In foreground center, Barbara Randel, Lawrence, and Robert Mitchell, Topeka, dance Wednesday at the midweek Oldsters United for Responsible Service dance at Lawrence Senior Center. The center informed the OURS dance group, which has about 130 members, that the group would not be allowed to meet at the center 2008. The club is making arrangements for new dance locations.

Musician Billy Routh plays with the JB's band at the midweek OURS dance at Lawrence Senior Center, 745 Vt. The senior center informed the dance group, which has about 130 members and meets on Wednesdays and Sundays, that it would have to find a new location in 2008.

Wintry conditions couldn’t deter a group of seniors from heating up the dance floor at the Lawrence Senior Center. They were twirling, two-stepping, waltzing and tapping their toes to music performed by a live band.

They are members of OURS (Oldsters United for Responsible Service), which has sponsored dances at the senior center for 26 years.

But starting Jan. 1, they will take their dancing shoes elsewhere.

The dancers were informed this fall by John Glassman, executive director of Douglas County Senior Services, that they couldn’t use the center for Sunday night dances. They also were told that until after tax season, they would have to find another place for their Wednesday afternoon dances.

Glassman’s decision has left many OURS members frustrated, especially after working with the senior center for so many years and donating items such as tables, ceiling fans and cash to the building.

“They were just bummed out,” said Leo Shaw, president of the club that has 137 members. “We have always felt a little bit abused for having to pay for the privilege as seniors to use it, and the average age in our group, I would say, is in the early 80s. So we aren’t infringing on the senior business at all.”

‘Space limitations’

John Glassman, executive director of Douglas County Senior Services, said the decision was made because of space constraints.

“Because of the space limitations we have, we can not block out an entire space that cannot be used except for once a week or twice a week,” Glassman said. “We need to try to be supportive for all the different groups that use this building, and that means everybody ends up giving something.”

He said the approximately 3,500-square-foot multipurpose room where the dances take place would be used as a place for seniors to receive tax assistance. He said the center generally serves about 2,500 people from January to April 15. In the past, people would wait in the multipurpose room and walk down a long hallway to a computer room. Glassman said the walk was too strenuous for many elderly residents.

After tax season, he said the room may be divided to provide space for a sewing and quilting group and other programs that he is working to establish.

Glassman also said the center would implement a new policy Jan. 1 that requires a staff member to be in the building when in use. Currently, there are no staff members at the Sunday night dances, which draw about 100 people.

“They were given their own key, and they just come and go in the building. We can’t run a building like that any longer. We need to have supervision here, and they need to pay for that,” he said.

When asked what other changes were included in the policy, he said that was the only change.

Disappointment abounds

Nancy Shockley, OURS vice president and acting secretary, is disappointed.

“We were not happy at all, at first, having been there for so long and having established a presence there. We’ve got cabinets where we keep our supplies and we had bought a refrigerator for refreshments. It is just so familiar and so comfortable, plus it is a seniors group in the senior center,” she said.

But they have found a new home for the Sunday dances. They will pay $100 to rent space from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays at the Eagles Lodge. The group paid $60 for the senior center. Members are looking forward to a zero-entry level, more parking and a better dance floor at the Eagles Lodge. They are hoping the better conditions draw a larger crowd to help handle the difference in cost.

They plan to use the South Park Recreation Center’s Kathy Fode Room from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays. The space is available for free, as space was at the senior center on Wednesdays, but the room is only available until June when a summer lunch program begins. So the group is still looking for a permanent home for its Wednesday dances.

Shockley said it was a shame the Wednesday dances couldn’t continue at the senior center, where people in the adult day program frequently attended them.

“I was told that it was something that they looked forward to – a highlight of their week,” she said.

The dances don’t just draw people from the Lawrence area. Members come from all over the region, some as far as Gladstone, Mo., and the senior center holds sentimental value to many of them.

Robert Mitchell, Topeka, met Doris Thompson, Lawrence, during an OURS dance at the senior center. “She’s the reason I keep coming back,” he said, putting his hand on her knee.

Another couple, Bill and Mary Gremminger of Lawrence, met about two years ago at the dances and were married last month.

“It is kind of sad,” Mary Gremminger said while resting between dances. “We will miss this place.”

But Glassman said the decision couldn’t be helped.

“No one is happy about this. You know, we are not happy about it. It just is the way it is. We just need to be making some of these kinds of adjustments.”