Thursday, Jan. 9, 1975 --

• Responding to a letter from Salisbury Mayor Elmer F. Ruark, Wicomico County President Albert Bailey and his colleagues agreed the Wicomico River is in immediate need of dredging. Ruark said oil barges can only deliver their loads at high tide and four oil spills in 1975 were attributed to barges scraping their hulls. The city and county will sent letters to federal officials, including the Coast Guard.
• Five U.S. Marines were killed when the Sikorsky CH-53 helicopter they were flying in crashed on a farm just south of Route 50 in Whaleyville. The helicopter crashed within a few feet of Raymond Jones’s farmhouse, causing damage to the structure. The aircraft exploded and burned for more than two hours before rescuers could get to the crewmen. The helicopter was en route to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey from New River, N.C.
• “Baja” is the Pet of the Week, available at the Wicomico County Humane Society. She is “very friendly black and tan rat terrier.” Also available are two Chesapeakes, one Labrador and several mixed terriers.
• A U.S. Navy official said his calculations show Tangier Island lost 22 feet of shoreline in 1974, with erosion coming close to the island’s landing strip, which is occasionally used by Navy planes. He said the erosion has totaled about 150 feet since 1964.
• A wedding license was issued at the Wicomico County Courthouse to Katherine Galloway Bailey, 28, of Salisbury and James Stewart McDonald, 28, of Beltsville, Md.
• H.O. Langrall Sr. of Ocean City Road, founder in 1952 of the Salisbury furniture store that bears his name, died at age 75 in the Salisbury Nursing Home. Mr. Langrall retired and turned the business over to his son, H.O. Langrall Jr., in 1965. His, wife, Monnie Dean Langrall, died last February.
• With his 90-year-old mother standing at his side, E. Homer White Jr. of Salisbury was sworn into the Maryland Senate. White defeated longtime Sen. Mary L. Nock of Salisbury in the September primary. Also attending the swearing during Opening Day of the 1975 legislature was former Salisbury Mayor Dallas Truitt.