Friday, April 23, 1976

• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers put a formal and possibly permanent postponement on the  Delmarva IntraCoastal Waterway, a $22 million plan to build a series of canals from Cape Charles to Rehoboth Beach. The plan would have saved boats from using the Chesapeake Bay and C&D Canal and cut 100 miles off a boat trip between Norfolk and Cape May. The 150-mile waterway has been under discussion since the early 1950s.
• Chief Leslie J. Payne, 42, celebrate 20 years as a member of the Salisbury Police Force. When he joined the force there were 30 employees and officers; today there are 53. He said starting officers in 1956 were paid $50 a week and received no training until after they were hired, and some officers received no training at all.
• Jon Sherwell, a Western Maryland College graduate and branch manager for First National Bank in Salisbury, has been named the local campaign coordinator for the “Eastern Shore For Ford" presidential campaign. Sherwell is the youngest member ever elected to the Wicomico County Republican Central Committee. His appointment was announced by Anne Arundel County Executive Bob Pascal, who is serving as President Ford’s state chairman.
• Music teacher William Pressman was busy preparing high school musicians for a big bicentennial music and arts festival schedule April 27 in the Midway Room of the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center.
• Dallas J. Hearn won $500 from a Maryland Lottery ticket he purchased at the Parkway Plaza Shopping Center.
• Former Gov. Millard Tawes was in Salisbury to attend a testimonial dinner in his honor at the Salisbury Elks Lodge. State Delegate Joe Long was the master of ceremonies of an event that included: U.S. Sen. J. Glenn Beall, Judge Lloyd Simpkins, Delegate Russell Hickman and congressional candidate Roy Dyson.
• Banks Convenience Stores were selling whole milk for $1.43 a gallon. An 8-pack of Pepsi in returnable 16-ounce bottles was 88 cents. Full service gas was 52.9 cents a gallon; motorist who used self-service could pay 50.9 cents per gallon.
• Bonnie Davis of Salisbury won the Tennis “B&C” Level Round Robin 53 winning games out of a possible 68 played at the Mid-Delmarva YMCA. Kay Thompson and Katy Willey placed second and third.
• Singer Joe Cocker was scheduled to perform Sunday at the Del-Mar-Va Convention Hall. The Cate Brothers was the opening band. General admission seats were available for $7; reserved seats were $8. Meanwhile, Jimmy Hayman was playing at the Mount Vernon Yacht Club, and Conway Twitty and Jerry Lee Lewis were scheduled together at the Ocean City Convention Hall.
• Preparations were under way for that weekend’s Sixth Annual Ward Championship Carving Contest at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center. As many as 10,000 people were expected to attend the event, which features 1,283 entries.
• The Salisbury City Council was debating whether to annex 168 acres east of Salisbury that included the new Shoppers’ World retail complex. Officials said the shopping center could add $75,000 in tax revenues to the city. Also up for council discussion was Mayor Elmer Ruark’s $5.4 million  budget proposal for fiscal 1977. Three special sessions were planned to review the spending plan.