Wednesday, April 18, 1979 --

• Anita Gale Taylor of Salisbury was the first runner-up in the state Veterans Of Foreign Wars Loyalty Day Queen Contest held in Parkville, Md. Miss Taylor represented Salisbury VFW Post No. 194 and was the winner of the District Title. The 15-year-old James M. Bennett Senior High School sophomore is the daughter of Peggy and William Taylor of Salisbury.

• The Wicomico Recreation & Parks Department has scheduled a skateboard contest at the Skateboard Park on North Park Drive. Events will include a side-by-side slalom, freestyle and bowl riding. The entry fee is $1.50.

• The Democratic Club of Wicomico County has elected its officers for 1979. They are: Elda Meagher, President; Lee Clarke, 1st Vice President; Dale E. Watson, 2nd Vice President; Vic Laws III, Treasurer; Eleanor Gootee, Secretary; and board members. J.C. Parker, Josh Farlow, Shirley Harting and Norma Lee Culp.

• Mayor Elmer F. Ruark’s fiscal 1980 budget leaves the city property tax rate at $1.90 per $100 of assessed value. The budget does call for a 23 percent hike in water and sewer fees, however. The mayor is also calling on Wicomico County to increase its contribution total to fire services the city provides to county residents, raising the amount to $228,000.

• The Wicomico Council will delay implementation of the 911 emergency system until next year. C&P Telephone informed the council it will charge the county $406.37 per month plus a $2,119.26 installation fee to implement the system. It will cost another $673.65 per month for phone lines from C&P’s Central Office to the county’s Central Alarm, plus a $2,353.08 installation fee. Because this year’s budget planning is too far along, the county plans to appropriate the money in the 1981 fiscal budget.

• This May, crews are expected to begin laying a 3,000-foot, two-lane road from North Park Drive to East Schumaker Drive. Beaglin Park Drive construction can commence because a legal war between the county and veterinarian Dr. Rufus C. Johnson was finally settled last week. It has been a 17-year dream to connect East College Avenue with Route 50, creating a mini-beltway for the community.

• Dick Yobst, the only football coach Salisbury State College has ever had, has resigned his post to devote his full time to his post as Assistant Dean of Student Affairs. Yobst was one of the founders of the Bayside Conference when he coached James M. Bennett Senior High School. He joined SSC in 1969 and became football coach when the program was formed in 1972. His overall college coaching record is 39-25-1. No successor has been named as coach.

• Peninsula General Hospital Medical Center officials are hiring special consultants to determine why water pours in when it rains on their new $28 million building. Board President Richard F. Allen acknowledged officials are actively seeking answers to the apparent structural problems. He said the biggest problem is that wind-driven rain is penetrating the walls of the building. The roof is not believed to be the culprit. The building opened in 1977.