Tuesday, March 26, 1974 --

• Elmer F. Ruark, 68, a Salisbury insurance man, was elected as Salisbury’s Mayor by a 2-to-1 margin over psychiatrist Dr. Talmadge C. Reeves. A Democrat, Ruark received 1,444 votes to Republican Reeves’ 747 votes. Elected to the City Council was 32-year-old Democratic political newcomer, Norman H. Conway, who received 1,214 votes.Democratic incumbent Sam Seidel led all council contenders, garnering 1,489 votes.   

• The corporate owners of Salisbury’s Open Road recreational vehicle assembly plant on Moss Hill Lane have told Wicomico County’s attorney that the facility will stay open but they will first hold a bulk inventory sale to generate cash. County Solicitor David H. Clark said that although all of Open Road’s plants east of the Mississippi River have closed,he has been assured the Salisbury plant will resume full operation as soon as the nationwide gas shortage and the accompanying high gasoline price situation has been resolved. 

• Three young streakers, wearing only their tennis shoes, were seen by hundreds of people as they ran naked from one end of the Salisbury Mall to the other at about 8:30 p.m. last Wednesday night. A Deputy Sheriff was dispatched to the mall to learn the bare details, but witnesses said the men had fled in a waiting car. Salisbury State College has been on a “Streak Alert” since some 75 to 100 students streaked on the campus last Monday night, their first day back from Spring Break.

• Wicomico County might have to dole out as much as $31,167 in back pay to three employees in the Board of Election Supervisors. The back pay is a result of the county losing its appeal concerning state legislation two years ago that increased the salaries elections employees are paid across the state.

• Congressman Bob Bauman, who represents the Eastern Shore in the U.S. House of Representatives, said there is no reason President Nixon should consider resigning because of continuing fallout from the Watergate Affair. Some Republican conservatives have been suggesting that Nixon resign to spare the nation an investigation by the House and Senate Judiciary committees. Bauman said a legislative probe would offer an exposure to the details of the Watergate controversy and perhaps prove the president’s innocence, but a resignation would preclude that.

• Judge Richard M. Pollitt’s name will appear on both the Democratic and Republican party ballots in September’s primary election. Pollitt, who was appointed to the bench to succeed William W. Travers in February 1972, must stand for a 15-year term this year. It is customary, under the so-called “sitting judge principle,” for incumbents to cross-file on both the Democratic and Republican ballots. Pollitt, who lives in Allen, drove himself to Annapolis this week and filed officially, paying the $200 election fee. Circuit judges are paid $30,000 annually.