Monday, Aug. 29, 1978 --

• Dr. Phillip A. Insley will close the doors of his Main Street office this week, marking the first time in more than 50 years that there has been no General Practitioner in Downtown Salisbury. Insley, 70, is ending a 42-year career in Salisbury, 35 years of which have been spent on Main Street. Insley has occupied two offices Downtown -- the first one was in the Masonic Building on North Division Street, the current one is a former law office next to the J.C. Penney building. Insley said when he began his career, he charged a fee of $25 to deliver a baby.

• Time is running out for completion of maintenance dredging of the Wicomico River at the Tony Tank Shoal. Officials still need to secure 23 acres on which to pump the dredge spoil and see the project completed by next March 15. The river has shoaled to a depth of 8 or 9 feet, when a depth of 14 feet to 16 feet is needed. The project is expected to cost about $1.5 million. 

• James G. Woodson, Manager of the Salisbury District of the Social Security Administration for nearly 25 years, has announced that he will retire at the end of this week. Woodson is District Manager for Wicomico, Worcester, Somerset, Dorchester, Talbot Caroline, Northampton and Accomack counties. Under his tenure, the office has grown from 11 workers in a small office on Market Street to a large office with 35 people on East Main Street.

• Democrat Karen Gardner of Atlantic Avenue and Republican Liz Clarke of Mitchell Street are set to lead the Democrat-Republican Softball Game on Salisbury at Harmon Field. Proceeds will benefit the Lower Shore Chapter of the Kidney Foundation of Maryland. Any registered or Democrat is invited to participate. Dale Watson heads the Democratic Club; Ronnie Bounds heads the Republican Club. 

• Whitehaven residents are divided about whether their village should be designated a Historic District. Part of the problem, residents say, is that a small group of “newcomers” approached the County Council seeking the historic designation -- without informing residents who consider themselves “oldtimers.”

• Twelve people were taken to Peninsula General Hospital with injuries they sustained in a two-vehicle crash on College Avenue at Grant Avenue. A van occupied by six members of a Florida family collided with a car carrying six members of a Salisbury family.

• Wicomico High School is expected to compete for the top spot in the Bayside Conference this football season. Coming off a 6-4 campaign in 1977, Wi-Hi is believed to be on the same level as powerhouse Cambridge-South Dorchester in the Division A bracket. Wi-Hi is led by Larry Heidt, Paul Lesocky, Marvin Mitchell, Gary Richins, Brian Harris, Brian Dennis, Donal Hall, Paul Lewis, Mike LaBounty and Kory Hooker.

• Wicomico State’s Attorney Richard D. Warren said he will call a special session of the 22-member county grand jury and present evidence related to the March crash of a twin-engine plane that killed five people. Warren said that while nothing in a Maryland State Police probe of the accident suggests anyone “willfully or intentionally” caused the crash, the grand jury must decide if “gross negligence” was demonstrated. The plane carrying five employees of the University of Tennessee crashed after departing Salisbury-Wicomico County Regional Airport. Officials said the plane was supplied with the wrong type of fuel and the engine malfunctioned.