Sunday June 29, 1997 --

• Former City Council President Bob Caldwell blasted the city’s recent budget process and accused Mayor Paul Martin and other city officials of ignoring the City Charter in the budget’s preparation. He blamed the mayor for submitting the budget two weeks later than the charter required, attacked the council for failing to engage on the budget because the group didn’t feel properly consulted and assailed Police Chief Coulbourne Dykes for publicly demeaning the budget’s supposedly inadequate funding of police department needs.
• William Burnett, 38, of Salisbury, was arrested in Friday’s bank robbery at the Bank of Delmar on Nanticoke Road. Burnett came to police headquarters and surrendered Saturday. Police had been looking for a man who fits Burnett’s description and who fled the bank robbery scene in a taxi cab.
• Edward White, Executive Director of the Ward Museum of Wildlife Art, said the facility would begin a $2 million fundraising campaign intended to pay off $1.6 million in debt that has been on the books since its construction five years ago. White said that after a series of management shakeups, staff cuts and cost controls, the museum expected to break even this year.
• Longtime Salisbury Resident George “Rocky” Burnett Jr. has been named the executive director of the new Mallard Landing Retirement Community to be built in Salisbury. Greg Stevens, president of Senior HealthLife, lauded Burnett’s “healthy experience and knowledge” and said Burnett’s skills “will lead Mallard Landing to success.”
• Orlando Wootten, the legendary local photographer who worked for The Salisbury Times for many years, died of pneumonia at the age of 87. Times Managing Editor Dick Moore hired Wootten in 1968, thereby launching an era in which the newspaper became known for its tremendous photographic content.
• Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend announced Salisbury would receive a $233,000 HotSpot grant to be used for anti-crime and self-help initiatives in the Church Street neighborhood. Luis Luna of the Greater Salisbury Committee coordinated the grant application process.