Monday, Aug. 9, 1976 --

• Salisbury Police Chief Leslie Payne is crediting the newly established Concentrated Crime Reduction squad with a 39 percent drop in in the number of breaking and enterings in the city. The latest statistics show that there were 104 fewer break-ins in 1975 then there were in 1974. The CCR program is funded through the Governor’s Commission on Law Enforcement and consists of four men -- and investigator and three men who work in the field. The detective in charge is Maximilian “Lucky” Lucksho Jr., who has 21 years of law enforcement experience.
• A major reorganization in the upper ranks of the Wicomico County school system will take effect Aug. 15. Former James M. Bennett High School principal Randolph G. Outen will assume the newly created role of Secondary Education Director. Sheldon Larmore, a Instruction Supervisor, will assume another newly created post, Director of Elementary Education. The moves establish Outen and Larmore as the chief lieutenants to Superintendent Harold B. Fulton.
• The Wicomico County Board of Education has announced it will not be a player in any county growth, zoning or development discussions. With the growth of subdivisions affecting school board planning, some county officials have recently called for school board input to help them weigh the effects of a subdivision approval. School board attorney James Bailey warned board members their participation in such decisions would be a bad idea. R. Norman Peregoy, the school board’s vice president, supported a school board role in such decisions, saying, “unforeseen subdivision developments in the past have put us in a box a time or two and brought on busing, where the board had not anticipated it.”
• Miriam Ricca Kennedy, an Argentina native and business teacher at Stephen Decatur High School, has been appointed to head the Secretarial Sciences Program at the new Wor-Wic Tech Community College.
• Funeral services were scheduled Tuesday for former Maryland State Trooper and newspaper publisher Samuel Louis Sherwell Sr. A resident of 113 East Isabella Street, Sherwell died Friday at Peninsula General Hospital at age 62. Born in Mexico City, Sherwell has lived in Salisbury for 45 years. He retired from the State Police as a sergeant and had been primarily assigned to the Salisbury barrack. The former owner and publisher of the Salisbury Advertiser newspaper, he sold the publication in 1973.  
• An important birthday was ignored Sunday. According to the history book, Aug. 8, 1732 is the official birth date for the city of Salisbury, yet city officials did nothing to recognize the occasion of the city’s marking 244 years. Mayor Elmer F. Ruark admitted today that he had overlooked the date. “I’ll try to remember it next year,” the mayor said.
• More than 1,000 Ocean City visitors were evacuated to Salisbury as the resort town weathered the effects of Hurricane Belle, which passed by the Delmarva Peninsula 56 miles offshore but still hit Ocean City with 75 mph winds. Nearly 100 people rode out the storm Monday night at the Salvation Army Center and nearly 500 crammed into the cafeteria and gymnasium at Wicomico Senior High School.
• Deputy Fire Chief William V. Taylor will return to work Thursday following a two-week suspension imposed following an internal city investigation. Mayor Elmer F. Ruark said he accepted the official report of Chief Frederick Williams, who formally investigated Taylor’s actions at a July 24 party on Mount Olive Church Road. A man complained to city officials that he was physically attacked when he confronted party-goers about excessive noise. Taylor and several other people were implicated in what was described as a “melee.” A court date for several of those involved is scheduled Sept. 1. Taylor’s daughter was the owner of the home where the party was being held.