Monday, Sept. 26, 1983 --

• Windmill-like mechanisms designed to circulate stagnant water have been installed in Johnson’s Pond, thanks to an Ocean Pines inventor and city Public Works employees. Peter Freeman, an aeronautical engineer, came up with the idea in the 1970s and his devices were installed in several lagoons in the Berlin-area development. The devices use submerged propellers driven by wind-powered fans. The propellers will push oxygen-rich water from the surface, down to the pond’s bottom, where water usually has less nutrients for marine life.

• Kathryn Elizabeth Gill has been named the new Miss Salisbury Fire Department. The 15-year-old Parkside High School sophomore was chosen in a pageant held at the Fire Headquarters on South Division Street. Amy Marie Hutchins,who is also a Parkside sophomore, was the runner-up. Last year’s winner, Tammy Phillips, 16, attended to place the crown on her successor.

• Wicomico’s County Council will appeal a Maryland Tax Court ruling that determined it would have to pay between $30,000 and $40,000 in sales tax expenses to a subcontractor in the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center reconstruction project. The county maintained it wasn’t obligated to pay the taxes because it was operating as its own general contractor. County Attorney Sheldon B. Seidel said legal expenses could top $200,000 if the state appeals future rulings up the courts system.

• Maryland State Police have unveiled a new weapon in the war against speeders: an airplane equipped with a radar gun. Troopers will use a Cessna 182 airplane equipped with a Vascar computer system to monitor six of the state’s major highways. Route 50 will be among the first under surveillance. The aggressive enforcement effort follows a recent study that showed motorists are travelling an average of 60.5 mph in areas where the speed limit is 55.

• The Wicomico County Youth Commission has selected a new director to head its revitalized Youth Council. Gamee Elliott of Mardela Springs, a North Carolina State graduate, was selected from among several candidates, according to Parks & Recreation Director Gary Mackes. Elliott’s task will be planning and organizing events geared specifically to teenagers. The first event, a dance featuring rock-n-roll music, will be held Sept. 30 at the Civic Center.

• Sue Piper of Shore Up! said 62,000 pounds of cheese and butter, and 46,000 pounds of cornmeal, rice, dry milk and flour will arrive from Baltimore this week for public distribution at the Messick Ice House in Salisbury. Piper said the food is being provided under the Title II Program of the Federal Jobs Bill and will go only to the neediest of the needy. Piper said 1,653 people from Wicomico and Somerset counties have pre-registered to receive the food.

•  Ed Wilgus, President of the Ed Wilgus Insurance Agency in Salisbury, has been named the Agent of the Year by Nationwide Insurance Co. Presenting the national honor to Wilgus were Nationwide Board Chairman John Fisher and Nationwide District Manager Al Marine.

• Peter Crowcroft has begun work as the new Director at the Salisbury Zoo. Crowcroft, 60, was most recently Director of the city zoo in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of five books on zoos, including one geared toward children. Crowcroft was recommended for the post with an annual $22,900 salary by the zoo’s former director, Steve Graham. He said Mayor W. Paul Martin has warned him that expanding the zoo is not a priority and the city wants to maintain its small size. “I don’t want it bigger,” Crowcroft said he told the mayor. “I want it better.”