Well I guess no one is following this thread anymore but I will post this anyway. After no resolve yesterday I made an appointment with the Genius Bar at the closest Apple Store I could find, which is 2 and 1/2 hours away from me. (as I mentioned above)
When I got there the techs acted as if they had never heard of anyone else having this problem. I explained it then showed them exactly what was happening. They tried several of the things mentioned above, plus hooked my computer to something to determine if the computer and hard drive were healthy otherwise. Everything checked out, so I was told the only thing left to do was uninstall my operating system and then reinstall everything, and start from scratch. YES, WIPE OUT EVERYTHING AND START OVER!!!
I agreed to this and left my MacBook and external hard drive with them. Came back and opened the iPhoto, created a brand new library, imported a brand new set of pics, and SAME PROBLEM!!!
The tech. said he didn't know what to do but wanted to try importing a pic to the MacBook he was using at the Genius Bar, and see what his iPhoto did. Sure enough, SAME PROBLEM!!!
SO... END RESULT IS: USE ANOTHER PROGRAM TO EDIT YOUR PICTURES BECAUSE IPHOTO DOESN'T WORK RIGHT.
Straight from the techs mouth, from behind the Genius Bar ...
"This problem appears to be unfixable. This is not going to be resolved. Sorry, I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but that's it."
This really makes me mad, because from what I can see on the net, plenty of peeps are having the exact same problem and yet Apple support actually asked me to purchase an new upgraded version, and suggested I install it, knowing full well that this is an ongoing problem, and that it wasn't going to help me. NOT HAPPY!!! 😟