Thursday, July 16, 1970 --

• Court cases related to the three-month-long announcers strike at WBOC radio and television have made their way into the local justice system. Jury trials have been requested in two cases involving altercations at the station’s location on North Salisbury Boulevard. One striking employee is charged with assault and disorderly conduct with an announcer, while another striking worker is accused of unlawfully tampering with an automobile. Salisbury lawyer Vaughn Richardson is representing each of the accused men.

• The Wicomico County Humane Society has opened its new animal shelter and headquarters on Marine Road. Donations from the city and county governments, along with a fundraising effort led by the Salisbury Jaycees, raised $30,000 in funds needed to get the shelter opened. This week, 18 cats and dogs were moved from the old city-county pound on West Road. The new shelter has 12 cages for puppies and 18 cages for dogs and cats. Theresa Wikoff is the shelter’s supervisor.

• A groundbreaking was held today off Emerson Avenue for WCPB-TV, a new station that will be part of the Maryland Public Television network. Plans call for construction of a 710,000-watt transmission tower that will extend 551-feet in the air, as well as a 2,500-square-foot transmission facility on the grounds of Deer’s Head State Hospital. The work is expected to be completed in time for the station to begin broadcasting educational programming in January.

• Another major annexation is under way for the city of Salisbury. The latest involves some 300 acres off East College Avenue. Part of the annexation is a tract where the state plans to build a campus to house mentally disabled persons; another part is a section of Shiloh and Adams streets where a Baltimore developer plans to construct a 168-unit housing development.

• Wicomico Recreation and Parks Director Lorne C. Rickert has announced two major promotions on his staff. Nick Meyer of Salisbury has been elevated from Supervisor of Maintenance to Assistant Director for Maintenance and Parks. Meyer will be responsible for 11 park and play areas, as well as 20 playgrounds across the county. Frank M. Buob has been promoted to Assistant Director and Manager of the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center. In the 10 years the Civic Center has been open, its use has steadily increased -- last year it was used 482 times for public recreation programs and events.

• A new 57-page housing code has been presented to the Salisbury City Council for consideration. Already controversial, the code repeals several ordinances dating back to 1962 and establishes 14 new chapters of regulations. Among the measures being criticized are a licensing requirement for operators of rental dwellings and those who operate rooming houses and multi-family dwellings.

• Some 200 employees of three Salisbury retail businesses attended a film in a local theater that showed them how to detect shoplifters at work. Alvin Benjamin, chairman of the local retail trade group’s Anti-Shoplifting Committee, said employees from the Downtown Plaza, Salisbury Mall and South Salisbury Boulevard shopping areas attended the film at 9 a.m. Wednesday, before stores opened. Benjamin said the film was instructive -- employees learned how to be on alert for detection, as well as what procedures to follow to apprehend a shoplifter.