Friday, Jan. 3, 1969 --

• The Salisbury Chamber of Commerce has released its Economic Scoreboard for 1968 and reported two business indices topped $1 billion. Check clearances for the year hit $1,060,523,944.29, or about $88,000 more than 1967. Bank deposits for 1968 were recorded at $1,064,682,237.85, or about $90,000 more. The figures also show that Salisbury set an all-time Christmas sales retail record in 1968.
• After years of debate and what some people might label as arguing, a compromise between the school board and county will allow construction of an auditorium at Wicomico Senior High School. The County Council agreed to immediately fund a $30,000 planning study and said it would approve the auditorium, but only if the school board shelved plans to build a new elementary school in 1970. The council said that if the school board proposed additions to four current schools, a ceased talks about a new school, it would fund those additions and the auditorium. The auditorium would be made available for public use and would cost between $650,000 and $800,000 to build. Now 14 years old, Wi-Hi has long used its cafeteria as an auditorium.
• The Maryland Department of Mental Hygiene is backing Salisbury as the location for the new Eastern Shore Mental Retardation Center. The facility has seemed destined for Cambridge until state consultant Dr. James E. Carson filed a report for the state Board of Public Works stating Salisbury is the correct location. The County Council has offered the land behind the American Legion Home on Route 50 as a site for the facility.
• Peninsula General Hospital set a record with six babies born on New Year’s Day. The first -- and first baby of the year on the Eastern Shore -- was a son born to Mr. & Mrs. Louis Henry Frott of Hebron. The couple has three other children, ranging in age from 3 to 8.
• Salisbury lawyer K. King Burnett was named by the county Circuit Court to assist Joseph James Bartholomey in preparing for the alleged murderer’s arraignment and defense. In the arraignment held in the Wicomico County Courthouse, the long-haired Bartholomew reserved the right to plead insanity to the string of charges related to the death of Sheriff Sam Graham and jail employee Albert Kelly. Twelve strategically placed armed guards were placed around the second-floor courtroom to monitor Bartholomey; the public was denied admission. Bartholomey appeared in court without handcuffs or shackles. After the arraignment, he was placed in a helicopter and returned to the Maryland State Penitentiary in Baltimore, where he has been held since Dec. 3.
• Dr. Robert L. Dickey has been named to a second term as President of the Medical Staff of Peninsula General Hospital. Department chiefs for 1969 include: Surgery, Dr. John Bloxom; Obstetrics, Dr. Gladys Allen; Medicine, Dr. James Clifford; Psychiatry, Dr. Talmadge Reeves; and Pediatrics, Dr. William Morgan.