Tuesday, April 23, 1974 --

• Cavanaugh Motors in Salisbury announced it is setting local sales records for small cars. Among the economy-car Ford Motor Co. cars being offered are the 1974 Ford Pinto for $2,442, the six-cylinder Ford Maverick for $2,591 and the all-new Ford Mustang II for $2,895. Small cars are defined as vehicles with a wheelbase of 112.0 inches or less.

• Former Salisbury Mayor Dallas Truitt appeared before the town of Ocean City Council to personally thank Mayor Harry W. Kelley, and Councilmen Granville Trimper, Josh Richardson and Newt Cropper, for agreeing in January to lend an ambulance to the city of Salisbury. The resort Fire Department’s emergency vehicle was used for three months in and around Salisbury, while one of Salisbury’s ambulances was garaged for repairs.

• Frank Perdue now has his own breeding stock. When a consumer in New York City now buys a Perdue chicken, it will truly be a Perdue bird, through and through. The poultry magnate announced that the effort to grow a better bird began three years ago. The new “Perdue Broiler,” which will be used in about 70 percent of the company’s poultry output, has more breast meat, shorter and thicker drumsticks and a skin pigmentation as yellow as a marigold flower. Perdue said he has spent more than a half-million dollars employing geneticists and other scientists -- working from a special chicken house hidden in the Pocomoke Forest -- to develop the new breed.

• The Wicomico CountyCouncil has hired Richard B. Royce to serve as the new Executive Director of the Wicomico Planning & Zoning Commission. Royce, 33, was introduced to the council by Planning Commission Chairman John C. Somers Jr., who said the City Council had already approved the hire. Royce previously served as Planning Director in Rockville, Md. His annual salary is $15,500.

• A scratch hit  in the fifth inning by Pittsville High School’s Ray Ellis ended a no-hit bid being thrown by Wicomico High School’s Don Ewalt. Wi-Hi won the game 8-0, with Ewalt striking out 11 batters before being relieved by Gary Austin in the sixth-inning. The Tribe’s two pitchers were so effective that no Wildcats even hit a ball out of the infield.

• School board officials have approved a $900,000 contract for Carl J. Williams & Sons of Salisbury to build an expansion at Beaver Run Elementary School on Old Ocean City Road. Architect John Malone said the project will include a gymnasium, art and music rooms, four additional classrooms and the conversion of a classroom to a media center.

• Two weeks after the Wicomico County Council expressed concerns about the County Liquor Dispensary falling short of its revenue budget, Liquor Control Board officials offered two possible reasons for the revenue decline. Officials said the newly allowed sale of beer and wine on Sundays has lowered the demand for hard liquor. Officials also said many Wicomico residents were driving to Talbot, Dorchester and Sussex counties to buy alcohol, where alcohol taxes are lower.

• Wicomico County Council President Lewis R. Riley had the difficult job of telling the Salisbury Jaycees that the county would be unable to contribute to this year’s July Fourth fireworks show. Riley said he and his colleagues believed that if they agreed to the $410 funding request, other similar nonprofit groups would flood the council with cash requests. This year’s show is projected to coast $1,640.