent on governmental services. "Far more patients over 65 vote than do 25- to 35-year-olds. The elderly can will and can not vote." "As soon as one thinks of an old person, one thinks of an old, physically deteriorating, insecure person, but in the present day, a young intelligent and interested in life around them." HOME OF THE AZTEC CALENDAR FIESTA TIME! Every Tuesday and Wednesday we'll feature a Special Mexican Dish. THIS WEEK'S SPECIAL: "Most elderly people don't fit the common stereotype at all. All most people can think when a person grows old is to put him in a nursing home. This may be good for some Crockett said that the proportion of elderly, 4 per cent of the population in 1900, was now 10 per cent and, provided there was no change in the birth rate, would be 15 per cent by the time today's college students reach 65. MONTERREY SPECIAL Includes: Chili Verdil with Chunks MASS. 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