Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1971 --

• Wicomico County’s 22-member Bi-Racial Panel has released a massive redistricting plan that would move some 4,820 students and create a dual district that would ensure complete county-wide integration. The plan must be approved by an examiner with the U.S. Department of Health, Education & Welfare. Panel members said their plan relies heavily on busing students and admitted that some neighborhoods will be “broke up” to achieve diversity.
• About 60 people attended a hearing on Wicomico County’s capital spending list. James Betts of the National Taxpayers Coordinating Committee blasted most every proposed spending item as "unneeded." On the list are: an addition to the Civic Center, a county fire station at the Salisbury-Wicomico Airport, an auditorium at Wi-Hi, and the addition of a middle school building west of James M. Bennett Senior High School.
• Dr. and Mrs. Harold Eccleston of Rolling Road have announced the engagement of their daughter, Miss Karen Eccleston, to Robert Lee Mayne of Kingswood Drive. The wedding is scheduled Dec. 27. Meanwhile, new Wicomico Bar Association President George E. Bahen Jr. entertained members at Shawen Inn on Route 50.
• Banks Convenience Stores were selling six-packs of Schmidt’s Beer for $1. For Christmas dinner, English’s Bake Shop could set you up with a cooked 22-pound turkey that serves 20 people, all for $18.95.
• Floods from last week’s heavy rainfall will delay capital improvements at the Salisbury City Zoo. The entire capital budget of about $10,000 will be needed for repairs to damage along Beaver Run. City Engineer Philip C. Cooper said bulkheading will be needed to stabilize the shoreline.
• Downtown Salisbury merchants are complaining about a huge electric transformer that has been installed near One Plaza East. The building, which is being converted from a hotel to office space, has additional power needs. Delmarva Power & Light officials said the transformer is too large and heavy to be placed on the building’s roof. The building’s owners’ attorney, Raymond S. Smethurst, said the owners would place shrubbery around the transformer to prevent it from being an eyesore.