By Greg Bassett

Saturday, Jan. 13, 1990 --

• Operating Room nurses were refused a pay raise at a meeting Friday with Peninsula General Hospital Medical Center administrators and were told committees will be set up to look into labor shortages. The nurses requested a 20 percent pay raise for all personnel and a 25 percent pay hike for critical care nurses. Nurses contend that low pay has resulted in high employee turnover rates. The nurses forced administrators to listen to the concerns when they refused last week to assist in elective surgeries.
• The Eastern Shore delegation to the Maryland General Assembly is seeking a slow-down in implementation of the state’s new Nontidal Wetlands Protection Act until regulations and maps are in a more manageable form. “If we don’t do that, there will be complete chaos,” said state Delegate Samuel Q. Johnson. Because the state Department of Natural Resources has had less than a year to develop the program, few accurate maps of nontidal wetland areas have been completed, Johnson said.
• Movies playing in Salisbury this week include “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” Tom Cruise in “Born On The Fourth of July,” Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell in “Tango and Cash,” John Travolta in “Look Who’s Talking,” Dolly Parton in “Steel Magnolias” and Walt Disney’s “Little Mermaid.”
• This Wednesday’s prime rib platter on Prime Rib Nite at the Royal Exchange Pub will be $7.95, rather than the normal $10.95. At English’s cafeteria in the Salisbury Mall, the all-you-can-eat buffet is $6.95 per person. Luncheon specials this week at Tolley Point Restaurant near Quantico Road on Route 50 are $3.95 daily.
• Katherine “Kitty”Althouse, 61, who first joined The Salisbury Times as a police reporter in 1945, has officially retired from the newspaper now known as The Daily Times. In recent decades, Althouse has been the expert in covering the news that probably matters most to readers – local births, weddings, church news and deaths and funerals.
• Farmers considering their spring planting options are considering growing more plant grain sorghum. With hot and dry weather becoming more prevalent on Delmarva, sorghum does well on sandy and dry land. The crop does require some special handling, but farmers are wondering if the extra work might help with profits. Perdue Farms spokeswoman Chris Whaley said the poultry company will be purchasing the grain at its Zion Church Road facility.
• The 1990 slate of officers for the Wicomico Yacht Club in Allen were installed at a Change of Watch ceremony as part of the Commodores Ball held at the Sheraton Salisbury Inn ballroom. Ronald Bozman is the new Commodore, Jane Bozman is the new president of the First Mates, Edward Dickerson III is Vice Commodore, Wayne Buhrman is Rear Commodore, Lee Fiddler is Secretary and Spengler Womack is Treasurer.
• Plans for a Riverwalk Park pavilion that can seat up to 75 people are advancing with the enthusiastic support of city government and business leaders. One big problem, however, is holding up any real progress – the city doesn’t have any money available. The hope that cash from the city’s contingency fund would fund $25,000 in seed money for the pavilion, but Mayor W. Paul Martin said that’s unlikely. “We have $70,000 in our contingency fund and snow snow (removal) money left, and all we need is just two more snow storms before that is gone,” the mayor said..