Well - thank you Fred - I know it's not the camera (Nikon D200) - but the orientation lock thing works - but I don't know why. What I mean is, - wait a minute maybe I do know why - and I have probably been misinterpreting that all along. I always assumed that when I locked orientation, I was locking in to the orientation of the original (uncropped) image as they show in the folders. Coming from the D200, these are never on their side, whether they are portrait or landscape. So in this case, when I click the rotate button in the pag editor, I change the image from a landscape to a portrait orientation. So what I am now realizing is that I have locked in not the image orientation, but the portrait/landscape orientation. It make sense. Duh - again - I have been doing that all these years. Now i really feel like screaming.
Thank you Fred for the help - again - and for making me feel like a real - well - never mind.