Thursday, June 17, 1982 --

• Wicomico County’s emergency dispatching service will be transferred from under the Fire Marshal’s control to that of the Civil Defense Director, effective July 1. The changeover is one of the first steps the County Council has initiated as it moves toward implementing the controversial “911” emergency telephone system. Currently, the Central Alarm system is run from a small room in the basement of the county courthouse. Several public officials have voiced concerns that a new system will create more response problems than it solves.
• Following the lead of their counterparts in the Baltimore area, A&P workers on the Eastern Shore have approved wage and benefit concessions in return for promises of greater job security. Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union voted 47-38 during a meeting Thursday in Salisbury to accept a $1.23-an-hour wage reduction and forfeit two weeks of annual vacation. In return, A&P officials have promised to keep all but a few remaining stores open through September 1983.
• Salisbury is mourning the passing of prominent attorney E. Dale Adkins Jr., who died Tuesday at Peninsula General Hospital Medical Center. A member of the highly selective American Law Institute, Adkins was senior partner at Adkins, Potts and Smethhurst. A former Maryland State Senator, Circuit Court Judge and delegate to the State Constitutional Convention, Adkins helped create the Greater Salisbury Committee, and guide the growth of Peninsula General Hospital and Wicomico Free Library.
• Radio station WICO has added some new on-air staff members. Dennis Lee Pitmon, a recent Delmar High School graduate and former Delmarva County Music Association Vice President, has assumed the Monday through Friday drive-time shift. In the evening on Tuesdays through Saturday, Jamie Ross is the new disc jockey. Kerry Gray, a Towson State University graduate, has been added as a part-time weekend announcer. Program Director Carl Briggs said WICO’s staff now totals 15 employees. Bill Prettyman took over as the station’s owner and General Manager in October.
• Movies set to play this weekend in Salisbury include: “Rocky III” starring Mr. T; “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” starring Ricardo Ricardo Montalban; “E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial”; “Annie” starring Albert Finney; “Poltergeist”; “Conan The Barbarian” and “Grease II” starring John Travolta.
• State Delegate Lewis R. Riley of Parsonsburg announced he will seek a second General Assembly term. The 47-year-old Republican served 12 years on the Wicomico County Council before being elected to the state legislature in 1978. Riley and his wife, Virginia, operate a 700-acre vegetable, grain and poultry farm and are members of the Jerusalem United Methodist Church.
• As part of the upcoming Sesqui-Bicentennial celebration, the Wicomico Historical Society wants to erect signs in Downtown Salisbury that give brief descriptions of little-known events in the city’s history. Historical Society representative John E. Jacob Jr. said hsi group would pay for the $600 signs, but council members asked him to return to a future meeting with a more detailed proposal.