Saturday, April 5, 1975 --

• Don Messick, known to friends and fans everywhere as “The Voice,” is coming back to Salisbury. Messick, who grew up in Wicomico County, will be honored in an April 12 banquet at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center that is being touted as a “local boy makes good” celebration. Now a Hollywood, Calif., resident, Messick is best known these days for his work on “The Flintstones,” “The Yogi Bear Show,” and “Scooby Doo Where Are You?” On the Flintstones, Messick is the voice of both Dino the Dinosaur and Bam-Bam; on “Yogi” he performs the voices of Boo-Boo and Ranger Smith; on “Scooby Doo,” he is the voice of Scooby the dog.
• Open Road Industries announced it will slash jobs at its Salisbury assembly plant but will not close. Salisbury-Wicomico Economic Development Director Robert L. Kiley said Open Road management has assured him that the cuts are temporary and the plant on Moss Hill Lane will rebound. At its peak, the Salisbury plant employed more than 325 workers; the imminent cuts are expected to reduce the workforce by about 100 positions.
• Plans for Court Plaza, a complex of four indoor tennis courts and a retail shopping and service area on Route 13, were announced by Robert L. Layton & Sons. Layton made the announcement at the Salisbury Optimists Club’s 14th annual Better Living Exposition at the Civic Center. The retail spaces will include a variety of shops.
• Even though Wicomico County Council members were given a thorough explanation by state Health Department officials about why the county has to draft a new water and sewer plan, council members are threatening a rebellion. The county already has a plan, but the state wants a new plan that’s formatted in a manner that fits all of the state’s counties.
• A freshman member of the Maryland House of Delegates has announced he will seek the 1st District U.S. Congress seat currently held by Republican Robert Bauman. Roy P. Dyson, a 26-year-old Democrat from St. Mary’s County, has family ties on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Leroy B. Dyson of Great Mills and his grandfather, the late Col. Royden S. Meise, was well known in the Salisbury community.
• The Wicomico County Council has promised to announce soon whether it supports the creation of a community college to serve Wicomico and possibly the Lower Shore. A three-hour public meeting attended by an overflowing crowd at the Circuit Court Room suggested the community is overwhelmingly in favor of such an institution. Council President Lewis R. Riley said he was swayed by business leaders who testified there is a desperate need to fill an educational void.